Prior to Amaro's 1st vaccinations, we had never offered her up for "adoption" by any new families because she had not had the best of starts in life. From the moment she was born, Amaro needed 2 hourly feeding for the first 3 weeks and unlike her brother who was in the same situation, Amaro never seemed to grow the same as the rest of her siblings. At the time, we were not unduly concerned as we have had small babies in the past who have gone on to be massive adult cats with no problems. When it came to 11 weeks of age, we were seriously considering keeping her here to add to our own cat family.

On October 2, 2007, Amaro, along with our other babies was taken to our vets for her first set of vaccinations. It was at this point in time we found out that our darling girl had a heart murmur. In fact, our vet delivered a heartbreaking prognosis that in her opinion, Amaro would not live past 2 years of age. With that statement, the decision as to whether we would keep Amaro was made for us. This girl was going nowhere and would have a home here for life. When I came back from the vets that afternoon, I let all the babies out of the carriers, Graham asked me "How it went?" and my reply was to burst into tears and tell him what our vet had said about Sherlock as she was then known. Graham said straight away that she "stays here and isn't going anywhere!". This statement spoke volumes as to the man that I married :)

It was a difficult 24 hours for us after finding out this news as it was the last thing we expected. I am eternally grateful to my mate, Teen of Maroochydore Siamese & Orientals for her love, support, and advice with Amaro. Time and time again, Teen proves herself to be one in a million. Although Amaro will be treated no differently than our other cats, the same as she was treated no differently than her siblings, she will need very regular check ups, a heart scan when she has matured, and constant monitoring.

Amaro will be spayed when she has grown big enough because obviously, any baby with a heart condition can not ever be added to a breeding program for two reasons. The first reason being that pregnancy could put too great a strain on her heart and could put her life at risk. The second reason is that no cats, male or female, with health issues should ever be used in any kind or breeding program due to the fact that many conditions are hereditary and can be passed on to the progeny. It makes no difference to us that our girl can never be bred from and she certainly does not mean any less to us than our breeding cats. In fact, we are extremely lucky to have such a special fur child in our home.

Like all of the Schimmel cats, Amaro's name is chosen for a liqueur, again one that we have never tasted, and again, one that Graham chose. Amaro is an italian herbal liqueur and when Graham was searching for names, surprisingly there are still many liqueurs left, it was a choice of this, or one other which we both liked. In the end, Amaro was chosen and we think it suits her perfectly. Amaro's registered name "Mirrhi" is an Aboriginal name which means "little girl" and this describes Amaro perfectly.

As a tiny baby, she was an extremely active little girl, never lethargic, never breathlessness however once she reached approximately 5 months of age she became extremely withdrawn, very lethargic, and we were desperately worried that our little angel was going downhill and her murmur was getting worse. You can imagine our joy when at around 7 1/2 months of age, Amaro suddenly turned into an extremely active, very playful little baby who eats like there is no tomorrow. I am certain that these changes came about because Kamora, and Afrikoko gave our angel a new lease of life. For whatever reason, Amaro attached herself to these 2 girls in particular and suddenly decided that anything they could do, she could do better. Now, at 9 months of age, it is not uncommon at all to see Amaro tearing up and down the stairs, in and out of the cat run, and playing like a lunatic with her 2 best mates. We are over the moon with her progress and pray that it will continue for many years to come.

We honestly do not know what the future holds for Amaro. One thing we do know is that her heart murmur is not a death sentence and we do know sometimes a vet's diagnosis can be wrong. Amaro has a heck of a lot of living to do, she has been a fighter all of her life, so when she is still here after 2 years of age, it will come as no surprise to either Graham or myself. Each day we share with our girl is a blessing.