Dean of the Finishing School AACE SUPERIOR  NATIONAL & REGIONAL WINNER Wotan of Mannahatta (aka Friskie)  Male Neuter  Born ?1996 ~ Crossed The Rainbow Bridge May 7, 2011 Brown Classic Tabby Maine Coon Mix	Sappho   Female Spay Born 1997 Brown Mackerel Tabby w/ White Shorthair	Callista  Female Spay  Born 1999 Born ?1998 ~ Crossed The Rainbow Bridge November 2, 2011 Brown Mackerel Tabby w/ White Shorthair

Ondine of Mannahatta Oriental Shorthair or Egyptian Mau Mix Female Spay Born 2002 Blue Mackerel Tabby Shorthair

Siegmund Male Neuter  Born May 22, 1991 Brown Mackerel Tabby w/ White Domestic Shorthair Born May 22, 1991 ~ Crossed The Rainbow Bridge November 23, 2006	Sieglinde Female Spay  Born May 22, 1991 Blue Creme Mackerel Tabby Domestic Shorthair Born May 22, 1991 ~ Crossed The Rainbow Bridge July 21, 2005
Salome Female Spay  Born September 1997 Black with White Domestic Shorthair Born September 1997 ~ Crossed The Rainbow Bridge July 5, 2009	Shalimar of Midnight(aka Minuit) Female Spay  Born c. January 1996 Black with White Domestic Shorthair Born c. 1996 ~ Crossed The Rainbow Bridge November 12, 2004

We thought it only appropriate to make these, our original rescues, all of whom have now left us, honorary members of Friskie's Feline Finishing School.  Together with our first cat, Caxy, who crossed the Rainbow Bridge in 1991, they have served as an inspiration to us in both our rescue and breeder efforts.  Siegmund and Sieglinde were adopted from North Shore Animal League, while Minuit and Salome's story is intertwined with that of Friskie, Sappho, and Callista.

When the cold set in, Greg managed to lure the baby girl into the house.  We tested her, cleared up the worms, vaccinated her, operated for a rare vaccine sarcoma which occurred when she got her first shots, and spayed her when she came of age.  She loved the warm indoors and our other cats from the very first and eventually became Starbuck's special girl, a love that peristed through all her flirtations with the other boys and into both their old ages.  She was named for the Biblical sirene with her seven veils.  Sally would seek out any fabric she could -- towels, bed spreads, throws;  seductively wrap herself in one; then slowly unravel the "robe" in a rolling dance.

Trapping her Mom was another story!  My neighbor caught her in a kindness cage one Friday night.  I took her to be spayed (she was already working on her second pregnancy) and set about trying to find her a home. We tried all the local rescue groups for placement help; most did not even bother to return our calls.  It rapidly became clear to us that she was here to stay as well!  Since she was feral and older, it took us almost three years to make her a full part of our indoor feline colony, but she became very affectionate at home and counted us and the rest of the Mannahatta tribe as her friends.  Her crossing in November 2004 after an almost two and one-half-year battle with liver disease deeply saddened us all.  She had rebounded so many times in the past, but this time her body betrayed her.  It was painful to watch her fight the losing battle, to see the fear and incomprehension set in as she knew she was losing, and then finally, it was a relief on the last day to feel that she had made her peace with the inevitable.  She gave us a sign that it was time; we lay down together and "talked" for a long while, and then we let our wonderful vet help her finish her journey.  Salome made it to Maine with us and with her irrepressible exuberance settled happily into her new home as the official greeter.  Two months after we had moved in July 2009, she was suddenly taken ill and and became critical in a matter of days.  Misdiagnosed at first and later rushed to emergency, she was in septic shock, likely from a ruptured intestinal lymphoma that had been silently and insidiously present for some time.  The vet wrapped her in warm towels, and we hugged and held her as she crossed.  We hope she fell asleep dreaming she was wearing one of her favorite robes, young and alluring again.

Again, no luck with the local rescue organizations in finding homes.  We even tried all our friends in the cat fancy; those who rescue were full, as our cattery was with both our Maine Coons and our household pets.

Though they made a touching trio romping together in the summer grass, we knew that statistically outdoor cats live half the years that indoor ones do.  They are prone to disease and accidents, which is, unhappily, what happened to Friskie.

When we learned of this from  our neighbor, we knew we had to get him help.  We took Friskie to our veterinary hospital where they removed his eye, did dentistry to clear up his infected mouth, put him on IV and antibiotics to combat secondary infection.  His blood serology and all other tests indicated he was in otherwise good health.  We set him up in our garage and with my neighbor's help, nursed him back to health.  Two more operations later, groomed, and dipped and looking almost as impressive as his younger self, Friskie moved temporarily into our indoor cattery.

We knew he could never negotiate the streets again, nor did we want him to.  Of all the individuals and organizations we contacted, only BEST FRIENDS SANCTUARY in Kanab , Utah, responded and generously offered Friskie a home.  We considered flying him there, but several twists of the heart--fate, perhaps?--decided otherwise.

