Xena came to use at the same time as Galadriel. Melanie suggested that we get a companion for Galadriel, as we both worked away from home in those days. She suggested that I contact Angie Lottering, as she had a litter of “mistakes”. These mistakes were quite extraordinary, though, as their mother was a silver somali and their father was the local African Wild Cat! She got her name, Xena, after Angie told me how she would beat up her Rottweilers on a regular basis (something that she later did with our German Shorthaired Pointers).
Needless to say, Xena joined us and accompanied Galadriel to her shows. We would compete her in the pet section, where she would do extremely well. I recall the first time she was judged by the respected judge, Karen Peplar, she noted that the African Wild Cat hadn’t done much damage to the natural ticking, as Xena looked more like an old-fashioned Abyssinian than a domestic short hair.
When Dushara Breidablik (Benjamin) arrived a few years later, Xena and Benjamin did not get on. The came to a head when we moved to Muldersdrift and Xena, eventually, became my father’s cat. When he emigrated back to Austria in 2012, Xena accompanied him and they became the center of each other’s lives until my father passed away in 2020. At that time, Xena had already reached 20 years of age and, other than deafness was still in super health.
