I'm taking you on a journey....

Chapter 15. a teddy bear

*Today is exhibition day in Locarno*.
*What? Today?* Andreas asked me. *We should pay Nelly a visit.
I smiled: *Yes, actually. Nelly would probably be amazed* I continued to smile.
I leafed through the exhibition catalogue, which was online. I was actually looking back 16 years, hoping to find the classifications from 2009, but I found today's exhibition in Locarno, Switzerland, 1 and 2 March 2025. My mind wandered. How far away all that is! Back when we were active exhibitors. The costs for an exhibition could quickly skyrocket. In Locarno, for example, we had to pay SFr. 600 for a show weekend. Registration fee for two cats, two nights' accommodation with breakfast and if you then come home without any success, that can be a real pain. During the day we lived off the provisions we had brought with us. Being an exhibitor is not necessarily cheap and yet it requires one or two titles, even for serious breeders.
*How many animals are there?’ Andreas brought me back from my mental detour. *16 animals at the start*.

*16 animals! That's all there is?* he wanted to know. *No wonder you've been receiving invitations to Fife shows these days. Unbelievable when I think of how we used to have up to 30, 40 or more Norwegian Forest Cats at one show*. I know, I thought, I know.
*And back then?* Andreas mused on *At that time the members of the free clubs were barred from the big title classes.* He continued to prepare his supper and his thoughts wandered, as did mine.
Back then, when I made the transition. Svan still needed one point for the Grand International Champion, at that time we were not allowed to show in the big classes and Svan remained International Champion for life, although he was only one point short of the big GIC title. Now, 15 years later, we are receiving invitations to show. Invitations from Fife, which is the worldwide umbrella organisation for all cat breeds, and thus permission to exhibit in FFH Switzerland. 15 years! A long time. But before I made this big change, before it came to this *cutting* of the exhibitors, came Teddy.

Animaniac's Ready Teddy - you were born on 9 May 2008. Take a look at what the Aura Soma teachings say about your date of birth: New beginnings and further development
                                                    Awakening and unfolding your own potential
                                                    Unconditional self-love and self-forgiveness
                                                    Pay more attention to your gut feeling
                                                    Overcoming fears and going beyond boundaries
                                                    Bringing joie de vivre and laughter into your life
And believe me, all of this applied to me at the time. You had to overcome your fears because your first place in life wasn't yours. I, on the other hand, had to make a new start. It was the only way I could get to where I needed to be.
Breeding in the FFH had taken on an unpleasant dimension. There was no togetherness and when I hear the supposed breeders today saying that we are a family and help each other, I run far away because of this bullshit! In all these years, I have only seen co-operation between very old, established breeds. They were the ones who helped, exchanged and supported each other. But not the generation that followed like me, and certainly not the generation after that. Even today, I can still see from conversations with customers how breeders snatch the good life places for each other's kittens. But they don't try to help each other.

Your first home was in Sweden in a family with a small dog. This dog had it in for you. He chased you because he enjoyed it. Now I confess, I have also made mistakes in the course of my life. But I think I can recognise when one animal chases another, even if it's just for fun. Then the poor animal is not being protected. Then the bully is put in his place! Full stop. We don't tolerate that here, and fortunately neither do our children. Our animals know that the two-legged friends will get quite loud. But loud doesn't mean hitting! It means speaking plainly in the right tone of voice. As the saying goes, the sound makes the music and that's also true for animals. They recognise exactly where the honey is flowing and when enough is enough.

Teddy came back to his breeder after a short time, who advertised Teddy again, and I was in the right place at the right time and found you.
Andreas flew from Zurich to Stockholm in one day, changed planes to fly from Stockholm to Gothenburg. He loaded you up, took you with him and flew from Gothenburg to Stockholm and from Stockholm to Zurich on the same day. Andreas actually only had one day of flying 😊. When you arrived, you were shy. You hid in a small, narrow gap in the kitchen. Where you hang the drying towels and hand towels. I let you be. But after a few days it was clear that something was wrong. Because when you came out, you walked very close behind me and only behind me. You would eat, drink and urinate briefly. Then you quickly disappeared into this small, narrow gap. Annika was honest with us from the start. She didn't hide anything. But we knew we had to help you. But how? Back then, I didn't believe in stars and the moon, in short, in animal communication and life after death. I was far too down-to-earth for that. But how could we help you? Because physically you weren't missing anything and I don't really remember exactly how I got to my later mentor. But I do remember one thing when Andreas explained to me:

*Why don't you try a so-called communicator? An animal communicator! *. I looked at him askance, raised an eyebrow and waited. *Uli, we've already spent money on more idiotic things, why not try? Why not try.... It was running through my brain and for whatever reason, however, I ended up with my search where years later I completed my training as an animal communicator, animal coaching, but also mental training, search work.
Jacqueline Kramer, not an unknown person in her field. When she agreed to let me work with Teddy, we were able to recognise within half an afternoon how a transformation was taking place in and with Teddy. Where he had been holding out for days, refusing to be lured out and only leaving his safe cover for tiny moments, a Teddy suddenly began to leave his safe little hiding place. Still hesitant, but slowly and without me, he began to explore the kitchen, the living room and later the whole house. He began to sniff the cat family. He made contact with each of the cat girls and his cowering began to turn into a calm, proud demeanour. *No! No way! No, it can't be!’ I exclaimed in disbelief, while Andreas smiled.

Andreas has absolutely nothing to do with mediumistic, sensitive, everything that cannot be explained and yet is there. Not him! I, on the other hand, can and may openly report here that as a child I was able to see and hear things that are not easy to see. But this access, which I thought was closed, was retrained years later. Today, I no longer work officially in this area because I simply don't have enough time for it. But if it needs me, it will find me.

It was clear to me that somehow the cats had been swapped. Because what my eyes saw was inexplicable and from then on we had a Teddy, a real Teddy. Teddy gave us some wonderful offspring. Svan his son, Vichy, Astrid and Sassiscaja his grandchildren. We later rehomed Teddy. Life as a male cat in an enclosure is not for the faint-hearted. And Teddy was soft-hearted, cuddly and very gentle. I would love to know if you are still alive and how you are? Unfortunately, I never heard from you again. There is that too.
Teddy helped me to make a new start and to develop both my breeding and my sensitivity. I was able to overcome my fears and although we went to shows with Teddy, in 2009 I made the switch from FFH Switzerland, and therefore Fife, to the free cat club Cat Club de Geneve, despite harsh criticism, where I am still registered as a breeder and member today. The only thing was that my husband officially turned his back on breeding in 2009. That was enough for him! But even though I have been travelling this path alone ever since, Andreas has always been by my side.