What
is a Kattery Husband
A kattery husband
is a rare and extremely valuable species that does a lot of work and gets
very little credit. A kattery husband provides emotional, financial
and physical support of all kattery activities. This includes, but
is not limited to: care and feeding of tiny babies, medicating sick babies
or adults, delivery and pickup of cats to and from the airport, the vet
or cat shows, emergency care, at-home care for everyone when their partner
goes to out-of-town shows, talking with customers about kittens available,
helping break up cat fights, cleaning up carpeting and lifting all that
heavy litter. We could probably do it without them, but it would
be so much harder. They don't always know the answer if you call,
but they surely will try to help. They love us in spite of our passion
for cats, which they sometimes don't quite understand, but will indulge
anyway. Kiddlyn's Kattery Husband is Scott Thorniley. He is
the man behind the scenes who helps make this all possible and manageable.
What
is a Kattery
Webster defines
a "cattery" (original spelling) as a "place where cats are bred." Our "kattery"
(Donaldson's New Word Dictionary, 1998) is much more than that. It
is a place where kittens (in a kaleidoscope of kolors) are kissed, kuddled,
and koddled. (Our obsession with the letter "K" is part of my Polish
heritage, where many peoples' names start with "K" and have lots of "K's"
within them.) Our kattery is just our home. We have a small number
of breeder cats, and they live with us as pampered pets - the kind of pets
that want to sleep under the covers with you and sit on your lap for hours
watching TV.
We practice
good kattery management in a number of ways. Our "boys" (also known
as stud cats), are in a separate room. Because their biological urges
would take over, they must be kept away from the "girls" (female cats of
breeding age.)
Our maternity
ward is a bathroom (we have three), the nursery is a separate bedroom,
and the adult females have their own room to sleep in at night, with lots
of cat trees, window perches, and exercise toys. We have a lovely
solarium (with lots of sunshine and fresh air) which allows the cats to
enjoy the beauty of the outdoors in a safe way. We don't let our
kittens run with the adults until they've had their full series of vaccinations,
and we don't let our current show cats run with the rest of the cats. In
this way, we avoid the risk of exposure to viruses that could be brought
home from a cat show. It sounds a little complicated, but we are
lucky to have the space to make it work.
We didn't invent
these ideas. These recommendations come from some of the best veterinarians
in the world (e.g., Dr. Niels Pedersen) who have written about effective
kattery management practices. We don't want to do anything to risk
the health of our breeding females or any kittens we have on the ground.
("On the ground" just means kittens between the ages of 1-12 weeks.) We
generally don't have more than two litters on the ground at any given time.
This gives us more opportunity to spend time with the babies as they grow
up. It also gives us a backup mother if one mother has any problems with
milk or gets sick. We spend a great deal of time handling the babies, so
that they will enjoy it as adults and will know what to do if they become
show cats.
We participate
in the CFA Cattery Inspection Program and have been evaluated as a CFA
Cattery of Excellence since 1994. This means that we not only conform,
but exceed the standards for space, conditions, light, temperature, cleanliness,
ventilation and a number of other factors which deal with the quality of
life for cats.
Retired
Show Cats
Because we
want to keep our kattery small, we don't keep more than 3-4 female breeders
at any given time. We often place our adults after they've given us a kitten
we'd like to keep. Sometimes these cats will be shown for a while
to attain Grand status in CFA. Sometimes these cats are already Grand
Champions in CFA and we want them to have a wonderful life as someone's
pillow buddy. The adults we make available are generally 1-4 years
of age, and are already spayed/neutered. Adults make wonderful pets, especially
the ones who have been shown and are extremely well socialized. They
are experienced travelers and have been exposed to a wide variety of life's
situations.
People often
ask if these cats "will bond with them" as well as a kitten will. Japanese
Bobtails are extremely intelligent. They will bond (at any
age) with the person who gives them love and affection -- and food. All
of our adults are sold with a full guarantee on personality. Since owning
any cat is a long-term commitment, we want you and the cat to be happy.
To ensure that the new cat adjusts to your human and animal family, we
always allow an appropriate adjustment period with a full refund if it
does not work out. See our Availability Page for more information
on the retired show cats currently available.
Our
Breeding Philosophy
We breed for
three things that we consider equally important. We breed for type
(which means how closely our Bobtails meet the CFA standard of perfection.)
As breeders, our goal is conforming to the standard to preserve and improve
the breed where possible.
We breed for
health. We have placed outstanding show cats who did not produce
healthy kittens. We have learned that health is more a genetic factor
than anything else. We only use those cats in our breeding program
who have had no history of any serious upper respiratory infections which
could produce a chronic carrier state and affect the health of their newborn
kittens. We monitor the health of kittens and cats, keep records
on all health problems we encounter and keep track of any health problems
reported to us by customers. We do not use cats for breeding that
demonstrate any condition which could be inheritable (passed down to their
kittens). We disclose all health information on any cat or kitten
we sell and encourage you to talk with our personal veterinarian or any
of the veterinarians in the clinic we have used since 1985.
We breed for
temperament. This quality seems more influenced by genetics than
anything else. We learned this after many years of trying to bond
with kittens that were unexplainably shy. Sometimes the kittens we
didn't spend as much time with turned out wonderfully. The lesson
for us was that temperament comes from that unique combination of genes
that each parent gives. When it's good, you can't damage it. When
it's not good, you can't fix it. We don't use a cat for breeding
unless it has an outstanding personality, and prefer to use only those
cats for breeding who have at least three generations of outstanding personality
behind both parents. In many cases, we have 5-6 generations of cats
we personally raised behind the kittens we sell. This helps to ensure
the continuation of the kind of temperament that is most desirable for
pet owners, as well as the temperament that makes a Bobtail what it is.
