Nordic Leon Maine Coon Cattery
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My cattery is of the smaller kind, because to me it is extremely important to give each and every cat attention and proper care. My goal is to breed healthy and typical Maine Coon cats, as close to the standard as I can get. When choosing a cat for breeding I spend a lot of time investigating its origin and the cattery it comes from. Health is very important to me, and I also do my best to secure my cats enviroment. I have different rooms in the house so if I need to separate a cat from the others I can do so. My cats always have acces to fresh water from clean bowls and dryfood. Below you can read more about which foodtypes they get. They also have access to two different catruns, and I am building a third special kittenrun. I have a room for my females to give birth and raise their kittens. There are climbingtrees in all rooms, and usually all the cats go together and where ever they want in the house. We participate in catshows sometimes, but only if the cat is comfortable with this.
In our house we are two adults, we have a little daugther who adores her cats. We have 3 females and 1 male at the moment. The cats are part of the family, and spend most of their time inside the house with access to several catruns. We have an outside house for our male when he is fertile (because of spraying), always in company of another cat. This is the reason we neuter our males early, to give them a happy pet life after their duty as fertile males in a cattery :)
Food
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To give my cats what they need in terms of proteins, fats, minerals and vitamines I feed them with high quality food. I feed them with high quality raw meat. This is a diet that requires knowledge, time and money, but to me it is a great investment in my cats health and well being. Cats are carnivores by nature, so it is only natural for them to eat raw. They get big pieces, also with bones so they have to use their jaws and teeth, which is really good for them, especially in terms of keeping their teeth clean and white. All my cats have healthy gums. I occasionally feed them with knibble, if I for some reason have to. I have one mainbrand and I mix it with two other brands so that the cats will accept a change of food if I need to. The brand of my choosing is always one of the grain-free or raw meat, which is a natural food high in protein. The cats get both dryfood and wetfood from different brands. I mix Porta 21 dry food with applaws and Orijen. I also buy cans with wetfood from Applaws. Once a day I give them some raw meat of any kind.
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Health
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My cats health is of course the most important part of my cattery, and many factors are important to ensure they are healthy. Both physical and mental envorioment, food and stress is key factors in keeping healthy cats. Them being happy equals them being healthy. So I always pay close attention to their moods and body/fur, their eyes, gums and noses. This is the main reason I choose to have a low number of cats, because the more you have, the more stress you get and the more sickness you also get. With only 4-6 adult cats it's easy to ensure a calm and clean environment to keep everybody happy and healthy. To prevent them from getting bad infections I also vaccinate them yearly, especially since I take them to shows and occasionally have kittens. I use Purewax with alive viral material, and they get their first vaccines at the age of 11 weeks earliest. This is because they have antibodies from their mother which will prevent them from producing their own antibodies, so a vaccine before this time will be pointless. Second vaccine is given around 14-15 weeks and I keep them at home for another week before they are ready to go to their new homes. I take my cats for yearly checkups, to check their general health and their teeth.
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There are some genetests available, and I have my cats tested for genetic diseases: HCM (heartdisease), SMA, PKD and PK-def.
I also test yearly for paracites like tritrchomonas and giardia. These are hard to get rid of so - no matter where you get your cat - ALWAYS ask for these tests!
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