My dream is to to breed show-quality chocolate and lilac Devons, yet we're not producing them now and we've petted-out five  in five years because either they weren't good enough or we had no one but parents or siblings to breed them to, which we won't do. Colour is only five points in the show ring for Devons, so fanciers who aim for show-quality Devons, which we do, usually don't choose for colour. My mentors have always said "build your barn, then paint it," meaning that we must get health, conformation and temperament nailed down before we consider selecting for colour. 

Our breeding plan is to keep a small number of cats, including non-breeders (rescues, visiting studs, pets)  and to select for health, temperament and conformation, in that order. 

We are trying American Shorthair outcrossing now, which our associations allow. That, along with working with lots of other lines, meants we don't have to inbreed, despite a small genepool of show-quality cats to choose from.  We had also hoped that we'd get chocolate cats from this mating, but it didn't happen, and it really doesn't matter... much.  ;-)

We have had both detailed breeding plans and made moment-by-moment decisions. Invariably, even when we have a really good plan, part of it goes by the wayside. Our "perfect girl" got pyo and had to be spayed, the "perfect pairing" produced kittens with bad coat, the "perfect stud" arrived sick, etc. It is definitely my preference to work to a good plan. Unfortunately, the cats don't read them. Regardless, we do plan. These plans are moreso to help us decide who to let go rather than to justify keeping or getting more cats.

Now that we have a variety of lines in our program that "click" nicely, we are screening all of our breeding cats for hip dysplasia, luxating patella and HCM, the genetic conditions that may occur in Dev0ns.

The biggest mistake would be to keep more cats than our family can love and care for well. Yes, we've regretted letting certain cats go, and the kids have certainly been upset with us for placing "their cat" as a pet, but we are

firm on our limits. We know what we can and cannot handle as we work towards breeding show-winning cats with strong health and winning personalities.

Maybe next year we'll get chocolate... but probably not.

...Pam