Our breeding

How kittens are raised in our cattery

In our cattery, you are always buying an unique kitten, no matter if you are buying a kitten for show and breeding or for pet! We do never make the same combination/match more than once, and our cats do only make a few litters each.

All our cats are tested for HCM, FIV/FeLV, blood group tested and tested for the Neva Masquerade gene. We feed our cats only with quality food from Royal Canin and Hill's.

All our cats live together with us, and have access to most of our house. We care much about our cat’s wellbeing and it’s very important for us that they are a part of the family.  
In spite of the fact that we have a relatively big cattery, we do everything to socialise our kittens! Our kittens are born and grow up inside our house, and have a pretty big playpen in our kitchen/living room, which they get out of when they are about 5-6 weeks old. When the kittens are old enough, they do also have the opportunity of getting out in our cat run on 50 square metres.   

We wish to contribute with a healthy and aimed breeding, with a wide genpool. We wish to breed Siberians, for both future breeding and for pets, and our priority is to breed beautiful and healthy Siberians with good temperament.

We put an effort into spending enough time every day with our cats and kittens. The kittens grow up in our house and have a large playpen in our kitchen-dining area, which is a very central room in the house. This prepares the kittens for the big, dangerous world that is waiting for them in their new homes.

As the kittens become more mobile, they have the opportunity to crawl out of the breedingbox on their own, and out into the playpen. In these protected surroundings, we introduce them to canned food with a milk substitute for kittens when they are old enough to eat. Later we introduce them to dry-food, water bowls and tubs with water to play in. We show them many different toys, scratching devices and both open and closed cat toilets. When the kittens are 6 weeks old, they are mostly able to jump the fence in the playpen. At this point they have enough control of their legs to run in the entire house. And then we have a house full of kittens!
Kittens playpen;
 

The kittens also get the opportunity to get out in our outdoor playpen with the other cats. The exit to this is in a special room only for the cats, which is arranged with large scratching trees and a lot of fun stuff. The outdoor playpen is an extension to the cat room, and it is 50 square metres big. The female cats and the kittens have access to this playpen at all times through a cat door in a window. Outside are many stimulating activities. The playpen is surrounded by aviary net, digged far down into the ground and covered with plastic glass up to 1 meter from the ground. Half of the playpen is roofed; this half is made into a terrace of wood.

Here we show a pictures from the outdoor catrun/fencing, for the female cats and the kittens (50 square metres in extension of the house).
The catrun/fencing for females and kittens;

 
The cat room consists of most of the toilets of the cats, scratching trees and toys. Our exhibition cups and ribbons are also displayed in here.
This is the sacred room of the cats, where they have all-time access and can escape from our dogs and playful puppies. In the doorway we have put a children’s gate to prevent the dogs from entering. Our scratching trees are imported from the Swedish company “Katz”. They are very solid and of good quality. The shelves are made like hammocks, and the cats love them.
Cat room;

When we sell a kitten, it usually settles in its new home very fast, even if there are other cats. Because we have both dogs and many cats, the kittens are not scared by new animals. Our dogs are very trustful and calm, and the kittens love playing on their bags and chasing their tales when they wag them. Very often we see them all lying in the same basket together. When we have puppies, the kittens crawl down next to them with the bitch to keep them warm.

When we have a litter of kittens, we don’t approve of having visitors within the first two weeks, because we feel that it is unnecessarily stressful for the mother cat. Especially if the cat has its first litter. But after this period of two weeks, everyone is welcome to visit us and the cats.

We put an effort into giving the kittens what they need in their upbringing, and we try to imprint them with lots of good experiences. Our cats are very social, both towards each other, the dogs and towards humans.

We often plan having two litters at the same time, so that the kittens will have more playmates and will be taught how to act as a cat much faster and by several individuals. This way the kittens have more than one mother, because they just lie with whom ever is around. The female cats don’t  shut out anyone. They don’t mind taking care of all the kittens. Usually the gather all the kittens in one breedingbox , even though there are more than one. It is fantastic to experience that all the cats show so much care for the kittens. Even the cats who don’t have kittens often get so strong maternal instincts that they begin producing milk. The older female cats often take on the role of substitute mother and show great care for the kittens. Whe we keep one of the kittens ourselves, we can see that the older cats keep one showing great care for the kittens even until it’s around 1 year old. It is a great advantage for the kittens that  there is always a female cat to take care of them, and we are very sure they don’t miss anything.


In the picture you see Arwen-Timange Fialka and her daughter Meldgaards Belochka, helping each other with a litter.

In our breeding we only use combinations that we find very interesting, and we rarely use the same combination more than once, unless we have a special reason for using this combination again. We try to make a wide genetic variation, because within the Siberian race there is a very small selection of material for breeding. The race is still rare in Europe, and we try to expand it with only good breeding material.

Our combinations are carefully selected, and often we keep a kitten ourselves, with the intention of further breeding. We never make combinations just to breed.

We breed kittens as well for families as for breeding and exhibitions. We give health, good temper and race-typical look a high priority in our breeding. All our cats are tested for genetic and infectious diseases, vaccinated, treated for worms and fleas and continuously get health checks. Most of our cats has been premiered in exhibitions and has a champion title. As far as possible we try to breed our own lines, but all of our cats are of Russian origin from our first imported cats. We frequently import new cats from Russia, always trying to make new combinations.

We put almost all of our time and love in our kittens, and therefore it is very important to us that the kitten gets a good, loving home, where people really care about them. We like very much to get to know the buyers and keep in contact after they receive the kitten. This is why we might ask a lot of questions. It is not meant as an interrogation, but as an expression of our care for the kittens. All of our kittens are unique, and it is a great question of trust for us to leave a kitten with a new family. Therefore we reserve the right to reject people we for some reason don’t feel good about leaving a kitten to.

Of course it is also a question of trust for the buyer, to contact a breeder for a kitten, and trusting that the kitten gets a good upbringing and the best conditions for becoming a well-functioning grown cat. Because of this, we prefer that people visit us, so everybody can get to know each other. This way the new family also gets a chance of following the kitten in its upbringing and gets to help socialising the kitten. This will give the kitten a good start and a chance to get to know the people it has to live with later on. It’s a great advantage when getting the kitten home, if it recognizes the family.