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GC, GP, NW Velvetkist Pack'N Heat
of Krimpurrs Photos copyrighted by the individual photographers
Noralyn Heisig, husband Wade, and their son Casey share their rural Maryland home with the Velvetkist Persians and a Shih Tzu named Cosette (a dog that thinks she's a cat). Noralyn began showing a household pet in TICA in 1996. After spending time in the show hall, she fell in love with the Persians. By 1998, she bought her first Persian and began showing in CFA. After showing in both TICA and CFA for awhile, she committed to CFA exclusively when she purchased GC, RW Seder Rennes Bellagio, a cream and white male bred by Peggy Huffman. Bellagio became the foundation of Velvetkist Persians.
In 2010, Noralyn bred Revillion Happy Jax of Velvetkist to a Bellagio daughter. The resulting litter of four fabulous kittens was her “golden” litter. The three girls each granded in a just a couple of shows. Not to be outdone, their brother Velvetkist Pack'N Heat, aka “Frankie”, granded in just five rings. The litter DM’ed their mother, GC Velvetkist Evanescence, DM.
The Hairy Little Monster Frankie was a little monster as a kitten. He ate his food plus his sisters’ food and romped around without a care in the world. When Frankie was a kitten, Noralyn was campaigning his older brother, GC, NW Velvetkist Fiori Di Como. It was Noralyn's first national campaign and it was understandably very stressful. She decided to bring baby Frankie to the shows along with Fiori just to have some fun and perhaps relieve some of the tension of the campaign trail. At his first show Frankie shared a benching cage with big brother Fiori. Frankie pounced and chewed on Fiori and generally drove him nuts. Frankie was a total riot. A natural show cat right from the start, Frankie charmed everyone, especially the judges. He would sit up in the ring with his paws through the cage—a habit he still maintains today.
Fairly soon, Frankie was making more finals than Fiori and it became clear that the hairy little monster was something special. Never one to shy from a challenge, Noralyn decided to campaign both boys at the same time. It was during this dual campaign that she first met Beth Holly of Krimpurrs Persians. Even though Beth was also campaigning a bicolor kitten, she became a big Frankie fan. The two women became good friends. By the end of the show season, Fiori was officially GC, NW Velvetkist Fiori Di Como and CFA's 10th Best Cat in Championship 2010-2011.
Frankie finished his kitten career as CFA’s 2nd Best Kitten for 2010-2011. Not too shabby for the little hairy beast that was just being shown for fun. And how about Noralyn? In just her first time as a national campaigner she had TWO homebred National Winners!
Not a Ladies' Man Frankie easily granded in Championship in just five rings and then retired, returning home with Noralyn to become a stud cat. One hitch in the plan—Frankie wasn't really interested in breeding. He preferred to lounge on the couch watching TV with Noralyn to chasing girls. Lots of Persians are slow to mature but eventually Frankie did show an interest in breeding. Just as he began feeling his oats, however, he developed a serious medical issue. Over an eight week period, his bladder blocked three times. The second blockage was more difficult to resolve than the first one. Complicating matters, the medication he needed had the side effect of giving him Cushing’s disease—all his hair fell out. ALL his hair. Noralyn was appalled—but in a strange way losing all that coat seemed to coincide with him getting better. Unfortunately it was a temporary recovery. He blocked a third time. Frankie's condition was now very serious. Scar tissue from being catheterized to open the previous blocks now hindered the veterinarian from clearing the third blockage no matter how hard he tried. Finally, the vet suggested he perform a perineal urethrostomy—a procedure that creates a permanent opening in the cat's urethra to remove obstructions to urine flow. It would mean that Frankie would never be able to breed—never sire a kitten. Noralyn wanted only to do what was best for Frankie. Without a second thought she approved the operation. The surgery was a success—but it was a long time before the poor bald boy would recover completely. There was a silver lining, however. Once Frankie was off his medication, the Cushing’s disease resolved. Noralyn was unsure if Frankie's hair would ever grow back . . . or if it did, whether he would always have bald spots. After a couple of months, it became clear that his hair was growing in normally. Confident that Frankie was going to be his true handsome self once again, Noralyn contacted Frankie's favorite fan, Beth, to discuss the possibility of campaigning him in premiership. Beth Holly had started breeding Devon Rex with her mom in 1989. A few years later Lois Bantz of Bolo Persians gave Beth a red tabby Persian to show in premiership. Beth campaigned GP, NW Bolo's Flash Fire of Krimpurrs to 10th Best Cat in Premiership 1994-95.
