Kitten Blog

What if I Don't Want to Feed Raw?

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 15:41:00 -0400

Raw feeding is not a requirement for adoption with ForestWind Siberians.

However, it is certainly the very best food for your kitten or cat. For one reason, it provides the amount of chewing necessary for teeth and jaw health, as well as liquid in your Siberian's diet.

We can not recommend canned foods, as the fillers and coagulants can be highly allergenic to cats, and the BPA used to line many cans is carcenogenic.Additionally, due to these factors, canned can cause diarreah in cats. Diarreah is dangerous as it can quickly lead to dehydration and then death.

If you are uncomfortable feeding raw, it is simple to lightly steam our Raw Recipe, and measure and freeze this yummy food in serving sized portions. Don't let the raw issue turn you off to the healthiet diet for your Siberians!

What is the recipe we use? You can find it here: RAW FEEDING.

Raw Food = Real Food!

No longer recommending Wellness CORE

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:49:00 -0400

We learned over the weekend from another breeder that WellnessCore, which we have used as a part of our multi-kibble mix, is associated with urinary "blocking" in male cats. Therefore, we can no longer recommend its use. While we have used it solely as a component of a mix, we know that many kitten families end up settling on one kibble only and it is not healthy to have Wellness Core be that "one and only."

While we are on the topic of mixing kibbles, we'd like to explain again why we do this.

1. We do not want to trust our cats' health to one particular mix of nutrients. In the wild cats' diets are varied and we attempt to replicate this in our home.

2. We do not want fussy eaters. Cats can become "addicted" to one taste and refuse others. When kibble recipes change - and pet food companies companies have 60 days to post the announcement on their kibbles that their recipe HAS changed - they can refuse to eat. This is very dangereous for cats as they can develop a liver disease called hepatidic lipidosis quite quickly, and die almost over night from not eating.

3. Heaven forbid there is another commercial pet food disaster like years ago, the chances of your cats being affected are lower or minimized since their diet is varied.

4. You can take advantage of pet food sales. By rotating kibbles you can reduce the cost of feeding premium kibvble. After miing three kibbles together, portion into gallon sized freezer safe zip lock bags and freeze. Ths prolongs their freshness and ensures the kibble will not mold. Most folks don't realize how quickly kibbles oxidize, losing potency, flavor, and also getting moldy. Cats are very sensitive to this and will avoid food that is "off" long before we notice a difference.

Kibbles we can recommend:

(almost ANY cat kibble on this page is "ok" Always check labels to be sure real meat or meat meal (meat with water removed) are # 1 and # 2 ingredients!)

1. Wellness Complete Health Salmon

2. Wellness Kitten.

3. Blue - any flavour

4. Natural Balance Ultra.

5. TimberwolfSerengeti

6. Orijen

Happy Eating!

Carolyn and Kate

Jorrah Junii will retire in Late Fall 2010

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:51:00 -0400

Emerald Green eyed, affectionate, pure silver color classic patterned Jorrah Junii will be retired after her next litter with Cica Stepan. She will have had only three litters at that point and will be three years old.

Junii is a superb mom, has very pretty kittens, but on the small side. We are hoping for a silver girl like herself to replace her with.

If you are a non allergy home, Junii is being retired for the cost of desexing, and access for heart scanning.To begin adoption, complete our Kitten Inquiry Form.

Interested in being Junii's forever home? Preference given to families in the greater Western New York area. You are welcome to visit us to meet her, and to continue to visit until she is able to go home with you :)

ForestWind Susannah is retiring!

Sat, 24 Jul 2010 21:06:00 -0400

ForestWind Susannah, a goldeny brown girl with white feet and bib, spotted patterning, and emerald green eyes, is retiring in 10 weeks.Susannah is a small Siberian, about 8 pounds.

If you are not cat-allergic, and are interested in adopting her, please let us know.

She is two and on half years old and has only had three litters - this last one was born this very week.

She is VERY interactive with people,and is looking forward to a home to "rule." :)

Goldens

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 18:09:00 -0400

We wanted to thank Matt Baldwin and his wonderful golden male, Luzhezar Sibaris, for two lkitter of AMAZING kittens! Turns out Malania's litter is ALL male, lol, and Karolina's is ALL female - go figure ;)

Out of eight kittens, six are goldens and four or five may have show potential!

Thank you to Matt - and Alex and Arina of Sibaris Cattery in Moscow, Russia - for these amazing kittens!! Most are reserved by breeders and the others by die-hard goldens fans.

We will be posting more photos soon :) Well, as soon as we can get Malania's kittens away from Susannah who stole them and is hoarding them together with her three, lol!!

International Winners :)

Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:00:00 -0400

Jorrah Karat and Rossity Sultan have each been awarded by TICA as International Winners. Additionally, Sultan is second best Siberian in his region! Each boy achieved their honors after being shown only a handful of times. Many thanks to dawn and Doug of Pendraig Siberians in texas for showing karat and also for having his heart scanned (100 % clear!!), and show photos taken.

We are grateful to breeders Heather of Jorrah and Elena of Rossity for trusting us with these two very special golden boys! Thank you!!

Jorrah Karat by celebrated photographer Helmi Flick

Unethical Breeder Warning

Wed, 14 Jul 2010 05:40:00 -0400

We post this blog post to warn you about an unethical Siberian breeder in the Atlanta, Georgia metro area: Judith Johnson at Mystic Melodies.

Judith arranged for us to pay for and ship her one of our kittens, on her word she would later send a kitten - shipping paid for - back to us.

Instead, she kept our kitten without paying for her, or sending the kitten she owed us.

Despite trying for over a year, we have yet to learn what happened to our rare silver torby, ForestWind Ilyana Sharikova.

Judith Johnson / Mystic Melodies Siberians is not a person to trust with your hard earned money, or your precious future Siberians.

You can read the Contract and learn the details of this heartbreaking situation.

We are always happy to refer you to MANY reputable and honest Siberian Breeders in North America and abroad.

Do not make the mistake we did - being trustful of this unethical breeder!!

Fur Samples Mailed! Join Forum for Notifications

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:43:00 -0400

Summer is a hard time for Fur Samples! The cats are short coated and after the spring molt fur is scarce. We have just collected and mailed ALL the June and July fur samples. Thank you for your patience.

And, do not fear we are not opening Reservations until two weeks from now to allow the fur sample families time to adequately check allergies!

If you would like notification of Open Reservations, you will need to become a full Forum Member. "ALL" our kitten notices are posted to Forum Members - kittens who become available, opening of reservations, Open House Invitations, and Notification of time to select your kittens is you have reservations with us.

Warmly,

Kate & Carolyn

Delay Reminder!

Sat, 10 Jul 2010 05:39:00 -0400

We are posting this notice to remind folks that although we are able to provide love and cat / kitten care, we are not able to reply to emails during this family emergency.

We regret the inconvenience and annoyance we realize this causes, and appreciate your kind understanding of this difficulty!

Warmly,

Kate and Carolyn

Delayed Response Time Due to Family Emergency

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 23:01:00 -0400

We wanted to let our ForestWind Kitten Families know that our brother in law was just diagnosed with acute luekemia. My sister is handicapped and he is her primary caregiver.

So, they are needing a lot of extended on-site care. Our entire family is taking turns providing this care in western Massachusetts.

Thank you for your patience, as our response time for inquiries/ emails will be considerably slowed during this emergency period.

We will be opening very limited reservations for Fall kittens in early July.

Please be assured that there will ALWAYs be one of us at home kitten and cat caretaking, however + email is a large burden for one person.

Warmly,

Kate and Carolyn

SweetSiberians@aol.com