Bradykininogen was born December 12, 1980. My mother named Oriental Shorthairs after enzymes, because apparently ordinary names had failed to create enough spelling opportunities.
His sister was GC Temeluphil Alia of Earthsea. They were the Soft M and the Hard M, named for the tabby markings on their foreheads.
The show cat who hated shows
Brady hated cat shows. He bit, scratched, and flailed.
He could also win. At one four-ring show, he made four number-one kitten finals. As an adult he granded, I recall, in twelve rings at three shows. Alia did it in eight rings at two shows.
The judges got the violence. Small children could carry him to the rings on his back, all four feet up.
Brady was definitely my cat. That’s my bunk bed he’s on.
My room was the stud room
He came when called. My room was the stud room, although Brady did not mark.
In 1980 and 1981, I spent weeks in the hospital with idiopathic juvenile cataracts and three retinal detachments. There were long periods when I had to lie flat. Brady stayed with me.
There is footage from the 1981 Empire Cat Show of a child explaining the Oriental Shorthair and saying Brady was his best friend. That child was me, and he was correct. I wish I could find the clip.
The door
A house sitter let Brady out of our New York apartment despite the double-door arrangement. He was gone for a week.
He came back filthy and beaten up. He tested positive for FeLV and was euthanized. It was one of the saddest days of my life.
A title tells you what the judges thought. “Definitely my cat” tells you the rest.
The line did not entirely disappear
Brady’s daughter Temeluphil’s Argent of Glor-ee became one of the earlier Distinguished Merit queens, producing at least five Grand Champion offspring.
A tiny piece of Brady remains in many pedigrees. The larger piece remains in my memory: the impossible show cat, the cat the children could carry, the friend who stayed beside a sick child.