Devon Rex
Newsflash! A gorgeous new Devon kitten has joined our family! Photos to follow soon!
Although we only breed Sphynx at the moment, our Devon Rex are a huge part of our lives and it has long been our dream to one day be lucky enough to breed Devons. They have very soft, wavy coats and distinctive large ears. Devons are very special cats, they are very human centered, curious, busy and full of mischief. Although they are not physically the biggest cats, they all have HUGE personalities! Quite similar to the Sphynx in personality, I describe the difference between them as my Devons think they are the centre of the world and my Sphynx think I am the centre of the world! Lookswise I don't think you can beat a really top notch Devon, they just take my breath away.
Grizabella Xerxes or Rocky as we call him, was our first Devon. He is a black smoke. Originally destined to go abroad for breeding, we were very lucky Bella Challis of Grizabella Devon Rex allowed us to have him when he became available in summer 2005. We were absolutely besotted with Rocky from the moment we saw him through Bella's window, racing forward to inspect the visitors. He remains the spoilt and special centre of the household to this day and we cannot imagine life without him.
Weevil, or Grizabella Fiachra, was the second of Bella's boys to join us and is blue smoke. Rocky was extremely put out by the tiny blue arrival in summer 2007 and resisted his advances furiously. Weevil is a very easy going, well rounded character who finally won Rocky over with sheer perseverance. The two Devons now work together to meet their primary goals of food, cuddles, crinkled foil toys and slotted jingle balls. Weevil is a chatty kind of chap who lets us know all his thoughts. He has a severe expression but is a champion tail wagger.
Rocky has had a successful show career, making Best Foreign Kitten at both his kitten shows. As an adult he has become an International Premier, Best of Foreign Neuter at the Irish Supreme show and holds two GCCFI Grand Premier Certs. Rocky has got a bit shy with age and tends to lurk under his blanket until after judging these days but always welcomes a stroke through the open door of his pen. He has a beautiful but very unstable coat and now will only be shown when his coat looks promising. He is a great breed ambassador and will hopefully encourage more people to live with this amazing breed of cat.
Weevil has only been shown twice, both times under the GCCF, once as a kitten and once as an adult. He loved both show days, sitting at the front of his pen demanding pets from passersby. He got his Kitten Open despite being barely old enough to qualify for the show and a CC as an adult. He has since been neutered. He has quite different strengths and weaknesses type wise to Rocky, Weevil's ear set is not what it was as a kitten but he has a nice head otherwise and so we will take him out in the hope that he might win a Premier Cert or two, as well as of course, promoting the still rare Devon Rex breed at Irish shows.
We can never thank Bella enough for entrusting Rocky to us initially and then Weevil. The amount of pleasure our Devons have brought us cannot be measured and we both have a deep seated passion for the breed. Devon Rex are not for everyone, due to their cheeky, over the top personalities and their need to be very involved with everything their people are doing but if you read up on the breed and feel they are the right cats for you, then we couldn't recommend them highly enough but be warned - one Devon is not enough! There is currently no one breeding devons in Ireland but there are some excellent breeders in Britain and it is not hard to bring a kitten back from Britain.