Sonya Stanislaw and Tati-Tan

Remembered…

Sonya Stanislaw of Tati-Tan Cattery died on February 1 of this year. She had been living with her son, Dennis, and his family in New York when she became so ill she had to go to the hospital. Her last litter had been born in January of 1999 while she was still living in Wanaque, New Jersey. How ever, when she had to move to New York she could not look after another litter, although, as she told friends, she always had it on her mind. After her death, her son found homes for some of her coonies, kept some-especially the older ones and placed some with other breeders. Below are some notes from some of the people who knew her and had some of her pedigrees. Well, to tell the truth, I doubt there are very many Maine Coons out there who don’t have some Tati-Tan in their pedigrees.

 

It was in 1996, when we had the pleasure to get two of her girls, Tati-Tan’s Chanteuse (tortie/white) and Chansonette (black and white). Originally it had been planned that only Chanteuse was to come, but as Sonya was anxious about Chanteuse traveling alone-we arranged for her to be accom panied by her sister, Tati-Tan’s Chansonette. Sonya told us she had only once sent one of her animals to Europe: to England. And she did not like the stress so far for her Coonies. (And she was probably stressed herself, as she was very upset and nervous all the time till the two arrived well here in Austria.) We were so happy she made thisone exception for us! Chanteuse is-as she said-one of her most beautiful animals brought forth in her cattery.
For us she is invaluable, of course. Moreover Sonya has become very dear to us as a person. I have preserved her letters: There are about 90 that have crossed the ocean in these 5 years. We could [vicariously] participate in her suc cesses in shows (that was important for her all her life) and we tried to let her participate in our family’s life.

 

After her 70th birthday, she moved from Long Island to Wanaque, New Jersey She had been looking forward to this very much. On her 73rd birthday, she experienced harder pains for the first time. «I strained my back and I’m going through severe pain…» She wrote. Nobody then could be thinking it was the beginning of a cruel life of suffering. Then together with her backaches, she had very hard pains in her arms that was diagnosed as shingles. To add to it, came the unexpected death of her landiord and the stress of moving again, together with her Coons. That was in April of 2000 Now she was living with her son in New York, who was looking after her and her animals in her illness. But first she still has plans in her mind for showing her cats. But her pains became heavier. Unfortunately, her illness has not been shingles only.

Sonya’s last letter came in September 2000. A very short letter. «I am currently confined to bed unable to sit or walk due to painful low back. The cats are doing well and great company and very consoling…More. when I can. She could not. After that we were phoning, but she could not write any more. In January 2001, I got a mes sage from her son that Sonya was very bad and she had to be brought into a hospital I am very grateful that besides his mother and his work, he took time for this On February 1st, Sonya left our world. She for long had become part of our family. In the last years, we were sharing pleasures and griefs. She always will stay in our hearts. She has been a unique and grand breeder. All her affection and all her life belonged to her Maine Coons, being always prepared to give her ultimate to them. Over the Rainbow Bridge she must have been awaited by whomever she had donated her love.

One of Chanteuse’s daughters we are breeding with had her last litter on Sonya’s last birthday. Out of this litter we are keeping one female.

Recollections of Sonya and Tati-Tan

From Judith Schultz in Canada: I have cherished Tati-Tan cats for many years for their longevity, vigor and intelligence. My first personal connection with Tati-Tan was in 1996-1997 through Mary Jayne Franz from Franmar Cattery. Mary Jayne still has some of those old Tati-Tan offspring who are now 15, 16 and up to 18 years old. She used to tell me: «Judith, you can inbreed Tati-Tan cats until the cows come home and nothing bad will happen.» Of course, we know nowadays that too much inbreeding is not a good thing but this statement does mean some thing and her words stuck with me ever since.

This line originated in New Jersey, which adds even more sentimental value. It is recognized among very few of us as one of the oldest and healthiest lines in our breed. Tati-Tan cats were and still are extremely smart, social and gentle. Most of them can open cookie jars. A lot of them can jump so high some of my pet owners think they have a Cheetah in a Maine Coon coat. Tati Tans are fantastic mothers with so much milk, they could easily feed 25 kittens at once. (Honestly!) their milk pockets are filled right up to bursting til under their forepaws. Even though Sonja, like most breeders at that time did quite a bit of inbreeding, Tati-Tan cats have always kept their healthy gums and teeth.

Most people did not want much Tati-Tan in their pedigrees because these cats did not produce Moun tain lines. So, the Heidi Ho content increased and the Tati-Tan content diminished over time. Tati-Tan cats are small but not lightly boned. They have strong, long bodies. I actually believe that it was the Tati-Tan line that brought the nice body length into our breed be sides many other desirable traits.

I feel extremely blessed to continue with the lines of Sonja Stanislaw. I own GCH Tati-Tan’s Silhouette and GCH Tati-Tan’s Cloche, two of Sonja’s oldtimers.

Nowadays Tati-Tans have been crossed to other lines of course. Even though they do not present a sufficient outcross to most full pedi greed cats in our breed at this point, their very low clone percentage (as low as 3%) can add great value to our breeding programs. Since Sonja crossed over to Sonkey Bill offspring over the past years, there has been problems with hips, kidneys and hearts as well. So all cats from this line must be of course tested for HCM,PKD and HD. Judith Shultz PrairieBaby Maine Coons

From Laura Cunningham:

I first spoke to Sonia Stanislaw at the very be ginning of Maine Coon International’s debut. Sonia called me with some questions and as we spoke, I realized ‘just’ to whom I was talking. What an honor and a thrill to be speaking to a ‘legendary’ breeder. Sonia told me about showing her early cats, and how she did not drive and had to take trains or rely on friends for transportation.

IMCI wanted to do a profile on Sonia and I helped ‘borrow’ a slew of wonderful photos of her Tati-Tan cats like Dauphin de France and Tatiana. It was very educational and enjoyable. They are featured in issue #4 of Maine Coon International.

It was always a pleasure to speak with Sonia. We spoke approximately 5 times. She was still ac tively breeding and showing her Maine Coons and was proud of her pedigrees and lines.

Her passing is a great loss to the Maine Coon world.

Laura Cunningham Coonyham Maine Coons

For those of you not familiar with Tati-Tan and Sonya, Cathy Glynn writes: «In 1968, the work on the breed began in earnest with the formation of a small but dedicated group: Ethelyn Whittemore, Nancy Silsbee, Rose Levy, Mr. And Mrs. Emin hizer, Henrietta O’Neil and Lilias Vanderhoff-who with help from the others, set about bringing the Maine Coon back to the popularity it had briefly en joyed in the early 20th Century. They found them selves fighting, at the time, breeders of other long haired breeds, the show judges and the system it self. As Sonya said, it is difficult to know why peo ple generally disparage anything close to home, when it is the very thing of which they would proba bly be most proud, but that is what happened. The more exotic breeds had by then taken over in popu larity and it was a hard task to get anyone to accept that the Maine Coon was anything other than a barn cat… Sonya admitted-but usually in very amusing terms-that this was a difficult time, with acrimoni ous disputes brought on by tiredness and frustra tion, but they-and the cat-and all of us-were winners eventually, with a show standard which has changed very little to this day, although the breed itself has developed over the years. While all of this was happening, Sonya was also writing letter after letter, begging and bullying anyone who would listen to reinstate the Maine Coon as a championship breed-which at last happened, gradually over a period of time and the rest, as they say, is history!» Amen

Ed. From Roswitha Helfgott of AdMontem Cattery in Austria

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