The reason for naming my cattery “DK ChiCha”?

DK ChiCha is pronounced DK TjiiTja (long i and short a).

The name is short for Chip and Chap, my two black American mousers. I wanted them to be part of this next journey as well as them being born and raised Americans, they also were a link back to Maine Coon land.

Phonetically ChiCha reminds me of Cheetah, a “hunting leopard”, or a rather big cat. Quick and sure footed are, as we all know, synonyms for Maine Coon 😉  

Last but not least in Old Norse, Old Norse being the precursor to both Danish and English, Cheetah means “having a spotted body”. I am not going to breed spotted Maine Coon, however I do hope to make Black Torties with white with big beautiful patches of color. Tøsen, my first cat as a grownup was a mouser with a solid injection of Maine Coon. Tøsen and I met each other when I lived in Massachusetts in 1987-88. Massachusetts is a neighbor to Maine. Tøsen was a true “Master in Catitude”, a big and beautiful Black Tortie with White, that I was so lucky to have for 19 years. She also taught me what a cool breed the Maine Coons are and she was the major reason for my decision about being a Maine Coon breeder at some point in this life. 

My Cattery name is also chosen as a constant reminder of how truly important socialization of the cats are.

Chip and Chap were found at a tire center, no mother in sight and only 4 weeks old. They came to live at Clearwater Florida SPCA for the next 4 weeks until I adopted them. 8 weeks were the norm back then and is still in some parts of USA. Chip and Chap were the most loving and trusting cats around me, but all other humans were never trusted. 

I fully know, learned the hard way, how truly important socialization is. Kittens have a narrow window from 2 weeks to about 7 weeks where they need to be taught that humans are friends as well as the other very important fact that they need to be with their mother and siblings till at least 14 weeks of age. Please read this article for more information about early weaning and the consequences https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5583233/