ForestWind Siberian Cats

Do you own a Siberian cat and live near Delray Beach in Florida? We have a lovely allergic kitten family in Delray Beach hoping for an introduction to a Siberian cat. Typically when families host allergy visitors, the allergy family pays them about 50 dollars for their time and effort. If you are willing to meet fellow Siberian lovers and share your kitty for about 30 minutes, please do let us know!

Here we are at the very modern "NYLO" hotel (Does this mean NY - Long Island, we wonder?), in Warwick Rhode Island on the outskirts of Providence. Our weekend is filled with the Convention Center and the Pet EXpo, of which our TICA show is a part.

Saturday starts out wonderfully. Our servers Jen and Jessica at the NYLO bring very nice, hot coffee, as we settle into an interestingly decorated diningroom / bar area with a gorgeous view of the Pawtucket River. Breakfast consits of delicious berries, stoneybrook yogurt, croissants, bagels, and juices, in the European tradition, even Nutella is provided - YUM!

The helpful directions from show management about where to parok - right down to which end of the garage and parking deck - net us a convenient location about100 yards from the door. We are early and get set up easily.

This weekend we've brought brown classic boys ForestWind Wyatt and Rossity Sultan, hoping for Wyatt to continue his social development, and Sultan to Supreme. We are tickled pink with the Judges' comments on Wyatt:  the excellence of his form, size, coat, and appearance are all tops, give him a year or two and he'll be truly superb! Even more we appreciate judges such as Donna Madison and Fran Hicks who dealt with Wy right before his melt down. This show is a challenge for him, as it is only his second, and about 20 feet away from us is a petting zoo, filled with camels, sheep, and other livestock. Between the sounds and smells of that, and the Dog Show and Dog obedience exibitions, he has a lot of challenges to face.

For dinner we follow the advice of Nasia, our very helpful and cheerful Front Desk Manager, when she suggests Haruki on Oaklawn Avenue, Cranston (401.463.8338), only about 5 minutes from our hotel, we are in and seated in no time.

We've subsisted on MacDonald's hamburgers - the small ones - french fries and lots of coffee, so we decide to treat ourselves to the Sushi Heaven - a boatload (literally) of the Chef's filets of fresh, raw fish, nigiri sushi, and maki sushi. Truly decadent, we began our meal with a Daisuke Roll (tuna, asparagus, wrapped in tuna, tobiko,sauces and cilantro), and ended with green tea tempura ice cream and surprisingly good coffee! We wish we'd thought to ask the name of our friendly and efficient waitress at Haruki, she was truly a delight!

Look for our Sunday show update and new photos from Helmi Flick to be posted on Monday or Tuesday!

Warmly,

Kate & Carolyn

Dear Kitten Families:

We've recently begun to register our kittens with TICA, and not only CFA!

If you already have your Forest Wind kitten, please contact us if you have not received your blue slip for registration, or any other information you need, we are preparing winter packets to send to our kitten families now

Warmly,

Kate and Carolyn

One of the most frequent questions we read about cats on the internet is "what are the hypoallergenic breeds of cats?" When we have time, we share an answer that reads something like this:

Yes, there are actually hypoallergenic cats.And no, sphynx, rexed breeds, and other usually named breeds are not genetically hypoallergenic. Even the average tabby cat rescued from the road side may be "hypoallergenic to some." Part of that is diet and health care. Part of that is grooming and housekeepign. The other part is that some cats simply produce less allergenic protein. However, the only breed scientifically tested and proven to have a significant portion of its members actually *be* hypoallegenic is the Siberian cat.

Before jumping up and down and screaming "Hallelujah!" it is important to learn a few key facts. First,  realize that hypo means "less," not "none."  Some (about 40% of the breed) Siberian cats produce significantly less allergenic protein than the average pedigree or non pedigreed cat.

