Our Little Dutch Girl – Part 1

Sofiya at 16 weeks. Photo by Maartje Schoenmaker

When you love cats, there comes a time when you feel the siren call, even after a loss. Friends post photos on Facebook. Litters of adorable kittens are born. There’s this tugging on your heartstrings.

More than two years after losing Celica Blue, I felt that tug. There was Stormy, who was a sweet older kitty with various health issues, and yes, an unlimited number of adorable shelter kitties who paraded across my Facebook pages. But my heart longed for one last Russian Blue.

To provide a little background, Russian Blues comes in two basic flavors – American/Scandinavian type, which have ears set more to the side, a shorter face, smaller build, and often a lighter coat, and the European/Australian, which have ears that are positioned higher, prominent whisker pads, more almond-shaped eyes, and are a bit sturdier in build.

I’ve known Maartje Schoenmaker for many years through various online Russian Blue groups. She’s from the Netherlands; Russian Blues seem to be more widely bred in Europe than in the U.S. I watched many of her litters grow up, including Bella, who I thought was exceptionally sweet. I watched more than a few kittens come through her feed and inquired about a couple.

Then Bella had an “oops” litter with Neo, an… err… younger man. There were six kittens, dubbed the “S” (Surprise) litter. Governing Council of the Cat Fancy breeders name their litters alphabetically. I saw Sofiya and I felt that tug. Indeed, I felt a connection because of Bella and because the first litter I bred back in 1988 included a Sophie.

Maartje and I started talking. She posted photos every couple of weeks and I could see how Sofiya was developing. We discussed how her personality would fit into our household, the schedule for vaccinations, when she would be spayed. I explained that we had a quiet household and that Mollie and Tekla were older. I wanted a kitty who was mellow, but could stand up for herself. And, oh, someone who liked to be cuddled! Sofiya fit the bill. We struck a deal and Alyona Sofiya Dvinskaja would be ours.

Finally, we got down to discussing dates and arranging transport. There’s a whole network of people who crisscross the world bringing pets to their new homes. I first reached out to Vladimir and Ekaterina, who had transported Celica Blue. Their costs had risen considerably due to changes in customs at the airport. A friend had used Pawel and highly recommended him. Thus began a round robin of discussing dates, transferring money, determining if friends could take me to the airport. We discussed Friday, March 15, 8:30 p.m. arrival. I made the arrangements for the ride since my husband cringed at the prospect of driving to New York.

Then Pawel changed the date to Saturday, which meant that my friends were not available and that Paul would have to drive. It wasn’t until a couple of days before the trip that the details were finally nailed down, and, of course, there was a delay in messaging back and forth with Paul asking every couple of hours if I heard anything.

We discussed the flight schedule and directions endlessly, especially with the time difference (8 hours ahead of us). Maartje had to coordinate with Pawel at the airport for pickup, and we had to figure out what time to leave for the airport – Pawel told us there would be a delay of an hour or so in customs.

Finally on Saturday, it started coming together.