My name is Jenny and on this page I'm going to tell a little story behind the cattery name FI*Walidah. My cattery name FI*Walidah was accepted in FIFe on July 2015 but I have been a part of cat activities since 2003. Walidah is Egyptian and means "Newborn". The name of course fits in front of every kitten that I breed but you can also find it in my first cat's name (Weera, FI*Chai-lai Walidah Ife = Newborn love). So it naturally touches my feelings and it's also logical - the perfect cattery name!

 

 

 

I live in Vermonniitty, Espoo in a three-roomed apartment with two lovely egyptian mau girls: Weera the mother and Inukshuk the daughter. On weekdays I either work or study. I'm working as a Product Manager at Unity Technologies and study in Aalto University majoring interaction between humans and computers and machine learning. I have high interest in robotics as well and I already have some ideas for the future: a robot that cleans cat's toilets, plays with them, pets them... Yeah how can you say I'm a cat person? ;)

 

 

I was only 7 years old when we got our first cat, very beautiful and temperamental korat lady named Maj. Maj was supposed to come to our family as a regular housecat who would delight the children and our parents. Still, we decided to get to know the strange world of catshows and Maj attended her first show in Turku. My mother was so nervous that she wasn't even able to take Maj, the kindest cat in the world, to the judge. Catshows can be so scary! When Maj grew up we dared to consider to have a litter with her. Maj's father was imported from Thailand so it was crucial to have his line continued. Since there were no suitable males in Finland we turned our heads towards Norway where we found a perfect match for Maj, Uffe. When Uffe grew up they became very close with Maj, you could say too close because after many attempts Uffe couldn't get Maj pregnant. Who knows if they were too close, too careful... Anyways, Maj had her first litter in 2005 with a different male. I bet that made Uffe ponder his status as Maj's husband. After Maj's kittens had left we visited Riga with Uffe (catshow) and then when we came back, I don't know if it was the horrible mental pain of being separated for a few days or the thread of an other man that made Uffe try harder this time, but Uffe finally got Maj pregnant after that trip.

 

 

As you may guess, seeing little cute kittens growing up as a child was the best thing in the world! Cat hobby could not end after these catshows and kittens - luckily, our mother was also excited and then there were no turning back. My mother had also a chance to get to know to an exotic and rare breed named egyptian mau in catshows. At that moment there was only one kastrated egyptian mau male in Finland so an import from abroad was necessary. Finally in 2006 we found the most beautiful and worried-looking egyptian mau Khety from Belgium who could be our key to start breeding egyptian mau. We were really surprised how well Khety succeeded in catshows as a kitten, she won the Best in show twice. I remember when Khety had her first catshow in Tallinn and we were nervous days before the show because we were worried that Khety didn't have a clear "broken necklace", since egyptian maus must have it according to the standard. Our mother warned us that the judge may disqualife Khety because of this fault so don't get upset if the judge doesn't like her. But the judge loved Khety and nominated her to the best in shows - since that we didn't believe our mother anymore, Khety was the best!

 

 

Later Khety got another silver spotted egyptian mau female Khepri as her mate. Khepri was imported from Holland in 2009. Khepri got one litter with Khety's son Chichu. There were four kittens in the litter and one of them was Weera. When Weera was only half-day-old I decided that Weera stays home with me. We have bonded so extremely well with Weera, I can't even explain how much I love that silly cat. Weera's beautiful voice, loyal character and tenderness appeal to everybody else, too. I can never say that Weera was a bad choice: Weera attended many shows as a kitten with her grand-mother Khety and she was Bets in show once and was nominated several times. Judges definitely noticed her beauty as well, when Weera was only 4 months old one judge said that she is "almost a perfect mau". One time Weera lost the panel with 2-5 votes to a said to be invincible burmese and afterwards one judge came to hug and kiss Weera and was sorry that she lost, even though we were sure about the result.

 

 

It was time to choose the next breeding female from Weera's last litter and we decided that Inukshuk is the perfect choice to continue this wonderful line. Inukshuk has very important cats in her pedigree which my mother has imported abroad (Khety from Belgium, Khepri from Holland, Eemeli from France, Kaitsu from the US, Nefertiti from the US, Kamila from the UK), so it's an honour to continue these lines through this sweet girl. Inukshuk's first litter and the first FI*Walidah litter was born on December 2015.

 

Weera and Inukshuk are the best of friends and we often find them sleeping together in our walk-in closet inside an Ikea-bag. Weera as a mother is of course the boss and Inukshuk is happy to tend her mother with sensitive cleaning moments. You can get to know Weera and Inukshuk better in Our Cats -section and you will find more pictures in the Gallery.

 

 

Our cats are a huge part of our family and their health and well-being are our priority. We aim to give natural, tasty and healthy food to our cats. As dry foods we use for example Canagan, Taste of the Wild, Applaws... Every now and then our cats also get pig's heart, beef, chicken or other similar raw foods. Best food for our cats is high in protein and low on grain. As cat litter we prefer Extreme Classic and Compact Care which are clay-based litters. We aim to use wooden-based sand for kittens as well, which is more ecological. Then new owners have an option to choose either one of them.

 

 

 Our breeding cats are great in character, healthy and good-looking egyptian maus. Primarily cats are our pets and that's why we want to breed social, brave and friendly, human's best friend, kittens. Of course every kitten is an individual and they may or may not inherit or absorb the qualities their parents have. We don't breed with cats with serious hereditary diseases. But since we have such a small population we need to have diversity as well and my mission is to keep this wonderful indigenous breed vital. We aim to have more than one kitten from each litter to have the possibility to continue the line because then we have a wider variety from which we can choose the next breeding cats. The best kitten may not grow up to be the best breeding cat and important lines aren't safe if you always leave one kitten only to continue the family.

 

 

I am very attracted to egyptian maus since they're an indigenous breed and have a very interesting history. Their character is pure gold and they have so much love to give! My goal as a breeder is to breed healthy, social and attractive-looking egyptian maus. I specialize in the silver color and my focus is on breeding pure silver with striking contrast.

 

 

We visit catshows more or less and I'll try to inform on my webpage if we are attending some shows. My best catshow mate is, of course, my own mother and I would like to go to catshows with her as much as possible. Catshows have been our joint hobby for over 10 years and I don't want it to end! I don't like to go to shows by myself because the familiar cat society is the best thing on show weekends. When you can forget all your daily sorrows and concentrate on cats is the reason why people always keep on coming back to catshows.

 

Call me, text me, e-mail me, come visit us - I'm happy to tell you more! :)

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