When Beth and her mom retired their Devon breeding program, Beth continued showing Persians under her Krimpurrs cattery name. Over the years, she enjoyed great success in the show ring including earning national wins with two kittens and four cats in premiership. Noralyn knew that if anyone could do justice to Frankie showing him in the premiership class, it would be Beth. A New Life . . . A New Campaign And so that was how, in the spring of 2014, Frankie came to live with Beth Holly and the rest of the Krimpurrs kitties. Immediately, Frankie fit right in. Beth started bi-weekly bathing and conditioning of Frankie's coat and by early April she decided he looked good enough to try for his first grand points in premiership. She entered a show with a modest count not far from her Ohio home. By closing time, the premiership count had ballooned and the show was one of the biggest of the weekend. Since she was only looking for grand points, Beth decided to make the trip anyway. Frankie did her more than proud in his debut in premiership—5 Best Cats and a new grand in one show! Frankie clearly enjoyed being back at the shows—and any worries about whether his surgery would hinder his success were silenced. Meatball Madness With the start of the 2014 show season, Frankie and Beth hit the campaign trail. Judges commented that Frankie was the living ideal of the written Persian standard; short, cobby, round head with a smooth tophead, huge eyes and no ears. But Frankie is not just a pretty face. He has tons of personality too. One of his more amusing quirks is his total infatuation with raw meat. Beth feeds him a meatball snack every morning and every night. To protect Frankie's full white ruff, Beth always uses a paper towel when hand feeding him (yes, he is hand fed). As a result, whenever Frankie sees a single paper towel, his pupils dilate, his eyes get big, and he starts to do a happy dance. He knows it's time for his favorite snack. He does this both at home and in the show hall. He is so sure that a paper towel means treat-time that he once jumped on a neighboring grooming table when the person pulled out a paper towel to use on her own cat. Frankie knows what he wants and is not afraid to go for it. The World Show and Beyond Frankie was only shown at a total of 22 shows for the year including the prestigious CFA World Show in Philadelphia, PA where he was chosen Best of the Best over 671 entries. He was Best Cat across the board in the Red Show—a feat that he repeated a total of nine times during the season.
CFA's Best Cat in Premiership During the campaign, Beth never boarded a plane with Frankie—although she did have a ticket that was turned over three times. Their adventures took them as far west as St. Louis, MO, as far south as Atlanta, GA, and as far East as Philadelphia, PA. By November 2015, Frankie had cruised to the top of the Premiership standings. Despite his success, Beth and Noralyn were always prepared to stop showing him if there was ever a sign that the stress of traveling and campaigning was affecting his heath (considering his medical history). Thankfully, being constantly adored by so many people and judges didn't bother Frankie at all—indeed he thrived on all the attention. At the end of the season Frankie was CFA's Best Cat in Premiership 2014-2015! Frankie loved the show ring and being a ham; a show cat in every sense of the word. He is now retired for the second time. Not much has changed in his home life except that now when Beth's 25-pound Maine Coon wants to run, jump, and roll around the floor, Frankie gets to join in the reindeer games. He no longer has to worry about messing up his magnificent coat. In fact, Beth says Frankie has an appointment with a pair of clippers. Of course, Beth still gives Frankie his beloved meatball snacks . . . and his eyes still get very big and he does his crazy dance whenever he sees a paper towel. What a cat!
Below are photos from the show career of GC, GP, NW Velvetkist Pack'N Heat
of Krimpurrs CFA's Best Cat in Premiership 2014-2015 Birthdate: March 31, 2010
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