OCICAT
The Ocicat was developed accidentally in the early 1960s by Virginia Daly, a Berkeley, Michigan, breeder. Daly worked with several breeds and was known as she put it, to experiment with �rare, unusual, nearly developed varieties.� This experimentation did not always sit well with other breeders, one of whom said to Daly one day, �The next thing you�ll be making will be an Abyssinian-pointed Siamese.� Until then, said Daly, �I had never dreamed of such a thing, but I decided to take up the challenge.� Daly bred a seal point Siamese female to a ruddy Abyssinians, but they carried the recessive gene for the Siamese pattern. When Daly bred one of them a female named She -to a Siamese, She produced the Aby-pointed Siamese that Daly had been looking for. She also produced a large, ivory cat with bright, golden spots and copper eyes. Daly name the cat Tonga. Daly�s daughter called Tonga an Ocicat because of his resemblance to an Ocelot.