Second, some Siberian cats have been laboratory tested with lower levels of the feline protein most cat allergic people react to. In fact, at this time Siberian cat breeders have a formal research project funded at University Of California Davis to study the mechanism that results in the reducedproduction of this protein.  There is a physical mechanism for the reduced allergen production, and it will be reported when the research has been peer reviewed and published.

Third, some breeders who are participating in the project have their breeding cats tested and publish the results. You can see the actual laboratoryreports on our website, for example: <http://www.sweetsiberians.com/allergyresults.htm>;

Fourth, breeders - Like ForestWind Siberians -  who take placement of cats into allergy homes seriously do not just "hand off" their kittens. They work closely with the adoptive persons to help them prepare their homes and routines so that the adoption is most likely to be successful: <http://www.sweetsiberians.com/allergyadoptionsteps.htm>;

Fifth,if you have asthma, this makes it even more challenging to adopt if you also have cat allergies. The aforementioned University study has found that cats with less than3 ug/ml of fel d-1 protein are generally successfully placed into homes with asthma + cat allergies.

As a responsible breeder of hypoallergenic cats, ForestWind Siberians provides enormous support and information via our website and our members forum in order to ensure that our kittens are safely placed for life in their allergy homes.

We encourage you to carefully conduct your research and committ to a cat care routine that will increase the odds of your successful adoption. And, we are here to help you learn about these steps and how to implement them. Or, to put it another wayu - you'll be able to use that box of "kleenex" for wiping away your tears of joy instead of your sniffly nose!

Hallelujah!!

Kate & Carolyn

Come join us on March 20 and 21 for an Allergy Open House!

We are conveniently located in Buffalo, New York - only 2 hours from Toronto, 4 1/2 hoursfrom Pittsburgh, 90 minutes from Erie, PA or  Rochester, NY, and 2 1/2 hours from Syracuse.

We discuss the necessity of an in-home challenge for you depending on your replies to the allergy assessment questions on our kitten inquiry form, and your reaction to a fur sample.

We only schedule Open House Appointments for persons who have kitten reservations with us. Reservations are 1/3 the cost of adoption. We do not charge for in-home visits. If you react to our cats while you are in our home, we refund 100% of your reservation

What is an Allergy Challenge with us like?

It might seem strange, but you will check your reactivity in your own car. This is to ensure that you are only being exposed to the FELD-1 level of one cat.

Here is a typical assessment for a person who takes a few hours to react: You arrive, knowck on the door or call, and we bring on of our adult males to your car. You cuddle and snuggle with him for about 30 minutes. If your reaction takes longer than that to begin, you leave to hang out locally (we are very near charming coffee spots, restaurants, museums and shops).You return after the length of time you've predefined with us as being necessary for your to react.At that point you can choose to test with another cat; give the all-clear; or  let us know sadly, "I am reacting."  If you react with our cats, we refund your kitten reservation100%   Unlike some breeders, we do not charge for your in person allergy challenge. By coming to our home, we feel you are demonstrating a strong commitment to adoption and we are giving you the same in return.

Before you come for your appointment, together with you, we define length of time to your typical reaction, the severity of reaction, and exactly what type (symptoms) of reaction you are looking for.

We are sorry, but your reaction must be obvious to an observer and occur while during the official allergy challenge.  If it takes you several days to react, we can not account for that in our allergy challenges, as we are unable to "control" your home environment.

Many folks would like to come into our home and meet us and our cats. We welcome this after your allergy challenge. HOWEVER, and this is very important!!  when you come into our home you are now being exposed to ALL of our cats - and not just the ones who live here now, but the ones who've been here since we started and are now retired. Feld-1 is very "sticky" (this is how researchers define it) and it is hard to get rid of, even with typical cleaning.  Since we do not have a forced air heating system, we are unable to install the electrostatic air filter and HEPA whole house filter we strongly recommend for allergy homes (we had both of these filters in our previous home and it was MAGIC!!). 

Since you will be exposed to all our cats, if you react inside our house, after "passing" your allergy challenge in your car,  we are unable to refund your reservation. So, we usually suggest that you separate your allergy challenge from your inside visit.

