Clicking on a cat's name will take you to the Leotie webpage with photo or the E.R.o'S. pedigree for that cat. Additionally, these cats may be found in the Leotie Abyssinian Pedigree Database
I acquired my first Abyssinians in 1985 and 1986. They were registered in the Cat Fancier's Association (CFA): a ruddy female, CH Neferra's Tara of Leotie; a sorrel (called red by CFA) male, CH Caesarean of Leotie; and a blue female, CH Neferra's Blue Velvet of Leotie. Almost from my beginnings with the breed I heard about the almost legendary deep red Abys, and how that it was generally thought that there were 2 shades of red, what I thought of as a bright, or coppery red, and what was referred to as a dark, mahogany or "Diablo" red. Diablo is in reference to a red Aby sire, CH Dhmahl's Diablo, who is in many Aby pedigrees today. In an article in the 1976 CFA yearbook about red Abyssinians, Edna Field states "Some bloodlines produce red kittens that are quite pale at birth but within a few months they will darken to a good red, while others produce deep reds that do not show distinctive ticking, but resemble a solid colored cat." In my own Aby breeding experience, all my sorrel Abys have been the same bright color, various amounts of rufusing, but having the same tail tip and ticking color. The rufusing seems to have the most effect on the undercoat, and non-ticked areas of the cat. In dilutes, heavy rufusing seems to create a patina effect on the blues, and probably has some effect on the other dilute colors also. For many years I was under the belief that the "Diablo" red was a result of the cumulative effects of the rufus polygene, and accepted the word of the more experienced Aby breeders that the chocolate gene did not exist in the US Aby genepool.
I started showing in The International Cat Association (TICA) in 1987. Since then I have owned or bred over 30 TICA Grand Champions, Grands to Supreme Grands inclusive, most of which were Abyssinians, plus 1 Persian, and 1 Household Pet. One of my sorrel girls, RW QGC Leotie's Serenity, was both TICA's International 3rd Best Abyssinian Kitten and International 3rd Best Abyssinian Cat in 2000. I owned and bred silver Abyssinians in four colors between 1994 and 2002. I earned a licence from TICA to judge Household Pets in 1998, and after an additional 2 years of training, I was licenced as a TICA Provisional Specialty Judge. In 2006 I was advanced to Provisional Allbreed judge. I have earned an Associate of Science degree from Illinois Valley Community College, where I graduated Magna Cum Laude.
In 1999, Pat Harbert, of Ohmy Abyssinians and Bengals in Oklahoma, contacted me about getting a sorrel Aby female, CH Leotie's Dragonsong. She did acquire this cat and later we exchanged a pair of kittens. She got a ruddy girl from me, and I got a sorrel girl from her. This was GRC Ohmy Radio Star of Leotie, pictured above. I was so pleased with the intensity of her color, and the darkness of her ticking. This cat was in my house, running around with my other sorrel Abys for 6-7 months before I looked at her one day, and things just clicked. The darker ticking, the darker tail tip, the dirty pink paw pads, eyeliner and lip liner. She was not like any sorrel Aby I ever remembered having. Could she be chocolate? I almost couldn't believe it.
