History

Mr Richard and Mrs Mavis Jones of Myemgay cattery were the first cat breeders to acquire a Russian White, a relative of the Russian Blue. This cat was a white domestic shorthair, named Rose, brought from Russia with an official of the Thai Embassy.

The first Russian Black came from the third generation, in a litter from a Russian Blue and a Russian White. There were two males born, Myemgay Black Panther and Myemgay Black Onyx.

In 1977 The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales in Australia gave approval to Dick & Mavis Jones to start a provisional breeding program for Russian Blacks. There were two black kittens born in a third generation blue to white mating. Eastern Ninotchka blue male & Myemgay Arctic Snowflake white female. The two black males were Myemgay Black Onyx & Myemgay Black Panther. These were the only two blacks approved by RAS Cat Club breed to start the first black program in Australia.

Both Mavis & Dick Jones explained to me how they were guided by The RAS to proceed with their breeding program. Having bred two black males only Myemgay Black Onyx was used as a stud. Mavis only bred from the better of the two males & only one generation from each cat that was black was used to bred the next generation.

Onyx was mated to a blue female Myemgay Kissa Lidya & Myemgay Black Opal a girl & generation 2 was born. Myemgay Black Onyx was then desexed and Opal was mated to blue male Felighn Ivan Stravinovich, a black girl was born Myemgay Black Rose. Rose is the third generation black & was mated to blue male Myemgay Blu Tzar producing three black kittens 2 boys & 1 girl.

On 1st July 1982 and after breeding 4 generations of blacks the RAS Cat Club took the blacks off the Provisional Register and was eligible for Championship Status.

Until now no blacks were sold or used in a breeding program by any other person from the Myemgay lines.

In 1983 two of the 4th generation blacks came to me Myemgay Black Jack who never bred & Myemgay Black Bess who started our Riverlight line.

Myemgay Black Rose was again mated to Tzar a produced Myemgay Black Lace.

In 1985 sadly Dick Jones passed away & unfortunately Mavis was wheelchair bound. The Russians had to find new homes, the only black not desexed by now was Lace, so she came to live with me along with several other of their Russians.

In 1983 Riverlight cattery bought Myemgay Black Bess.

Bess was a fourth generation Russian Black, she produced our first Russian Black male Champion Riverlight Rasputin and the fifth generation. 

By 2006 Riverlight Cattery was producing 10th & 11th generation Black Russian kittens. (see Riverlight History below)

The Russian Black is the same as the blue in all respects except for colour. The coat is a dense glossy black colour to the skin with black nose leather and paw pads.

Riverlight Annika (left) is typical of the modern Russian Black.  Good coat, upright ears, strong whisker pads and green eyes.

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Riverlight History

The first part of the history of the Blacks in Australia, I talked about the Myemgay program. This next part is our Riverlight history so far, as I hope to have many more years of breeding & developing the Blacks.

In 1983 we gained our first Black Myemgay Black Jack, he was shown & gained his title of Champion but never bred.

Later in 1983 we gained Myemgay Black Bess (pictured left) who was mated to Aislinn Alexei Suvorov & produced Riverlight Rasputin. Both Bess & Rasputin gained their Championship Status.

Early in 1985 we gained Myemgay Black Lace. Lace had the same pedigree as both Jack & Bess. Lace was mated to Aislinn Nikolai Platov our second blue stud. Lace gave birth to seven kittens & we kept one black boy Riverlight Felix & one black girl Riverlight Tyenka.

Rasputin was mated to a blue girl Riverlight Vera Pilova, they produced only one black a boy. He had the thickest coat, so Riverlight Sebastapol stayed with us & Rasputin was sold to a breeder. Bess & Lace both went to breeders & Felix left us as a pet.

Tyenka & Sebastapol were the only two blacks left. Tyenka was mated to our blue tabby male in her first breeding season.

Sebastapol was mated to several blue & white girls but no blacks of better type than the two I had were produced. So in 1990 I decided to mate Sebastapol & Tyenka, two blacks, this was the first time such a mating was done. The result was only one black girl, Riverlight Sabrina, the only kitten.

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Both Sebastapol & Tyenka were desexed , due to work committments I kept very few breeding cats.

Sabrina bred several small litters in her nine years of breeding & only had one black girl early in her breeding years which was sold as a pet. A number of years latter I was thinking that selling her black girls was not my best decission. As the other breeders of the blacks I started had stopped breeding the blacks.

Sabrina was now nearly eight years old and this was going to be her last litter. She was mated to Riverlight Kochingka a blue male & on the 24th March 1998 a black boy was born, Riverlight Black Tsar, I was delighted. Tsar gained his Champion Status & won many prizes.

Sabrina is no longer with us but will always be remembered for her exquisite green eyes, very black coat & her bossy nature.

Tsar is still with us & has produced two black lines, not sure if I will go on with all his lines. Tsar's first mating was to Lesjay Sophia blue girl, producing one black girl Riverlight Tamika. Tamika was mated to Anou Rudolf Valentino blue boy, producing only one black girl Riverlight Aeryn. Aeryn is now over six years old & even though she has had black babies none have been of a high enough statndard to go on with. Will try one more litter latter this year.

Tsar's more successful line is when I mated him to Riverlight Nikita, I believe her to be the best blue female I have bred. And this mating prduced only one black girl Riverlight Delena.

Delena had been a most wonderful girl, producing on her first mating to Riverlight Dargay blue boy one black girl Riverlight Enya. And on her second mating to Riverlight Boromir blue boy, one black girl Riverlight Fara.

Enya was mated to our black boy Tsar on her first mating and produced 4 blacks, 2 girls & 2 boys. The best in the litter is a stunning black boy Riverlight Francki, who has the greenest eyes & a wonderful thick coat. He is the best black male I have produced.

Enya is now living in Perth with a breeder.

Fara (pictured left), Delena's second daughter has had her first litter to Gold DB GD CH Tushbah Mi Uragan, there are 2 black boys, 2 black girls & 2 blue girls. These kittens are nearly eight weeks old & doing well. I will be keeping one the the black girls Riverlight Georgette. Both Francki & Georgette are 11th Generation Blacks & 7th Generation Riverlight Blacks.

Delena will this year be desexed as she has become a grandmother twice, Francki & Georgette.

With each generation kept there has been an improvement as we keep breeding to a more modern interpretation of the Russian Standard.

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Bloodlines

Click here to see details of our Russian Blacks through the generations (pdf file: reader required).

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Gallery Photos

For pictures of the Russian Black click here.

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