HEIDI-HO
by Cheryl M. Gower with photos, pedigree information. and a telephone interview with Ms. Condit by Patsy Stephens.Napa Valley Cattery
Mary M. Condit, nicknamed «Connie» as the military is wont to do,was a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, and stationed in Washington, D.C. As a nurse at Walter Reed Hospital, she and several other nurses roomed together in a dormitory on base. One chilly Spring D.C. night in 1969, a very pregnant cat strayed up to the dormitory door. Connie, the ultimate animal lover she is, took herin. It wasn’t long until she presented the nurses with a litter of four male kittens. Among them was a brown mackeral tabby w/white, tall ears, the only longhair in the bunch. Connie kept him and dubbed him Andy Katt. Homes were found for the others, and the nurses pitched in to fund his mother’s spay surgery.
Andy and Connie moved to Maryland, where someone told her that Andy looked like a Maine Coon. Herinterest stimulated, she registered Andy in ACA (American Cat Association) on the advice of Susie Page. Andy was shown in ACFA and achieved his Cham pionship and Grand Championship before the age of nine months. Afriend, Bonnie Rich (DeRichelieu Cattery) found a smoked tortie w/ white kitten and small ears in Florida, and gave her to Connie. We know heras Bridget Katt. This kitten’s mother was a black w/white, but the father is unknown.
Connie, Andy and Bridget moved to Colorado in 1970. She named her cattery «Heidi Ho» after her German Shepherd dog of the same name. This dog tolerated the cats with much tionen accod all the kitten births so it only seemed fitting.
Bridget and Andy produced:
-Heidi-Ho Jason Katt (brownmctabby w/wht.male)
-Heidi-Ho Kukla (silvermctabby female 8-5-70)
-Heidi-Ho Zacharius Peabody of Sundar (shaded cameo male)
-Heidi-Ho Fanny Abigail
-Heidi-Ho Red Jed
-Heidi-Ho Heather
-Heidi-Ho Henry Sayward
-Heidi-Ho Molly Stark
-Heidi-HoSeth Parker
Andy was neutered at nine months, because he had an chronic intestinal bacterial problem. It was Andy who carried the strong genes for the Heidi-Ho look.
Then Molly Stark was bred to Seth Parker (a brother/sisterbreeding), which produced:
-Heidi-Ho Georgie Girl of Ktaadn.
-Heidi-Ho Josie of Tanstaafl
-Heidi-Ho Noah of Miston
-Heidi-Ho Rickshaw of Quanyin
The next combination between Molly Stark and Henry Sayward (a brother/sister breeding) produced:
– Heidi-Ho Cassandra of Furr-Ever
-Heidi-Ho Peaches
-Heidi-Ho Luke of Cosy Nook
When Connie was transferred to Germany, Andy, Bridget, Heather, Henry and Seth all traveled with her. She had a few litters, only to keep them in good health. As retirement from the service drew closer, Connie decided to settle in Colorado, living a rather private life in a mobile home with fenced-in yard. Her cats were allowed outside to romp in the snow, safe in side their enclosure.
In her continued quest for breed excellence, and her ongoing test to make sure Andy’s intestinal problem was not hereditary, Connie bred Henry Sayward to Heather (another brother/sister combination). They produced:
-Heidi-Ho Heathcliffell
-Heidi Ho Henrietta Katt
When Henrietta came of age, she was bred back to her father, Henry Sayward. They produced the very famous Heidi-Ho Sonkey Bill and Heidi-Ho Georgie Caroline.
Recognizing that it was indeed time for an outcross, Sonkey Bill was bred to Tanstaafl Polly Adeline of Heidi-Ho. Their progeny are what have become known as the «clones», because they all looked so consistently alike. With the type so firmly set from prior generations, «clones» were a surefire result. Their offspring include:
-Heidi-Ho Wilyum of Ktaadn
-Heidi-Ho Percival of Meunerie
-Heidi-Ho Canth of Tanstaafl
-Heidi-Ho Coon Victoria of Purricoon
-Heidi-Ho Sasquatch of Ktaadn
-Heidi-Ho Lady Arwen of Mary B
-Heidi-Ho Richard III of Charmalot
-Heidi-Ho Aurora of MtKittery
-Heidi-Ho Just Plain Bill Katt
-Heidi-Ho Justin Morgan Katt
-Heidi-Ho Camille
-Heidi-Ho Rachael Adeline
-Heidi-Ho Lovey Mero of Meunerie Tanstaafl Molly Brown
Heidi-Ho cats were big-boned and heavily coated, and as you can see in the photos, they had broad, square muzzles. Connie invites anyone who doubts their coating, to come to Colorado to help comb them out. She says that if a Maine Coon can’t take the rigors of a Maine winter, then it is not a Maine Coon. Asked «What does a judge go forina Maine Coon», the hair on the back of herneck visibly rises as she answers, «Who cares what a judge ‘goes for, you’re supposed to be breeding toward a set standard. Amen!»
Looking back on Andy’s intestinal problem, Connie has used her extensive medical knowledge to study and realize that some times these things just occur. The same thing goes for cats with a chronic eye inflammation and discharge(usually the right eye). They don’t seem to pass it on; you keep it under control with antibiotic ointments, and the animal just lives with it. Some accuse the Heidi-Ho line of massive cardiomyopathy, but one must remember that cat foods were not the caliber they are today; the necessity for taurine was not known nor used as an additive back in the early ’70s.
Mary M. Condit forged out on her own, beginning with breeding in 1992. Justin Morgan and Polly Adeline (both 18yrs. old, deaf and with no teeth; and Just Plain Bill Katt and Rebecca (both 16 yrs.) are still living and enjoy the Colorado snowy winters. Copnnie currently has a one-year old male Maine Coon and is looking forward to showing him. If you’d like to write to her, the address is 30575. Kearney St, Denver CO 80222. Phone 303-979-65771
THANK YOU, CONNIE, for all you’ve done for our breed.
Scratch Sheet 1995 MCBFA
Alma and Ken write:
Born in 1983 in Denver, Colorado, Dani is probably the last of the Heidi-Ho «clones.» She was first acquired by Brooke and Herb Berger (Purricoon) of St. Louis, MO. She then moved to us in Canada.
She is the dam of GC Hillside Mr. Spock of Willowplace, OS and through him the grand-dam of many large, feral-looking, and honored Maine Coons on three continents. Her «wild» look has caused alarm several times in her lifetime. She looks more like something that just came out of the woods after prey than a fireside puss!
Dani is now living in contented retirement with Nancy and Karl Frey, where she passes her days watching birds at the feeder and the wildlife that periodically comes out of the woods behind their home near Blackstock, Ontario. She also sometimes visits with her old friends, Alma and Ken, and her many Hillside descendants.
