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About us 2006 has 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 has 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 now 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. We are delighted with our later additions to our family as well, in the form of the lovely blue girl Indie - thank you so much to Sue Covey for letting us have this sweet little poppet, and we are very proud of our new beautiful boy Frodo who came from Debbie Dixon (Crystalpaws) - he is an absolute charmer. 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! Dove and Teddy are investigating the new turf that we laid.
Teddy and Jessica caught in the act:-)))) 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, and a Butterfly bush.
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. Abyssinans 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.
Some of the cats enjoying sitting in front of the Aga as the weather cools outside. The yellow bed in the middle is real sheepskin - we thought we'd try it and see what they thought of it. It's definitely a hit, so we'll be buying a whole sheepskin for them soon. We couldn't get all the cats together to pose for a picture! But from the left it's Jessica, Ozzie, Kuchi, Annie, Padi, Lucy and Noodle. 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 7 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. Chris
and Derek,
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