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I believe that happy, well fed
cats are healthy, full of energy, and productive (litter size wise), so that's the way I approach the care of my cats.
I feed all natural, premium food that has no corn, no wheat, nor 'anybody's guess what kind of meat this really
is' in the food. My cats also get only reverse-osmosis drinking water. My cats and kittens are
a part of our family and they live inside our house 24/7/365. I, like many Breeders, raise and keep my cats 'underfoot'. I
joke with people when they come to my house and tell them that they shouldn't lift their feet to take steps,
but instead they should kinda slide their feet, otherwise they may launch a cat through the air...... seriously, I've accidentally
done it before...... because there are LOTS of cats 'underfoot' at our house. That being said, I also have to cage some
of my cats at times, but I only do it out of necessity..... for the cat's safety, or to keep the cats from spraying in my
house, etc. My Kings will spray if I let them loose, even if they're just in a room by themselves, so I have to cage
them in large cages to keep my house from smelling like a urinal. Since I have to sequester the intact females
from the intact males, that means that they are going to have to be in a rooms away from each other. So 'underfoot'
is how I do my cattery whenever I possibly can and if every cat in my house was altered, I could do that every day,
all day long, but with breeding aged females and males, it's just not possible to have all my cats 'underfoot', running
the house all the time.... I
heard it said years ago that the definition of the oath: "...swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but
the truth...." is this: You tell the truth, as opposed to telling a lie. You tell the whole truth, as opposed
to leaving out a part of the truth that may get you into trouble; you just tell part of the 'good' part of the truth
and leave out the 'bad' part of the truth. Then there is: nothing but the truth, which means you tell the truth, but
don't add a lie to the truth and try to make someone believe that the lie is true too. With that in mind, please understand
that I’m being honest about how I contain my cats and the reasons behind the containment. I catch alot of garbage
from other Breeders about admitting that I cage my cats at times. Some Breeders won't even sell me a cat with breeding
rights because I admit that I cage my cats at times. While keeping the oath above (and it's meaning) in
mind, let me say this: There are alot of Breeders that say on their websites that they don’t cage their cats,
yet when the truth comes out, you’ll find out that them 'not caging' their cats is really just a matter of semantics.
You’ll find that many of them keep their males in a room by themselves (you'll hear these referred to as: nooks,
bachelor pads, their ‘own room’, etc.), which is not a cage per se, but the cat is certainly not free to run the
house, coming and going as he pleases, like you may be led to believe when they say (or you read) that they "don’t
cage their cats". Then they say they don’t cage their kittens, however, in truth, the kittens are kept in
a room, away from everyone else; and in that room, they're kept in a box, or maybe a small hard plastic swimming
pool, or inside of a fenced off in a corner, etc., which in my book equates to caging. And how about those Breeders
that tell you the kittens stay in their bedroom with them, and even sleep with them, like the kittens are less 'caged'
because they get to sleep in the Breeder's bedroom?? I mean really, how much time does someone spend in their bedroom
and then isn't most of that time spent sleeping??? Some Breeders also have ‘sun rooms’ they put on
the backs of their houses and in truth, the cats stay out in the sun room all the time, not inside the house, free to run
the entire house....24 / 7 / 365... with the family, as you might have believed by reading on their websites that their
cats are ‘not caged’ and are ‘raised underfoot’. So really, the cat, or kitten, being
‘caged’ is just a matter of [semantics] it being a bit bigger of a cage (or enclosure), not that the cat necessarily has
free run throughout the house. So the real truth is that by what they say, and how they say it, they lead you
to believe their cats are not caged, but really, let me ask you this: If you were made to stay in one room of a house, all
the time, and were not allowed to freely go out into any of the other rooms, would you, or would you not, consider yourself
caged??? To me, a cage is a cage, no matter how big it is and I certainly would consider myself caged if I could not
freely come and go as I pleased, and I believe you'd feel the same way too.....thus, I rest my case (my defense, if you will)
on ‘caging’. From the first day kittens are born, I check on them numerous
times each day. Most times I'm there when the kittens are being born, but sometimes they are delivered during the
night and I wake up to a wonderful sight of Mama with her new kittens. My Queens don't mind me
being there keeping a close eye on everything because it gives me a chance to love on mama as well. I
pick up and examine each kitten several times a day to make sure they are eating good, that mama is keeping them clean, that
they are warm, active and responsive to my touch, etc. I also hold them close to me from day one so that the
'human smell' is embedded into them just like the smell of the mama cats. During the weeks that follow, I
keep a close watch on how they develop each day and make sure that everyone is getting enough to eat while they're nursing
and when they start eating the solid food, I make sure everyone gets a belly full then too. I keep a close
eye on their eating habits as they begin eating dry food. I make sure they are drinking lots of water along with
the dry food so they stay hydrated. Sometimes getting them used to the water and the solid food takes some intervention
on my part, because, at first, they only recognize mama's milk as food and they don't realize they're supposed to eat
the solid food or drink the water. Please bear in mind that while what I'm saying here about a kitten's
eating habits may seem obvious to you, I've spoken to many Breeders and Vets that have told me the number
one problem with people getting a new kitten is that they don't make sure the kitten is eating enough food and drinking enough
water and the kitten literally dies from starvation or from dehydration. It's very important when you get your
kitten home to watch their food and water intake. Moving to a new home can be very traumatic for a kitten and you need
to watch them very carefully. By the time they get to be about 5-6 weeks old, they're ready to explore the house.
