THE AUSTRALIAN MIST

 

THERA LINARIA owned by Mary Stuart
ONYX owned by Mary Stuart
PRUNELLA owned by Mary Stuart
Nintu Jellywave
 

THE BREED FOUNDER
DR. TRUDA M. STRAEDE

 

Truda Straede was born on the west coast of Tasmania in 1944 and educated in Tasmania and Victoria, and earned her doctorate in ecology at the University of Melbourne.
She became a pedigree cat breeder in 1976 combining her ecological concerns with her interest in cat breeding which is how she came to develop an enviromentally freindly cat known today as the Australian Mist. She has written extensively on cat health and genetics and her breeders handbook entitled, Breeding Cats,   A Practical Guide is a must for all breeders experienced or novice. She has sat on many committees and governing boards and was awarded a distinguished service award for her services to the NSW Cat Fancy. She now lives in Bunyip, Victoria where she runs the Nintu Breeding Cattery known as Evergreen.
For the past 34 years she has devoted her life to the creation of the beautiful Australian Mist for which we thank her wholeheartedly as without her we would not have these beautiful cats in our lives today.

The original Evergreen as it was in 2001
Evergreen today
Evergreen seen from the road today
From cowshed as it was in 2001 to cattery as it is today

AUSTRALIAN MISTS ARRIVE IN THE UK

It was the result of a chance meeting in 2005 whilst in Australia visiting friends and family that Mary Stuart of the Rumtumtugger cattery in the UK was introduced to Truda by her good friend Kyra. They started talking and it was love at first sight with the Mists. Mary was eventually invited to Trudas cattery to see her cats, it wasnt until Truda explained that there were no mists in Europe that ideas started forming and after returning to the UK she just knew she had to have the Mists here. Many emails later and Mary returned to Australia to see the first two queens that were to come to the UK.
On the 9th February 2007 the first  2 queens entered the UK pregnant and they both went on to deliver healthy litters 5 weeks after arriving at Heathrow. in 2008 5 more cats were flown into the UK They were grand champion Thera Onyx and Thera Marmour Prunella, then Grand Champion Jeldan Lotsaspots, Milletaches Alberge and Thera Marmour Sophonsibar were received in Wales by Eddie Kitching who took the honour of having the first UK produced litter.
From then on the UK population grew and new breeders joined the group. Eddie exported the first pair of breeding cats to Portugal and Mary then sent cats to Norway. A further 6 cats were imported into the UK  in March 2009 and the programme now goes from strength to strength.

Pictures from Truda Strades website where you can read her full story