To say I did everything right thereafter would be untruthful; I seemed to do everything wrong! As far as friends in the Cat Fancy were concerned, I was "out of it" to attempt recognition of a longhaired Aby. The path I chose, therefore, was to enroll the aid of young people (some teenagers) who wanted to show and become involved in the Cat Fancy, but who had little or no funds. I gave them cats so they would show them and I would not be the only one doing so.

My first longhairs were extremely difficult to produce as anyone working with two shorthair cats carrying the longhair gene can testify. It was more than likely that successive breeding of shorthair cats producing longhairs would produce no longhairs. Therefore, the longhairs produced were like pure gold. Alas, the young people who received them had there other values and the misfortune of diseases in their homes with other cats, as well as outdoor accidents (the insisted on allowing all cats out) almost wiping out those which had been produced. The surviving longhaired Abys which were shown by these young people were wasted in that they could not contend with the abuse of the Aby breeders they encountered in the show halls. When I was not present, they told these young folks that the longhairs were a "NOTHING" and should not even be allowed in the show hall. These poor novices, some reduced to tears, did not know how to retaliate.

Some adults showing their Somalis, including me, received the same treatment. My good friend Frances Taft, perhaps the oldest Aby breeder in the country at the time, certainly the largest cattery, attacked my Lynn-Lee's Pollyanna while I was showing her! Frances asserted that the longhairs would be recognized "over her dead body" and sadly, that is exactly what happened. However, following that encounter, she left me and Pollyanna alone. I'm usually an even tempered , but Frances learned to avoid the topic when I was present. She claimed never to have had any longhairs, yet some of her cats and mine who produced longhairs were of the same lineage.

Another friend, Karen Scheidt, showing Abys at the time, Became interested and purchased a Somali from Trill-By and Lynn'Lee's Lord Dublin as a pet for her father. She also located a female in Florida. The cat was shown by Karen, but had an untimely death not of Karen's doing. Karen was ordered by one ACFA judge to remove her cat from the ring, take her home and have her altered or she would never be allowed in an ACFA show hall again. Such was the prejudice of the Aby shorthair breeders against the Somalis.

I personally contacted Becky Jones, who I had heard had longhair Abys. She was friendly, but she assured me all producers of longhairs in her cattery had been altered. I was very discouraged, but decided on a new tactic - an ad in Cats Magazine advertising for longhair Abys. In one year, no response, but those calling me asking whether I was crossing my Abys with Persians. This only served to infuriate me. Then finally a letter arrived from Canada - a letter from Don Richings stating he had longhairs and would be happy to work with me. I was elated and could now continue for I had found a fellow breeder in Don!