We Are Cage Free and Cat Friendly
Our Siberians are our pets. They live freely in our home. They also have bedrooms with climbers, cuddlers, and crash pads. We have climbers and scratchers all over our home. Here is a typical February 2011 afternoon naptime scene. 
By welcoming our friends and family to gently engage
with our kittens, they grow up trusting and affectionate. We subscribe
to the philosophy that
health, hypoallergenic status, and temperament are the top three
concerns in raising our cats. By providing
raw food; lots of love and play time; and breeding from foundation
stock,
we are doing our personal best to raise happy and healthy Siberian cats
who
will bring a many years of love into your life!
We have retired our first Siberians. Most did not contribute to our lines. They were wonderful to love and live with, but as we learned more about genetic health, pedigree analysis and other important health and temperament issues in breeding, we knew that we could not pass on certain predispositions either in future pets, or to the genetic pool of the breed.
Our Siberians "retire" young. We only have a few adults at our home, and three foster homes, and do not believe in extended breeding "careers" for our beloved cats. A long breeding career means too much genetic contribution to a new breed's genetic pool. A long breeding career means our sweet cats not having the chance to live life as a spoiled pet.
By welcoming our friends and family to gently engage
with our kittens, they grow up trusting and affectionate. We subscribe
to the philosophy that
health, hypoallergenic status, and temperament are the top three
concerns in raising our cats. By providing
raw food; lots of love and play time; and breeding from foundation
stock,
we are doing our personal best to raise happy and healthy Siberian cats
who
will bring a many years of love into your life!We have retired our first Siberians. Most did not contribute to our lines. They were wonderful to love and live with, but as we learned more about genetic health, pedigree analysis and other important health and temperament issues in breeding, we knew that we could not pass on certain predispositions either in future pets, or to the genetic pool of the breed.
Our Siberians "retire" young. We only have a few adults at our home, and three foster homes, and do not believe in extended breeding "careers" for our beloved cats. A long breeding career means too much genetic contribution to a new breed's genetic pool. A long breeding career means our sweet cats not having the chance to live life as a spoiled pet.
Fostering for Diversity & Health
How can we keep
numbers at home low *and* promote genetic diversity? We follow the
European and Scandinavian model of foster homes. We have a few cats at
home, living as pets, and a few kittens as foster kittens in pet homes,
almost exclusively locally. This allows our babies to
grow up in the pet home they will always
live in. This practice supports genetic diversity by allowing us to
have a cat contribute a bit to our breeding program, a cat we would
otherwise not feel right about keeping in terms of increasing the number
of cats at home. Since our cats live freely in our home, it is
important to keep our numbers low. Fostered girls have one or
two litters, and retire at about age 2. Fostered boys are kept whole
until aged three or four, unless they start to spray, in which case they
are
quickly bred and neutered.
On those rare occasions we place a kitten or cat into breeding, we almost always do it as a fostering/mentoring situation for a new breeder. Several times fosters have realized "breeding is not for me." Breeding well is very expensive, can be heartbreaking, and requires the ability to handle difficult interpersonal situations as well as communicate and negotiate on an international level. We believe that supporting those who want to work with Siberians helps ensure they do not bankrupt themselves "setting up" and are also able to benefit from the advice and shoulders of a few ethical breeders who are committed to coaching, information sharing and the direction that our breed needs in breeders who enter the field.
On those rare occasions we place a kitten or cat into breeding, we almost always do it as a fostering/mentoring situation for a new breeder. Several times fosters have realized "breeding is not for me." Breeding well is very expensive, can be heartbreaking, and requires the ability to handle difficult interpersonal situations as well as communicate and negotiate on an international level. We believe that supporting those who want to work with Siberians helps ensure they do not bankrupt themselves "setting up" and are also able to benefit from the advice and shoulders of a few ethical breeders who are committed to coaching, information sharing and the direction that our breed needs in breeders who enter the field.
