Our Cattery


				*Our Cattery*



	Evaluating the Curl as a Kitten - Ruth

We would like to share our cattery with you

First the Nursery...

We moved the nursery to the kitchen when my daughter moved back in with her family. She's moved (again..haha.) but we decided that we liked having the babies in the kitchen where we can keep an eye on them all day long. Our kitchen, like most everyone's is the busiest place in the house. We closed off the door to the dining room so we can keep it totally enclosed.

The kitchen cages have transitioned several times since I first posted this page. But we're really liking the end result. We have one tall cage with 6 platforms on the back wall and 3 on a side. It's 4ft x 4ft x 8 ft hi. It provides mom with lots of space for the babies and room for her to get away from time to time as they are getting older. Typically, when the babies are around 4 wks, the moms are starting to want some space, but they like being close enough to keep an eye on the babies. So mom stretches out on 1st or 2st shelf and looks down on the youngsters. They can't jump that far yet, but she can see everything going on below and can jump down anytime she is needed.

We have the 2 stacked cages with a shelf for moms and the one tall cage behind them and next to the wall. Then we have the kitten condo for them to play with when they are old enough to get out of the cages.

(BTW, the cardboard inside the top cage is left from the last litter. When the babies are first born, we line the 2 sides and the front with about 8 inches of cardboard strapped to the cage wall. Then I roll a towel on the back side just in front of the litterbox and food/water so the little ones can't crawl that way. These squares are only 1"x1" but when the babies are brand new, they can actually crawl through those holes if they tried. Then I line the entire bottom of the cage and up the sides with an old sheet or towel. It just guarantees that everyone stays where they are supposed to be.)

This is an inside pic of the lower stacked cages

The drape between the food and the litter keeps litter from getting into the food

I got this idea for cages from Grace and I really like them. They are roomy for mom and babies and still gives mom a place to get up where she can watch the babies when she wants to get away.

I have these water containers in most of my cages. They are really fish tank filters. They keep the water clean and constantly circulating all the time. While the babies are still little, I keep this water container sectioned off and put a lower bowl in the cage for the babies so they don't fall into this deep container.

Our Outside Cat Facilities...

We started this a couple of years ago and the cats LOVED IT! So over the Memorial Day (a couple years ago) weekend this year, we decided to add on to it because we have an additional stud male and more queens. It took much longer than we had expected and sort of turned into a "flexible work in progress"... the multitude of trips to the hardware store were a testimonial to that. The guys in the lumber dept. were starting to call us by our first names by the time we were done.

We started with just one large room 10' x 12' x 8' high with window screen on all the panels. Then we decided that wasn't strong enough to make sure our cats stayed in and the neighbor cats stayed out. So we wrapped the entire structure (top and sides) with fencing material. We felt pretty good by the time we were done. Nothing was getting in or out. But then, we decided we wanted Erskin to be able to spend time out there and we couldn't let him around the girls. So we divided it in half. That's the "OLD SECTION". You probably can't tell from the picture, but's it got a divider down the middle. Half is for Erskin and half is for the queens and the babies.

Then we decided we wanted more room for the babies and the girls, and we wanted Cinnamon to have his own space instead of having to take turns with Erskin. Thus, the "NEW SECTION" became our Memorial Day project.

It's amazing, but the whole time, the cats were scratching at the door wanting to get out and see the new place. They knew all along it was for them. They LOVE IT! (We don't spoil our cats too much! But if you end up with one of our babies, be warned. They EXPECT to be treated well.)

From inside of the "Outdoor Cage" you can see it connects to the house right off of our Master Bedroom. We have several Cat Condos for everyone to play on. Playing here you can see Nikki, Sandra, Mac, Rusty, Monte, Torti and part of Hip Hop from the back and that's Nicurlous Cage on the bottom step.

Here just inside our Master Bedroom we have another kitty condo for the kittens to perch on day and night ... they like to be up here when they aren't in the outdoor cage area.

Now for the boys....

Whole males require special housing. They call for the girls ALOT! and they spray. They are not allowed to wander freely through the house or we wouldn't be able to live here. They get to go outside and they have really great homes in the garage. When the weather is nice (which is most of the time in So. Calif) if they don't get to go outside, we leave the garage door open for them to watch the kids play or neighbors walking by. I designed their cages so they are lined with vinyl everwhere that I may need to wipe. (I also have blue puppy pads on the sides there so that I can toss)

Garage stud cages

To the far left is Grouch (Jane's boy), the an empty cage, Erskin, and far right is Cinnamon

The 2 cages with Erskin and Cinnamon are 3ft wide, 5 ft deep and 7 ft tall. They have a little "house" that they can crawl into on the bottom back half. (If you look closely, you can almost make out a little hole towards the back left of ea cage. That goes down into a little private room.) I have the shelves placed so that neither of the boys can be face to face when they are on their shelves. These 2 boys both think they should be "top dog" in this cattery. If I let them be face to face, they will attack each other even through the cage wire. By staggering the placement of the cages, we are able to put 2 more large stacking cages behind Cinnamon where the boys can court queens if we choose before we breed. Both stud cages can see into the 2 smaller stacked cages so if we want to introduce the boys to a new girl, they can get to know each other this way. Believe it or not, most of my girls will not breed with with a strange boy. They have to get to know them a little first.

And Finally... the upstairs cattery

My daughter's upstairs bedroom is again a cat room... only this time, it's much improved.

Upstairs bedroom cages

We were so impressed with how much the cats liked the tall downstairs cage in the kitchen, we decided to duplicate it but with improvements. We also have a set of stacked cages like the 2 in the kitchen to the side of these tall cages (not shown in this pic). The bottom of the 2 stacked cages is 3 sections high though instead of 2 sections like the 2 in the kitchen. (I had the extra sections so why not use them, right?)

We were going to build cages on the other side of the room, but for now, we have patio chairs and round table in there that my daughter left behind when she moved out (this last time). It's kind of neat cause we have a place to sit when we hang with the kitties. We don't have many cats in here. Most of the cats run loose in the house, but we do have a couple of queens in there that are less social. Sometimes, queens get somewhat dominant and just don't like sharing the peeps. When they decide to be unsocial, they get "a time out".

Thanks for visiting this site. We would love to hear your comments ... even if you're not ready to add a Curl to your life right now. If you find these additions and changes interesting or helpful, please drop us an email. If you liked the site better before, well we want to hear about that also.

My next project is going to be a page called "CurlyTales". You are going to love this page. I have so many really cool stories about these fabulous little creatures that will touch your heart and also make you laugh, I really want to share them. These stories will help people that haven't had the privilege to live with a Curl to know why they don't want to wait to join our ranks.

(BTW... if you have one of our babies and have a cute story that you think others would like to hear, please let me know. )

Linda and Mike

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Our Family Album

Kittens for Sale

Adoptions and Young Adults for Sale

Our Cat Family - The Grownups

Our Cat Family - The Babies

About the Breed

Shows Attending

In-bound Litters

Our Cattery - A Look Inside

Evaluating the Curl as a Kitten - Ruthy