Did we really need another Oriental Black Tortie girl in the home? Well yes and no actually. "No" because we already have 3 Black Tortie's and if you have ever shared your home with a Tortie, you will be well aware that they are a handful and they would try the patience of a Saint some days. However, when Drambuie had her 4th litter, we were considering having her spayed so as a precaution, we decided to keep a daughter back from her.

We were delighted when Drambuie gave birth to 3 Black Tortie's in her "Capitals" litter as this meant we had lots to choose from. Perhaps what I should have done was put my "breeders hat" on and assessed all 3 Black Tortie's for breed and show potential, remembering that Drambuie's mother is a Grand Premier & Champion Alter, Drambuie herself is a Champion, so we did want to keep back something a bit "special". However, I did let my heart rule my head. Right from the start there was something special about Nocino, in her personality, and she just appealed to me more than either of her 2 sisters did. So here she is.........................

Why Schimmel Shesanightmare? Well why not? It just had to be done considering what her mother's registered name is :) Nocino is a lovely girl with the same rich, vibrant colouring as her mother and her grandmother. She also has very expressive green eyes and has an intense, wicked expression which is exactly what I want to see in any Tortie Oriental. Cino is much more elegant than her mother and at 8 months of age she was already taller, more elegant, and longer, than her mother, Drambuie. She looks a lot more like her grandmother, Cacao than she does her mother.

Even though her pet name is "Nocino", she is actually called "My Cino" because she MY Cino. This girl and I have a special bond and being a Black Tortie, she is a very stubborn, very mischievous little minx, but I wouldn't swap her for the world. She has the most wonderful trait of waiting until I'm ready to go up and down the stairs and she bounds up in front of me, sprawls out on the stair where I'm about to tread, forcing me to sit on the stair with her and stroke her or cuddle her. When she is lying on the top platform of the scratch post, if I walk past, she puts out both paws to grab me and stop me for a chat and cuddle. She also adores her human daddy. As an older kitten, she was also known to bite me on numerous occasions because I was stroking someone else and not her. In our eyes, Nocino is the epitome of a stunning, wicked, Black Tortie, in other words, she is simply perfect and we are delighted to have this wonderful fur child in our family.

Nocino had her first honeymoon in 2008 but sadly, she had a miscarriage which totally devastated her as it did us. Her mother, grandmother, aunty, cousin, half sister, are born mothers and judging from My Cino's reaction when she lost her children at approximately 5 weeks into the pregnancy, she has the same mothering instincts. It took Cino a while to get over the miscarriage and she became incredibly sad and a little thin as well afterwards. She didn't want to play with her 2 best mates any more. A few months on however and we have our Cino back, she has filled out, although she will always be a slender girl, she is incredibly happy, plays all the time and is totally back to normal.

In May 2009, we were worried about Cino as she was very sad and was losing her appetite so we took her straight in to our vets to be checked over. The news has been extremely worrying and despite spending an entire day at the vets for X-rays, ultrasounds, blood tests, urine tests, bone marrow biopsies, fluid tests etc. we have no conclusive results. Cino is still currently undergoing testing, and weekly, sometimes twice weekly vet visits, and the next step for her will be exploratory surgery and yet more biopsies. This is still ongoing and we do have a battle on our hands with our little girl but please God, we will have a happy outcome.