When it became apparent that Afrikoko had a successful honeymoon and babies were due, we had made the decision that we would keep a girl back. There is no point in spending months and months choosing the right stud cat, making the effort to get a girl to and from the stud owners', unless you have plans to keep a kitten back. When the litter was born, there were 3 girls, 2 Black Spotted's and 1 Black. For us, there was no doubt in our mind at all which baby would be remaining and was the Black. Right from the very beginning we have always had Oriental Black breeding girls and we had found ourselves with none and so the birth of Ly Shan (or Southern as she was then known) was truly a blessing.

Right from the outset it became very apparent just what a difficult child Ly Shan would eventually become, the signs were in place from a very early age! In typical Oriental Black fashion she is extremely demanding, way too stubborn for her own good, and she talks non stop, she never shuts up. Ly Shan is also incredibly vain and she will do what she wants, when she wants and it's just too bad if other people don't agree. This young lady is a force to be reckoned with and you may be wondering why on earth we kept her however................the traits that Ly Shan displays are the same traits I would expect to see in any decent Oriental Black and we would not have her any other way.

Ly Shan is also very playful, extremely mischievous, and super cuddly when she wants to be. It is a mistake to crouch down or bend down because the moment you do, she is straight up on your shoulders and you can not remove her. She's just amazing, such an incredibly strong personality and yes I know that when she is and adult we will have many battles of will but that's okay, it's not the end of the world. Ly Shan is perfect just the way she is.

Her best friend is her own brother, Tsipouro, and Ly Shan runs rings about him (and our adult cats! and has everyone wrapped around her silky black paws.

We have no intentions of mating Ly Shan until she is at least 13 months of age and for the time being we are totally enjoying her for the amazing little person that she is.