Our Crew

Call Name:  "Bali, Snowball"

DOB: 9/26/2018

Color: Blue Lynx Point and White

Sex:  Neutered Male

Sire:  GCD, BWR, RW Slava Imagine My Surprise

Dam: CH Charodey Moonlite Serenade of Slava

Breeder: Lucy Drury, Sherrie Phelps

Titles:

• CFA Grand Premier (2019)

• CFA Regional Winner 21st Best Cat in Premiership (2019-20)

Notes: ​Bali (we called him Snowball while he lived with us) has always been a special boy to us.  He and his littermates started out life via c-section late on a Friday nightat the local 24 hr emergency clinic.  The first few hours of their life were touch and go, and when the clinic sent us home, promising an update in the morning.  We went home, imagining the worst, waiting for a call, hence his name, Moonlite Imaginations.   When the vet called in the morning, it was to tell to come get mama and her four healthy, nursing babies.  Hence his red brother's name, Sunrise Miracle, aka "Lion", as the vet believed he was the one stuck in the birth canal but wasn't sure.  It was truly a miracle that Lion and Bali were up and nursing like nothing happened.  

Bali was truly the epitome of the slow-maturing Siberian.  His two brothers went to the home of two aspiring judging applicants to be shown by them as part of their training, his sister went to a pet home in Texas, and Bali stayed with us to be shown along with Freya.   There were other nice Siberian kittens out at the same time, so Bali rarely got a sniff at that Best of  Breed ribbon.  I contemplated placing him in a pet home, until a friend said I should keep showing him and that I would be able to title him without a problem once the other cats were out of his way.  

She was eventually right, but there is more to Bali's story than just earning his Grand Premier title. As a six month old kitten, at the same show a friend told me to keep showing him, another friend who was not showing a cat sat down by Bali and was quite taken by him. She told me "Trish would love him!".  "Trish, who?", I commented.  "Trish the animal trainer. Can I send his picture?"  I was fine with that, and the response back was immediate - "I love him!" By this time I had vaguely recalled sending her a picture or two of Mikey Junior for a casting call and noticed I was friends with her, as was nearly every other exhibitor in the midwest.  I thought to myself that she probably says that to all prospective clients. 

To make a very long story short, I was completely wrong in my assumptions. She had been looking for a Siberian of her own to train for a long time.  She actually did want him! A few months later, with the promise that I could show him to finish his title, I placed Bali with her.   What made it even easier is she only lived 8 miles away!  She went with me to the shows, and together we finished Bali's Grand Premier in October, 2019. I only had an inkling then about what doors Bali had opened for me.   

With Trish as his new mom, Bali's life also dramatically changed...and so did mine (more on that later).   He found himself in Hills' ads, on the backcover of CatTalk Magazine, invited to catnip "pawties",  handing out "High 5's" at conventions, wearing ugly sweaters in a video shoot with Phyllis from "The Office " (his footage didn't make the commercial - Kit Kat's did..) and even learning to ride and push a skateboard!