How many times have we had to refund the reservation? Only once since we began requiring it pre-open house appointment. And, their deposit was back in their paypal account before they got home. We later tested the same male cat that the family reacted to, and he had a much higher level of FELd-1 than our other cats.

We welcome any questions you have about our Allergy Open House practice and procedure.

Warmly,

Kate & Carolyn

Gorgeous Jorrah Karat was accorded the royal treatment on Valentine's day when he had his photo session with Helmi Flick.  Thanks to Dawn and Doug of Pendraig Siberians, Karat had the opportunity to compete at the Waco TICA show and to enjoy a special photo session. Helmi and Ken did a wonderful job of bringing out the gorgeous golden tones in Karat's coat, and highlighting his nicest features, like his gorgeous fully bushy tail and ear tipping! 

Jorrah Karat at 22 months - already a stunner!

Rossity Sultan, photographed by Helmi Flick, after taking fourth and fiifth best cat against some very stiff competition, and a large Siberian Championship field, at Jersey State Feline Fanciers' Edison NJ Show  January 29 - 31, 2010. 

This three day show is large, and was well attended. It was a pleasure visiting with old friends and making new friends, and introducing many visiting cat lovers to Sultan, his son, ForestWind Feliks Sultanovich, and Feliks' half-brother, ForestWind Wyatt Sharikovich (Eleonora Silva Line x Cica Sharik Angel Zhandarmovich).

Feliks took both Best Kitten and Second-best long hair Kitten! You can see Feliks' strong resemblence to Daddy Sultan.

We are looking forward to the March 5th & 6th Cats on the Beach Show in Providence, Rhode Island. Hope to meet you there!

Warmly,

Kate & Carolyn

We have several pages on our sited dedicated to helping you prepare for your kitten's home coming.

Getting Ready For Baby links you to ocations to buyt food, discusses litter box size and type of litter we use, in addition to discussing buying bedding for cosying up your Siberian kitten in.

We'd also like to draw your attention to our Toys and Supplies suggestions. Here we specifially show you the climbers, scratching towers, and some of the toys our ForestWind Siberian kittens and cats use.

We also invite you to join our Forum, where you will find more information on topics like Making Your Own Raw Food.

If there are other topics you'd find helpful to know about as you prepare to welcome your kitten home, please let us know! We'd be delighted to add more information to our website for you, as well as specifically respond to your emails

Warmly,

Kate and Carolyn

ForestWind Siberians has scheduled our Feburary Allergy Open House!!

We are sorry, but due to the number of requests for allergy appointments, we are only able to accept Allergy Open House appointments for folks with paid kitten reservations.

This Allergy Open House is not to meet kittens, or hold extended discusions. We have learned that in order to be most fair to the number of persons needing to allergy challenge, that we must focus on exposure to the cats. If you have lots of questions, we would love to address them. It is best to do this pre appointment, and before you make your kitten reservation.

Allergy Open House appointments made on the 1/2 hour, and run from Noon until five p.m. on Saturday February 7 and Sunday February 8th.

You will need to provide a car for testing in order to conduct your challenge in a space free of allergens you might react to in our home (higher FELD 1 cats, our lab puppy, dust, etc). You will have 1/2 hour with one of our male cats. If you require longer to react, we will schedule you to return later the same day. We are unable to accommodate multiplie day exposures.

We invite you to complete and submit your ForestWInd Siberians Allergy Open House Appointment Form.

We've just updated our Kitten Colors page with information about a useful article by TICA Judge Beth HIcks. Titled "What Colour Is My Cat?" it provides helpful descriptions of color an patterns on the cat. There are excellent photographs by well known Cat Photographer Helmi Flick to illustrate the patterns and colours being described. For example, here is a stunning photo taken by Helmi of a red ticked Maine Coon cat:

Enjoy!

Warmly

Kate and Carolyn