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About us
2006 brought an important development for us. Many years ago,
before we went into Ocicats, we considered breeding Abyssinians, but we
were put off by one breeder, and we went
on to choose Ocicats instead of Abyssinians. But having seen more
of Aby's over the years, when it came to the point this year that we
could either keep more Oci' girls, because several of our girls were due
to be neutered, OR go into the breed that had charmed us so many years
ago, we decided it was a good time to take the plunge into breeding
Abyssinians. Our first girl, Mikkar Noodle Doodle enchanted us
so much that we have decided to take Abyssinian breeding further. We are VERY grateful to Mike and
Karen Shammas for giving us the opportunity of having little
Noodle. She is a total delight! We are also thrilled to have
Jessica and Jasmine too (Highlight Jessica and Highlight Jazmyne) who
have joined us as well. Huge thanks to Lydia Barrett for these two
little darlings and we are very proud of our new beautiful boy
Frodo who came from Debbie Dixon (Crystalpaws) - he is an absolute
charmer. Also, big thanks to Angie Allwood for letting us have
Dylon (now called Billy):-), our lovely blue silver boy.
Our cats
all live with us as part of our family, all living together happily.
They are our pets, first and foremost, and we look on breeding to be the
icing on the cake. When the kittens are born they spend the first three weeks in the security
of our bedroom (by the side of the bed, so as soon as it's light enough I
can watch them from the bed:-))) and then they go in to the rest of our
home to mix with the other cats. They tend to
be pretty bomb proof, going on to homes with children of all ages and pets
of all sorts, and mixing in well. We don't allow our cats or kittens
out into the garden. I've heard of so many disastrous stories,
from various breeders, of cats that have got out and got pregnant by
local boys when 'cat proofed' gardens have been involved, that I
wouldn't risk it, but we do have areas where cats can enjoy the weather,
plants, etc. but in the safety of a cat proof run:-)))) Here are a few photos:
Jessica
and Noodle love to chew the bamboo - it's a good job we've checked that
all of the plants are cat safe!
Jasmine
having a munch on the cut down butterfly bush. That's Noodle with
her, pretending she's not doing it:-)))
The
catnip and Confederate Jasmine are appreciated by the cats. As
well as that there is Rosemary, Sages, Cat Thymes, Butterfly Ginger,
Bamboo etc.
In this area we started with grass but it didn't work out well, so we
paved it with Victorian slabs and the cats are very happy with it.
We still grow some grasses in pots for them to chew at though.
The cats can experience a garden and weather and enjoy plants
that are safe for them without being at risk.
We have been very lucky -
Merrydancer cats and kittens are doing very very well at shows, but showing isn't our
foremost concern. The most important thing to us is that we are
raising happy, healthy, affectionate, intelligent kittens who will have the
very best chance of living long, happy, healthy lives in their new
homes. For this reason we only let kittens go to homes where they
will always be kept indoors, or allowed in the safety of a run in the garden, or
taken out on a harness in the garden. Abyssinians are intelligent cats, very
affectionate and like to be involved in whatever is going on. They
are very sweet natured:-)
I don't
go out to work at all, so have all my time to spend with our cats and
kittens and Derek works part-time these days,
being a retired Bank Manager. He's also a Magistrate. Our cats are our life.
Our whole day
revolves around the cats from the moment we get up, to the moment we go to
bed.
Once we've spoken to a prospective owner we put their
name down on the list to book a kitten provisionally, and then once the
kittens are 5-6 weeks old they come to visit and then
we make a firm booking.
Up until recently we didn't take deposits,
but we are now starting to because in a recent litter we were messed
about to a ridiculous degree, to the point that one particular kitten
had three prospective owners and we were still getting messed about when
the kitten was 12 weeks old, and we want to avoid that in future.
It's
important to us that having a kitten from us should be a lovely
experience, so we do our best to keep prospective owners updated on the
development of their kitten until he/she's 13 weeks old and leaves
us. We put photos on our site from the day the kittens are born, weekly,
that owners can take off, and try to keep people in touch with all the 'milestones' as the kittens
reach them. In return, we're very fortunate in that kitten owners
keep in touch with us and send us beautiful photos of the kittens as they
grow up - see the 'Pictures from owners' pages. We've made many
many friends in our kitten owners:-))))))
Breeding
can be a hard and exhausting life - with many ups and downs, joys and
disappointments but it's a huge privilege
to watch the birth of a kitten, clear the amniotic sac and fluid from it's
nose, watch over the mother while she breaks the placenta, or do it for
her, as we often do, and see the kitten take it's first breath and then
see them develop into wonderful companions to their new families. Of
course - there's lots in between LOL! You don't make money breeding
- as our vet says 'there aren't many hobbies that don't cost a fortune, so
if you break even, you're doing well' and it can be a very expensive
hobby, financially and emotionally, but the joys can be so great that I wouldn't change my life
for the world.
Kookie, three and a half weeks old
Chris
and Derek,
Merrydancer
Cats.
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