GC, TruTails Great Expectations
(Finnegan Bell)
Finn stayed here where he quickly showed us how much he loves to show off for the judges.

PR, TruTails Fast Eddie
Adopted by Kelly in Golden, CO. where "Eddie's" biggest challenge is learning to stay out of the fountain!
Eddie is being shown in Premiership, where he's showing his "purr"sonality in the show ring.

Our first attempt to create a TruTails' Legend began with the breeding of CFA's Regional Award Winning, Grand Champion Kankoonkats Lil'Britches of TruTails, our first male, to our first female, a Champion in both CFA & TICA, Coonyham Tallulah of TruTails. Both Brown Tabby with White Cats, so you can imagine our surprise when the FIRST BORN TruTails Kitten was a SOLID BLACK male ~ not only No White, but No Tabby Markings either! The second kitten born in that litter was a Brown Tabby w/White female, and what a gorgeous girl she was!!! We were as excited about her as we were surprised about our black male.

After being told by several breeders to "watch him" for awhile, that our firstborn kitten could actually be a "cold" brown tabby, we settled in to observe his development. After a couple weeks passed we accepted the fact that both Lil'Britches & Tallulah did in fact carry the non-agouti gene (non-agouti = an absence of tabby markings), as well as the ability to mask white, we definately had a Solid Black Maine Coon Kitten. Of course this little fellow, was going to need a special name... Due to his "raspy voice" and an apparent desire to "sing," this handsome boy soon became known as TruTails Satchmo ~ after the Legendary Louie "Satchmo" Armstrong. Satchmo impressed us with both his temperament and size. His "type" was developing really nicely, we were very pleased with his progress, but he was still a Solid Black Maine Coon and they are notoriously difficult so show ~ with the absence of tabby markings, especially on their heads, the judges can't seem to "see" them.

Let's not forget, there were two kittens in our first litter. The second kitten, a Brown Tabby w/White very "typie" female was marked so much like her sire that the only logical name choice for her was TruTails Lil'Fancypants ~ after her sire, Lil'Britches. "Fancy," as she is called, was a "natural" for the show ring. She developed good size for a female Maine Coon kitten, she had great head type, a nice profile & great ear size & set ~ including Lynx tips to die for ~ a fantastic warm brown coat with a near perfect "Classic" pattern, how could she miss? ~ And add to all that, she has the perfect attitude for the show hall, she's beautiful & she knows it! Of course she is a FEMALE and everybody knows how difficult it is to show Female Maine Coons. But, we LOVE this beautiful girl, and have every confidence we can "Grand" her!

Although Satchmo was developing very nicely, Trudie still had concerns about the difficulty involved in showing not only a solid Maine Coon ~ but Solid Black to boot! Dennis, however, persisted in his belief that Satchmo could overcome the difficulty involved in being solid & black by his wonderful type and impressive size. Fancy continued to develop beautifully too. Her problem would be competing in what is usually the largest Maine Coon class in CFA ~ Brown Tabby w/White, and females are at a distinct disadvantage with the Maine Coon Standard being written in favor of the Males.

Oh well, as a wise person once said, "You gotta go with what you've got." So in the end, unable to part with either of our first two kittens & despite the difficulties we were told to expect, we are showing them both.

The two hopeful TruTails Legends appeared in kitten class during the last 3 months of CFA's 2000-01 Show Season. Dennis is proving himself to be right about Satchmo, he did well as a kitten, even taking a 2nd Best of Breed in his first show. He has finaled at least once in every show, including a BEST KITTEN Award as a 6 month old. And as we hoped, Fancy has held her own against the Brown Tabby/White boys. In addition to many finals, she received a BEST KITTEN Award at the Maine Coon Show in Fort Worth.

Satchmo & Fancy began their CFA Championship careers in June of the 2001-02 Show Season. Satchmo became a Grand Champion in CFA and we are continuing to show him with hopes for a Regional Win in Championship. Fancy achieved Grand Champion status in 3 shows, and we are busy planning her future breeding career - We can hardly wait for the first kittens born to a TruTails cat!