The Whisker Boutique
Handmade Couture Cat Accessories
& Gifts For You & Your Cat
Gary
Hi there im Gary, I have started this site with my Sister Rachel. We have between us 20 Cats of various breeds including mostly Maine Coon’s and a few Moggies, 2 Embden Geese, 2 Chickens & 3 Indian Runner Ducks.
We or I should say Rachel shows Cats and has several Champions and lots of titled Cats over the years.
We also breed Maine Coon cats under the GCCF prefix Shamanta which are stunningly beautiful as all cats are.
I myself have 5 of the 20 cats including Eric King Cantona ( Grand Champion), Donald Trump who is as big as a charachter as the name suggests. He is deaf and can't hear a thing as the real Donald Trump doesn't seem to when listening to anyone anyway so very apt.
I also have a mixed breed half Maine Coon and half Siamese which was an accident. (We had a Maine Coon stud cat indoors that was very young and not supposed to be working at the time but it turned out he was and mated our Siamese OUCH!
From this happy accident I had Mouse who is my baby who now doesn't like any other person but me (Mad girl).
Rachel
Hi I'm Rachel, Gary's sister and crazy cat lady. I've been showing & breeding cats since I was 14 and they are my life.
I'm a lifelong crafter and obsessive perfectionist and make all the handcrafted items we sell as well as jewellery.
I’d always wanted a cat as a child but with neither of my parents ever having had one and the neighbours where we lived then not being very cat friendly they were both reluctant for me to have one.
When I was 10 years old I was diagnosed with leukaemia and had several years of chemo and radiotherapy. My parents were told at one point that there was nothing else that could be done for me.
My dad one night finally relented and said I could have a cat and so it all began.
My first cat was a blue & white bicolour Persian called Muffin who was soon followed by the love of my life Shawn a blue pointed Birman. Shawn lived in my bedroom, slept in my bed and only left the room and returned when I did. He was in the end the reason I recovered.
Shawn was how I first discovered cat shows. His breeder told us there was a cat show being held in Newton Abbot and that they were accepting late entries. We quickly filled in the forms and a couple of weeks later attended our first cat show. Shawn won first in his open class & best of breed and from then on I was hooked. My dad would then take me all over the country to show him. One time arriving home from working in Leicester only to load us all back up and turn around and drive to Lincoln. I remember this particular trip as Shawn had a new wicker carrying case with a little window in the front that my mum had found in a pet shop in Tavistock. On the way up Shawn suddenly appeared in the front of the car having eaten his way out of it!
My beloved Shawn died in 2010 which left me absolutely devastated and is something I will never get over. He was more human than cat in the end and even had his own plate at the table next to me.
As a cat breeder i'm a sucker for bonding with cute kittens with huge personalities which is why I have several neutered males that I’ve kept only to show and cuddle.
Today I still have a lot of health problems stemming from the treatment for leukaemia and have to use a wheelchair when I go out. I have fibromyalgia, CKD stage 3, diabetes type 2, avascular necrosis to name only a few of the major ones.
My cats are my life and my reason for breathing, the reason I am still here and ultimately the best thing that ever happened to me.
