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Welcome to the Dunedin – Kalyna Somali web page.

Irene has her own cattery (Kalyna) and Dunedin is my own and we both work together on a breeding program limited to ruddy (usual) and red (sorrel) Somalis. Both Irene and I are retired Allbreed CCA judges and Irene prior to working with Somalis was a Siamese breeder.

Dunedin has the distinction of being the first Somali breeder in Canada in 1965 and how this came about can be found by searching the web for “ Somali Cats – Ken McGill.”

Somalis are in effect longhair Abyssinians which first were seen in litters of imports of Abyssinians from the United Kingdom in the late 50’s and early 60’s.

So what makes Somalis special and why should you consider sharing your home with one? Somalis are a delightful breed, very loving, intelligent and easy on the eye. They adapt well to homes with children and other animals. While very slightly less busy than Abyssinians they remain playful, curious, and fun to own. As one Somali owner stated ”I will never be without a Somali” and nor will we.

In recent years we have entered into a Somali gene pool expansion program as we felt that the pedigrees were getting far too tight. To do this we brought in a red Abyssinian male (GC Abizaq Harvest Moon of Kalyna) that we subsequently showed to his Grand Championship in CFA. When Harvey was bred to our Somali females, the ensuing offspring were of course all shorthairs since the shorthair gene is dominant. The shorthair females were bred back to Somali males and litters of both shorthair and longhair kittens resulted. We also used a shorthair son of Harvey's (Kalyna's Victor) with some of our Somali girls which resulted in some lovely kittens.

For those of you unfamiliar with CFA registration rules, shorthair Somalis are registered as Somalis, but they cannot be shown. The shorthairs can be used for breeding in a Somali breeding program, but not an Abyssinian breeding program.

In October of 2007 we imported a beautiful colourful ruddy female from the well known Dushara Cattery in Denmark. We also obtained a red shorthair girl from Dany Simard of Albychats to further add genetic diversity. It is our goal to continue to outcross to unrelated Somali lines and to Abyssinians to ensure the health of this wonderful breed.


At present we show in CFA and over the last decade have gained Grand Champion status for many of our cats, the most recent being Kalyna’s Legolas – aka Teddy Edward. We are located in London, Ontario, Canada which is halfway between Detroit and Toronto. We primarily attend shows in Michigan, Ontario, Upper New York state and have made the occasional foray into northern Ohio.

Our foundation cats have been tested for PK Deficiency and we will be testing for PRA when a test is available in North America. Our cattery is FelV and FIV free. In addition we follow the AAFP vaccination protocol.

Our Somalis, both long and shorthair share their home with a longhair black and white rescue (Suzie) and her two huge longhair black and white sons, a neurotic and needy retired Siamese stud, exotic finches and an aquarium with tropical fish.