When I do start letting the kittens out of the cat rooms to run around the house, I watch the them very closely.
I look at kittens just like I would see a human toddler. Kittens and toddlers cannot be left unattended in a house full
of perils. There are things that could be swallowed, cords, if bitten, that could electrocute an animal, etc. and
until I condition the kittens to play with 'their toys' and leave other things alone, I keep a close eye on them.
And even when they get older, you still have to watch them or they could easily end up dead. For example, an open dryer
is enticing to a young cat and if you don't notice that the cat has jumped into the dryer before you turn it on, it will
be the end of the cat. Also, certain plants are deadly and even so, cats will eat them, if they can get to them, so
you have to be aware of what plants you may have in your house that could poison your cat. Even something as simple
as a glass left out on a table can kill a kitten if the kitten were to put its head down into it. If the kitten
got its head stuck in the glass, the kitten will suffocate, or even drown if there is liquid still in
the glass. The world can be a very deadly place for your kitten and you must always be on the alert for things that
could harm, or kill, the kitten. And although I have never had a problem with it, I never assume that an older
cat won't get rough with a kitten. What I've seen in the past is that kittens love to pounce on older cats,
and kittens love to play with, and bite at, moving tails. And so far, the 'old ones' I have seem to know they need to
be patient with the little ones and the older cats have tolerated the kittens just fine, but I always keep
a watchful eye when there is interaction between small and large cats. You should always watch a young kitten around
an older cat that you have at your house when you bring the kitten home. The older cat may be very territorial and might
attack the kitten and you need to be there to intervene if that happens. The truth is that I'm responsible for the care
and supervision of my cats and kittens and if a kitten gets hurt, it's my fault. And don't think that this is a
'Breeder only' state of mind. If you have never had an animal, or never had a young animal in your house, etc., you
need to get into the 'baby' state of mind, or you're going to have a dead animal on your hands. And believe me, when
I meet you regarding your intentions to get a cat or kitten from me, if I see that you are not where you need to be as
far as being aware of what it takes to properly care for the cat or a small kitten, I won't sell you one of my cats
or kittens and I will tell you exactly why I won't sell you an animal. I'd rather have you walking out the door
mad as hell at me for not selling you one of my cats, than to find out later that I stayed quiet, collected
the money and one of my kittens died because I sold it to someone that was irresponsible. And as for caging cats
for good reasons like keeping them safe while you're not around, I'll state unequivocally that I don't advocate people caging
their animals 24/7/365, but if the choice is a kitten left alone to get into whatever it gets into while you are at work
all day long, vs. a kitten safely kept in a very large cage with a litter box, food, water and toys to play with and then
the kitten is taken out when the humans get home, then I firmly take the latter as my choice for the kitten until such
time the kitten can be trusted alone in the house while you're gone all day long. I also play with the big cats and the
little ones constantly. I do not use my hands or feet as toys. This is just another way to end up with a cat that
attacks hands and feet trying to play and that kind of cat will get old real quick. I use various toys with my cats
and kittens, so they will be used to several different kinds of scratching areas (turbo scratchers and rope posts) and they
will love to play with balls, and other toys. I also get them going on cat nip. It is a very good way to attract
them to the places you want them to go. If you put it into a new scratching post or a new turbo scratcher, I guarantee
they will be all over it. Just remember that cats and kittens are much like children and many times with children, 'diversion'
is the name of the game. Also, I know many of the 'Ragdoll descriptions' say that Ragdolls are not jumpers and/or climbers,
but I'm here to tell you that they can be, especially when they're younger. I personally, have some that are
older and are climbers and jumpers , so don't count on it that they won't be climbers and/or jumpers, because I have
many that love to run, jump, climb and generally just play, and even though they are older, they will scale
up the cat tree in a heartbeat. If you need to 'discipline' your cat for unwanted behavior, don't ever hit the
cat. If I have any problems, I use a squirter bottle with water in it. They won't like getting wet that way
