Prairiebaby River Revival

[Picture] [Pedigree]
Nickname: Franky Frownsalot
Foundation: F2
Color: Red classic tabby  (d  22)

Dam from Rural Brandon Manitoba, through country vet, Sire from Nesbitt, Manitoba: Franky's dad is the same cat as Cameron's dad.  Franky's mom is a female named Jessey who is living with the neighbors now.

When we got Franky at about 10 weeks of age, we honestly did not believe that we would be able to integrate him with our other boys. Franky hadn't been handled up till then and he didn't exactly have that *gentle giant temperament* that we prefer for our foundation kitties to have. In the contrary!! Franky was a terror!! Extremely quick to act, unbelievably smart, extraordinary territorial, way too early maturing and rather "pro-actively aggressive". The food bowl was empty before the other cats had even spotted it. Franky swatted the boys (young or old) over the head when they did not stay back.

Even grandpa Silhouette who usually don't take any nonsense from anybody was feeling unusually intimidated. Franky took his job very seriously! Everybody was a dangerous rival in his opinion. He felt he needed to defend all things around him, no matter if they needed protection or not! This went on for about 3 or 4 weeks.

We didn't even create a separate page for Franky at that time, simply because we did not think he would be able to stay. Had this boy not been so drop-dead gorgeous and very sweet with people, he probably would not have gotten a chance to show us whether he was hiding a lamb under his lion coat or not. After about a month Franky suddenly started to change. He was beginning to realize that nobody wanted to take anything from him and nobody was going to rule over him. He has now developed into a SUPER affectionate, sweet, social and good natured (not quite well behaved yet :)) young male. He can still be a bit bossy at times but we have enough girls to even this out.

The adventure with Franky made us realize that a strong desire and ability to survive is definitely one trait that can make a foundation cat very valuable - if this trait will fade when the cat is handled and socialized. I am by no means suggesting that people should breed with domineering and unpolite cats. In the contrary! In our case the bad behavior was simply a learned, natural *proactive measure* to stay alive. Had this boy been raised in my kitten nursery, he would have been a completely different kitten. Franky has smartened up and we used him for several breedings. We are seing wonderful temperament in all his kids. 

Update 2021: Franky has played a vital part in my foundation program and is in many pedigrees around the world. One of his offspring, Prairiebaby Come to the River of Eolecoons was sent to France and has done a marvellous job there!