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Cottontop Persians I am Mandy Moesch. Along with my husband, Jim, I breed bicolor Persians in Lexington, Kentucky under the Cottontop cattery name. In 2006, while living in Texas, I began showing Persians in Premiership. After showing two premiers to regional wins I moved into the Championship classes and added GC titles to two Persian males. In 2007 I registered my cattery with CFA. I chose my cattery name in honor of my dad. He was so blonde in college they nicknamed him Cottontop. I had my first litter in September of 2008. When the babies were just two weeks old, Hurricane Ike devastated our area and we had to evacuate. The stress was too much for the babies and I lost the entire litter. It was a difficult start, but I persevered. Between 2008 and 2012 I had five litters of Persian kittens. Then in 2012, I had what I consider my “break out” litter that produced my first homebred regional winner, GC, RW Cottontop Love Stoned! Of Katzenfur.
I kept two females from this litter that would produce top offspring for me. I obtained two breeding males — GC, RW Kittiary Cuervo Especial! D.M. and GC, RW Kittiary For Goodness Sake! — from Liza Callaghan Hill, Kittiary Persians. While I have worked with many notable bloodlines, the most influential have been those kitties from Liza. Liza is my heart sister. I believe she is the most intelligent person I have ever known. She has taught me so much. She's retired from breeding now but she is still very interested and is Cottontop’s biggest fan. I am proud and honored to carry on the Kittiary bloodlines. All my cats' names have an exclamation point after their name. It’s my "inherited trademark" .
The Moon And The Stars When I first moved from Texas to Kentucky I did not know anyone. I was unhappy and homesick. That's when I first met Beth Hetzel of Olde Rose Persians. I went to her home to pick up cat food that Beth had volunteered to pick for a group of local breeders. Her kitties had the run of her home. Everyone was clean and happy. As we began talking it was obvious we had the same ideas about cats, showing. We clicked. I sold two female cats to her— and she fulfilled everything she said she was going to do with my girls including granding them both. Our friendship deepened and now we travel and show together. We are so in tune with each other that we do things before the other asks or before it needs to be done. We even developed a system. She watches the rings; tells me where I need to go; totals the points earned. She allows me to concentrate on the cats and their grooming. She is the best partner and friend I could hope for. As Beth and I like to say, "Our friendship was meant to be — It was in the moon and the stars. As of 2018, Cottontop has produced four National Winners — all co-owned with Beth.
The Ugly Duckling Cottontop Trinket D.M. is a gorgeous girl, a top producer, but was never shown because her mother accidentally chewed off half an ear, half a tail and a toe. In the late spring of 2016, I bred her to GC, RW Kittiary For Goodness Sake!.
Nine weeks later Trinket produced a litter of seven kittens! They were all beautiful . . . but one red and white boy stood out. My eye was always drawn to him. There was just something about him evident from the beginning. I called him Flash for obvious reasons — he was just so flashy!. Flash had all the makings to be a nice cat. Then he entered an "ugly duckling" stage. I still had faith in his potential though. The "not so handsome baby" stayed home while his siblings went to the show hall to begin their kitten careers.
Flash's Siblings Flash's siblings were well received by the judges in CFA. . .
The Swan At eight months of age, I finally felt that Flash was ready for his show debut. He entered the show hall for the first time and quickly granded.
Beth and I decided to take Flash to a few shows as a Grand Champion — just to test the waters and see how he was received by the judges. He did really well. The decision was made to try for an NW. He was continuing to mature and seemed to be more beautiful with each passing week. He gained momentum and climbed the ladder in the national standings.. Flash was a natural showman. He would pirouette and almost dance on the judges' table. People loved him and he adored the attention. He was a real ham. He was also a great traveler. In the car, hotel, airport, plane or even restaurants, he took everything in stride. One of my favorite memories is going through airport security and having my hands swabbed by the officer. Flash held out his paw to be swabbed too!
Flash was shown steadily for just six months during the 2017-2018 show season, climbing into the number 3 slot in the national standings. .Then unfortunately, the weekend of the big CFA International Show in Portland, Oregon, he began blowing coat big time. We left half his coat behind in that northwest city. We needed to regroup, to reconsider, to contemplate what we wanted and what was best for Flash. In the end we decided Flash had done more than we could have hoped for. With half the season still to go, we retired Flash from the show ring. It was time for him just be the “King of Our Hearts”.
Despite the early end to his campaign, GC, BWR, NW Cottontop Trademark! finished the 2017-2018 show season as CFA's 13th Best Cat in Championship, and Best Of Breed Winner. It is quite the accomplishment in only 6 months of active showing. GC, NW Cottontop Reserve! At the same time as Beth and I were campaigning Flash, we were also showing a blue and white McTabby kitten, Cottontop Special Reserve! Affectionately known as “Chip”, his mother is GC, NW Cottontop Love Poppet!, who is a full sister to Flash — so Chip is Flash's nephew, and Flash is Chip's uncle. This season was definitely all in the family.
Chip's Dad GC, RW Kittiary Cuervo Especial! D.M. has produced lovely kitties for me, but I had been waiting for that one special boy to come along who would become the future “Heir” to Cuervo’s harem. Chip was just the kitten I had been waiting for. When Chip was born, he immediately drew my eye. His head was so round, level eye slits, perfect nose placement, and with a sweet expression and body to match. I had high hopes for the tabby and white boy . . . but he has some big shoes to fill if he were to take over from his Daddy.
Besides beauty, Chip had personality to spare too. He was a blast to show. He was always “on”. Loved to play. I had judges tell me he missed the Persian " laid-back memo" and instead acted more like a shorthair. One judge even nicknamed him the “Energizer Bunny”. We even had to hide teasers from him before the rings as he would get too worked up and overheat in the show halls of summer!
Chip showed alongside his Uncle Flash for part of the year, quickly zooming up the kitten standings. GC, NW Cottontop Special Reserve! retired after his kitten campaign and earning his Grand Champion title. He really was a breeze to show and has certainly made us proud!
With Thanks Beth and I would like to take a moment to thank all the CFA judges that recognized Flash and Chip for the beautiful Persians they are — and for awarding them accordingly. We would also like to thank the many exhibitors and friends that supported us along the way during this incredible journey. My husband, Jim, stays at home with the cats while I am on the road showing. If there were titles for the best husband he would be a National Winner! Cat breeding is both an art and a science . . . and my passion. I am excited to see what the future generation brings . . . :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: More photos from the show career of GC, NW Cottontop Trademark! Red & White Persian Male CFA 13th Best Cat In Championship 2017-2018 Born: 07/22/16 Sire: GC, RW Kittiary For Goodness Sake! AND GC, NW Cottontop Special Reserve! Blue McTabby & White Persian Male CFA 9th Best Kitten 2017-2018 Born: 3/17/17 Sire: GC,RW Kittiary Cuervo Especial! D.M.
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