The names in blue were filled in from online databases.

Metinka was initially a stumbling block as there is an erroneous entry for her - Chillingham Minette is female and can't have been Metinka's sire!

There was information on both Holway Tito's and Metinka's breedings, including a registered kitten born on the same date as the one in the handwritten pedigree. The only registered offspring listed from that mating is a female called Metushka. It would be nice to think this is the "unnamed" kitten. If not, it is one of Metushka's unknown/unregistered siblings. Metinka had several further litters with different stud cats. Holway Tito sired a number of litters both before and after Metinka.

The Ardeleana database traces the ancestry of Metinka and Holway Tito much further back, to World War 1 at least. Further back, both cats share several of the same ancestors. There are gaps due to cats not being registered, or information being lost. Hopefully the pedigree written in the back of a secondhand book has helped to fill in a gap. Another interesting turn up was that the database listed both Chaffeys Pride (with pedigree) and Chappeys Pride (no pedigree); these are most likely the same cat - the copperplate writing on early pedigrees isn't easy to read and my initial reading of Ms Aitkin's writing had also been Chappeys Pride! I far prefer the look of the 1940s Siamese over the modern Siamese which are to angular for my tastes (and the faces are increasingly uncatlike). From a pedigree handwritten in the back of a cat care book, I have confirmed the names and identities of the cats, filled in two blanks in that pedigree and found a possible identity of the kitten!

WHY KEEP RECORDS (AND WHY IT'S EASIER TO DO SO NOWADAYS)

My linechasing was for fun and a bit of detective work/puzzle solving. However, if you are breeding cats you need to keep records of parentage and offspring. This isn't just for the nicety of knowing a cat's pedigree or that it is related to a winning cat. Sometimes genetics defects crop up and turn out to be carried as recessive (hidden) genes by a cat's ancestors. The same genes might be present in other cats in that breeding line. With some defects, such as polycystic kidney disease in Persians, the problem is serious enough that cats known to carry the genes must not be bred. Breeders need to trace ancestors, brothers/sisters and offspring of an affected cat. This means good record keeping.

In the past, breeders had to write out pedigrees - one of the problems I found was transcription errors where people hadn't been able to decipher handwriting. Nowadays, most breeders use automated tools to generate pedigrees and/or keep databases (such as the database I searched). One such tool is "Breeders Assistant Pedigree Software" which is record keeping and pedigree software with open data access and optional advanced genetics. It also has options for predicting the offspring's colours and patterns based on their pedigree. This wasn't an issue for the Siamese breeder who only had a couple of colours in 1949!

Breeders Assistant Pedigree Software also has articles on colour inheritance and congenital defects where the mode of inheritance is known. This helps breeders trace carriers and helps them avoid breedings which would give rise to sick kittens.

It's a far cry from a handwritten pedigree in the back of a book in post WWII years!