Toussaint is an Oriental Black Tortie. We had never intended to add another Black Tortie to our home, particularly as we already have 2 of them here. However, when Chris of Aportent Siamese and Orientals first sent me a photo of this beautiful girl I was absolutely hooked. Although it wasn't until much later than Chris very kindly offered her to us as a Schimmel breeding queen.

Within 24 hours of being with us, Toussaint was part of the family and she settled in virtually straight away which is a credit to Chris. There is however, only one word to describe this little minx and that is "Tart". At 7 months of age she was already calling and ready to smooch with anyone, regardless of whether they were feline or not. We are totally delighted with our new girl and the fact that she is also half sister to our Cacao and her sire is the fabulous Rubynn, also bred and owned by Chris.

In typical Oriental fashion, she is an extremely playful and loving girl who makes it very difficult for me to ever get anything done because she is always on my lap,or sitting on my shoulder with her front legs hugging my head. She just has bundles of personality and as well as that typical Tortie personality which I adore so much. Toussaint is one of my special fur children and right the moment she moved in with us, she developed a very close bond to me. She will leap straight from the floor up into my arms, or if I am standing up and have my back to her, she will leap out of nowhere, landing on my shoulders to settle down for a cuddle. She also has the endearing habit of grooming my hair on a daily basis and it's not unusual to see me sitting at the computer, hunched over, so that I don't disturb Toussaint's grooming sessions.

Toussaint has had a very good, yet short, show career and whilst I liked her type from the first photo I ever saw of her, not even I was expecting her to do quite as well as she did. For the time being, we have now retired Toussaint from the bench and only time will tell whether or not we put her back out again.

We will always be grateful to Chris for her generosity and for her trust and we will do our best to ensure that we do not let her down. To date, Toussaint has produced one litter for us, sired by Sheridans, and she has been an outstanding mum. In typical Oriental fashion, she totally adores her children. Toussaint's next mating will be to Ashanti and this will be an exciting mating as we can expect Oriental Red Tabbies in this forthcoming litter.