Welcome to the wonderful world of Turkish Angoras!

Susan Hearn, Charmaine Wickett and a dozen beautiful but highly opinionated Turkish Angoras make up Galatia Cattery, established in 1991. Our home occupies a large fieldstone farmhouse, nearly 150 years old, on the scenic Niagara Escarpment. We are proud breeders of the 1993-1994 Best Turkish Angora in the Great Lakes region, GC Galatia Queen Gertrude, an odd-eyed white, as well as the 1994-1995 Best Turkish Angora. Joy, pictured right, is featured on the cover of the CFA Turkish Angora pamphlet.

Our cattery name, Galatia, is registered with The Cat Fanciers' Association and is named after a province in ancient Turkey. The Turkish Angora is one of the most ancient breeds of cat, with its origins in central Turkey. It is a naturally occurring breed. This means that it is not a man-made hybrid of two or more breeds. A Turkish Angora today appears much as it did hundreds of years ago.

At present we share our home with a Techno-cat. CH Galatia Sweet Marie (left) is fascinated with TV and computer screens. Many times she has cut off my on-line connection by leaping from the desk to the computer top via the phone. Her latest Techno wizardry involved adjusting the TV antennae power rotor, a feat which combined both agility and determination. Unfortunately, she selected the wrong direction for that particular channel.

Turkish Angoras are a rare breed still. We work extensively with the only other Canadian breeder, Joanne McKinnon of Tameral Cattery. We share males, trade kittens and find homes for each others progeny. Galatia recently imported a blue male from Germany to increase the available genepool. We are looking forward to future dealings with a couple of American breeders we have befriended recently.

Our first red tabby boy went to Germany to be shown in FIFE where coloured Turkeys get a much warmer reception than they do here. I wish I had a nickel for each time a judge said "too bad its not white". But we persevere. If it's good, we'll show it regardless of colour!

Although we do not show extensively, our cats have gained some renown. In February our cats were featured in the Canadian edition of the Friskies quarterly newsletter. Although they requested pictures of whites we insisted on including a shot of our baby blue tabbies as well! You can see them on our breed information page.