Once the trauma of flying was over, we knew he would have good care at BEST FRIENDS, but we worried about Sappho and Callista, who could easily meet a similar fate on the streets.  How could we help Friskie and turn our backs on his family?

We have officially renamed Friskie "Wotan of Mannahatta," after the Norse chief god, who gave up his eye to gain knowledge of the mysteries of the world, and we have appointed him Dean of the Finishing School, a role which he has assumed with an authoritative air. Because he is so outgoing and affectionate, we have begun to show him as a Household Pet in AACE.  Friskie loved being spoiled at his first show in July 2000 and came home to brag to his "ladies" about his two BEST CATs and one SECOND BEST!  At his second in August 2000, he finaled five more times, won two more BEST CATs, and earned the title of REGAL!  At his third in September 2000, The AACE Cat Olympics, he won a Gold and Silver medal, as well as several other finals, and at his fourth and fifth in November/December he finaled in thirteen rings with four more BEST CAT's to his credit!  In his sixth he was hailed as SECOND BEST LONG HAIRED HOUSEHOLD PET IN SHOW with three more BEST CATs to his credit, and at his seventh, the AACE Annual Awards, he was designated 12th BEST HOUSHOLD PET of the Mid Atlantic Region and finished 2nd BEST HHP in SHOW (two more BEST CATs)!  On January 17, 2002, he achieved the highest Household Pet title: SUPERIOR, and at the March 2002 AACE Annual he was awarded National and Regional Awards for SECOND BEST ALLBREED HOUSEHOLD PET and BEST LONG HAIR HOUSEHOLD PET!  In April he won the Friskies Cup as BEST HOUSEHOLD PET IN SHOW, again was BEST OF THE BEST LH HOUSEHOLD PET. In May, and BEST LH HOUSEHOLD PET IN SHOW in November!   He greeted his fans at the first Cheshire Cat Club Show in Edgewater, NJ, finaling seven times and winning SECOND BEST SENIOR in the special congress!  In March 2003 he again received the NATIONAL and REGIONAL WINNER titles of SECOND BEST ALLBREED HOUSEHOLD PET AND BEST LH HOUSEHOLD PET and was THIRD BEST HHP IN SHOW!  He completed the 2002-2003 season with a BEST CAT and was again awarded AACE titles of NATIONAL and REGIONAL WINNER (Best Longhair, 2nd Best Allbreed Household Pet) for 2004.  At the third annual Cheshire Cat Club Show in 2004, he was awarded BEST LH HOUSEHOLD PET and received an antique Morris Trophy as one of his prizes!  He received his fourth AACE NATIONAL and REGIONAL WINNER in March 2005 (5th Best Allbreed Household Pet).  In March 2006 he received his fifth AACE NATIONAL (3rd BEST ALLBREED HOUSEHOLD PET) and REGIONAL WIN (SECOND BEST ALLBREED HOUSEHOLD PET), again in March 2007 he earned his sixth AACE NATIONAL (8th BEST ALLBREED HOUSEHOLD PET) and REGIONAL (7th BEST ALLBREED HOUSEHOLD PET), and again in March 2008 (9th BEST NATIONAL HOUSEHOLD PET, 8th BEST REGIONAL HOUSEHOLD PET!  Because he is such a favorite and because he enjoys it so much, he continued to make guest appearances in the coming seasons. Once in Maine, Friskie enjoyed retirement from the ring, but spent his days with his ladies and us in comfort.  He passed away of kidney failure at the ripe old age of sixteen, proud and loving to the last.  Callista, at the age of fourteen,  followed across the bridge in November 2011 after suffering acute kidney failure.

Friskie's Feline Finishing School has been a very small response to a very large issue of animal welfare.  Feelings of anger, frustration, and helplessness have given way to those of joy and empowerment.  As Henry David Thoreau testified, individual acts do help to change and define one's world.  For us, this was a way of offering a few homeless felines a manger, a place to be sheltered and safe and loved.

• We need to educate our society about the care of animals.  Cats, dogs, and other household pets must be kept indoors, and they must be neutered or spayed, unless they are part of responsible, professional breeding programs.  Any myths to the contrary only contribute to the overpopulation problem and to the suffering of countless animals!
• We, as a society, need to commit ourselves to our fellow living beings.  people cannot take in an animal and discard it when they are tired.  Animals are loyal, loving companions, dependent upon their care-givers for their welfare and safety.  We must stop the disposable animal syndrome!
• We, as citizens and governments, must halt animal cruelty.  We must put into place stricter penalties for abuse, programs to counsel and educate youngsters to act with compassion and to grow into caring adults.
• We need to bolster support for rescue-shelter networks, providing more public and private funding and more professional staffing to keep these humane-no-kill groups alive and working.
• We need more members of the veterinary community to take active roles in animal welfare issues and to devote their energies to low-cost neuter-spay programs and other humane issues.
• We, as parents, school, church and youth group leaders, need to teach values to children at an early age.  Among these should be the respect for animals.  Animals are not on this planet for human USE or MISUSE.  Animals enrich our lives and should be accorded the same love and loyalty they show us!