and will usually put it together and stop the behavior as long as you squirt them at the very time they do whatever it is
that's wrong. Otherwise, they will have no idea what you're squirting them for and it will not only be useless for you
to do that, it will be abusive to the cat as well because at that point, you'd just be antagonizing them. Make sure
that you set the squirter to a 'stream' so it will shoot a long ways away and hide it if possible. Cats are not stupid
and they will try to figure out where the spray is coming from and you don't want them to associate it with you, but you do
want them to stop the undesired behavior. I hide it under my arm or some other way so that I can aim it and squirt them,
but when they look my way, they don't see the squirter bottle and that way they don't think that I did anything, they
just know that every time they do whatever it is they're doing wrong, somehow, they get squirted. Sometimes it takes
some sitting around and waiting for the behavior so you can be right there to correct them when they do it, but generally,
it won't take but a few times and they'll get the message to stop doing what they're doing. As always, if you have gotten
a cat or kitten from me and you ever have any questions about something, please feel free to call me and ask me about
it. I
will also say that occasionally, I will reduce the price on kittens I have that are older. These kittens
may still be with me for a number of reasons. Sometimes it's because no one picked them out of all the others.
Sometimes it's because I held them back to assess them to keep them as breeders for my cattery, or to sell as breeders
to another cattery, or as possible show cats. It's very difficult sometimes to tell what you have color and
body wise until the kittens get a bit older, so I may keep several aside thinking they will be breeder, or show quality, but
when they get older, I find they are just high pet quality and I put them up for sale. I will discuss the particulars
with you if you decide to buy one of these kittens. I will tell you unequivocally that if you are able to
get in on one of these 'older' kittens, you should consider yourself very fortunate, because like I said, some of
them may in fact be ones I held back from selling to assess and were never on the market before now. From the litters
over this past year, I held back a number of girls to assess as breeders for my cattery. Some of
those girls may be up for sale in the future as altered pets (depending on how they progress), but it by no means is
because they are inferior, since I kept them like I did because they all appear to be breeder quality (more than pet quality)
to begin with. Now when getting an older kitten, you won't necessarily be able to pick the one you want from all
the other ones, like you would if you paid full price and you were chosing from 2 or 3 different litters containing 15
or 20 kittens total, however, you will still get a wonderful, sweet kitten that will give you many years of love
and devotion. And strangely enough, I think sometimes the prettiest and the cutest ones are not picked
first...go figure. My point is that just because
these kittens didn't get picked in the first few rounds, does NOT mean they are not beautiful, loving kittens and if I have
any when you contact me, you should check them out. And I tell you this too....after getting to know and love these
older kittens for these few extra months, it will be hard for me to let them go because I have gotten very attached to them......and
frankly, a couple of them and I have bonded so much that I have already decided to keep them....that's how much
I've come to know and love them. Anyway, when contemplating buying an older kitten, you also need to remember that Ragdolls mature very slowly and generally
do not completely mature, body and color-wise until they are about 4 years old, so what you may think is 'an older kitten',
well, in Ragdoll terms, that kitten is still very, very, young. And I'll tell you, another reason I prefer the
older kittens and it's this: they have a more established personality and temperament and you can see exactly what you're
getting in that respect. Many times the younger ones are still very babyish (even at 16 weeks old) and want
to run and play more than they want to love on people. With the older kittens, you still see the run and play part,
but they are very much into the lovie dovie stage. When you come to see the kittens, you'll see what I mean. If
I have older ones available, you can come in and sit on the floor and see who comes up to you and what they want when they
come up to you. The younger ones will be curious and they may or may not love on you, or they may just sniff you a bit
and then run off and play, but if there's any older ones, the older ones will be all over you......
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