OCICOUNTRY CATTERY became a licensed CFA cattery on January 19, 1987.
In the autumn of 1986 we purchased a tawny spotted male Ocicat kitten. Tawny refers to the background color. Tawny is an expression of the black gene. A tawny spotted Ocicat has black or seal brown spots on a ruddy, tawny, or bronze background color.
The originator of the Ocicat, Virginia Daly, thought that tawnies have the wildest look of the various Ocicat colors, probably since the wild spotted cats have black spots on a russet to orange background.
It was our good fortune to talk with Virginia Daly personally in our initial quest for an Ocicat. She was quite helpful in guiding us to sources for the Ocicat breed.
Virginia had been a Siamese and Abyssinian breeder and exhibitor. The Ocicat originated from Siamese and Abyssinian crosses primarily. Later some outcrosses were made to the American Shorthair to pick up the silver gene but also for larger boning and structure. The show standards, however, describe the body length and head more closely related to the Abyssinian. For this reason the Abyssinian has been the only allowable outcross for Ocicats by CFA. In 1987 the Ocicat achieved 
championship status with both CFA and TICA. We showed our first Ocicat, Pharaoh, as a kitten when the breed was provisional prior to being recognized for championship status. When he was an adult, we showed him in championship as an open, and he received sufficient winners ribbons in one show to become a champion.
Over the years Ocicountry Cattery has achieved significant status with our own grand champions and grand premiers as well as the splendid achievements of other catteries that have shown Ocicats they purchased from us.
Ocicountry is one of the oldest existing Ocicat catteries and has made significant strides for the breed. It has also made history as shown in the OCICOUNTRY ACHIEVEMENTS webpage.
Since Ocicountry has been raising Ocicats since the autumn of 1986, the cattery has a number of geriatric cats, some living to be as old as 18 1/2 years. These cats are a pride and joy. Ocicountry doesn't do much breeding any more, only two or three litters a year. If Ocicountry does not currently have what someone is looking for, other catteries could be recommended to someone wanting to find a pet Ocicat.
