Hello, I'm Ginny Molloy of Charmalot Maine Coon Cattery & Pet Services in Kentucky. In a way, it all started back in 1969, with a longhaired, domestic calico. We showed that household pet all over the eastern half of the US, meeting people and making friends along the way. We first heard about Maine Coons while out showing, but didn't get our first Maine Coon until 1977.

After years of searching, CG Sundar Sarisvati of Charmalot, bred by Phyllis Voth of Sundar Cattery, came to join us. Sari was a brown mctabby with white female. We paid $150.00 for Sari, but back in those days, pets sold for $75.00, and shipping cost $18.00.

We didn't actually SEE a Maine Coon until 2 weeks before Sarisvati was due to arrive. I met Connie Condit of Heidi Ho cattery at an Illinois show. Connie had Henry Sayward and Henrietta Katt benched at the show. She said Henrietta was rather thin, at 12 1/2 pounds. I thought she was plenty big enough, and Henry was just humonguous! I had never seen anything like him in my whole life! I couldn't believe that I'd be getting a female the size of Henrietta - good thing, too - I didn't. Sari arrived weighing a whopping 2 3/4 pounds at 12 weeks, and didn't reach 7 pounds until she was pregnant.

Charmalot Cattery was truly born, along with our first litter, after Sundar Sarisvati of Charmalot was bred to The Maine Place Msr. Larry de Paul. Things started hopping when we fell in love with SGC Heidi Ho Molly Brown, a daughter of Sonkey Bill and Polly Adeline. We placed an order for a male from a repeat breeding. We were extremely grateful to Connie Condit for allowing us to own and love TICA TGC, OS Heidi Ho Richard III of Charmalot.

Richard was a loving, sociable boy at home, but a "cowardly lion" at shows. We retired him from showing to concentrate on breeding after he got his TGC. He soon became TICA's first Maine Coon Outstanding Sire. The title of Oustanding Sire is achieved in TICA by siring 10 unaltered grand champions! The second Maine Coon to achieve this distinction was his son, SGC, OS Walmet Daniel Coone of Cowtown.

Another son, SGC Charmalot King Arthur Pendragon (pictured above), is one grand away from his OS. Richard also produced several Outstanding Dams, a title earned for producing 5 unaltered grand champions, among them SGC, OD Bluebonnet of Cowtown, and DGC, OD Charmalot Katie of Willowplace. His favorite mate CH, OD Charmalot Bluesette also gained her "outstanding dam" title.

Daniel Coone was TICA's 2nd Best International Cat and Best Maine Coon in 1985, a record unequaled to this day by a Maine Coon. SGC Coonquest Tycoon, a great-great grandson of Richard, was TICA's 4th Best International Cat and Best Maine Coon in 1993.

Tragically, Richard died young, leaving behind a lot of warm memories and a line and look that continues to this day. Richard helped us achieve a lot of firsts. His son, SGC Charmalot Most Hapi Fella, was the first blue tabby Maine Coon to supreme in TICA. Hapi's littermate, SGC Charmalot Monhegan Mac, was the first brown mackeral tabby Supreme.

At that time, Charmalot and Calicoon, owned by Lynne Sherer, were the only catteries showing blue tabbies. We collaborated with Lynne, breeding our CH The Maine Place Bastet of Charmalot to her Blu-Macks. This was the start of the "Charmalot blues," and the source of many of our Grand Champions - 50 or so to date, in four domestic and international associations, including the first Canadian CCA Maine Coon grands.

To this day, most Charmalot cats are based on Richard, Bluesette, her cousin Becky, and of course, that original GC Sundar Sarisvati of Charmalot cat. We have been very fortunate in obtaining and breeding some very nice cats. We have not forgotten those who helped and guided us in our early years, and are proud to carry on that tradition.

Over the years, we have watched fashions come and go. We have watched regional differences in the Maine Coons give way to today's differences between associations. The Maine Coon has changed a great deal in 20 years. The cats are a LOT larger, and the sweet, expressive look of yesteryear has given way to today's more "feral" looking cat. We have never changed our ideal to suit fashion, and have no intention of doing so. Cats from our lines still win in today's show rings, often against much more extreme cats.

Unlike some catteries, Charmalot has always emphasized health, temperament and reproductive fitness in our cats. Many fine catteries have started out with a Charmalot girl, knowing that she would be able to have and raise her own kittens with no problems, and that she could be depended on to pass her type and temperament on to her kittens.

I am thrilled with the increasing popularity of the Maine Coon cat, but I find it frightening in some ways. There are breeders who are breeding for money and prestige, with little regard for health and disposition. In addition, there are no few kitten mills breeding Maine Coon kittens. We must do everything we can to insure that popularity doesn't destroy the breed. I worry that some of today's breeders may be losing sight of the proper goals of a breeding program:

To produce strong, healthy, correct cats with loving temperaments.

In addition, some breeders are no longer willing to provide the support and education that new Maine Coon owners need. I feel that older, more experienced breeders have an obligation to educate newer breeders in the care and management of their cats. The relationship really BEGINS when the contract is signed. I have spent 4 hours on the phone talking a novice through helping deliver that important first litter. I've expended enormous amounts of time and energy over the years supporting and guiding novice breeders, and enjoyed it.