Bringing Home A New Kitten ● Essential Kitten Supplies ● Planned Breedings

Please review my adoption questionnaire and purchase agreement. Also see frequently asked questions

If you agree to all the terms of our purchase agreement, we will then need to know more about you as potential adopters and the home environment where one of our cats would be living. ALL potential owners must complete an adoption questionnaire.

Completing a questionnaire does not guarantee you a cat. Once we receive your adoption questionnaire, we will review it and then call you to discuss getting a cat from us in more detail.

Occasionally we have adult cats that we have retired from our breeding program that are available for a very reasonable adoption fee, $200 to $350. We are grateful for the wonderful kittens they have given us and the great times that we had with them in the show ring. They are still very young (generally under five years old) and have sweet, loving dispositions. They have already been spayed or neutered and are current on all vaccinations. These cats are very special to us and we are very concerned that they go to loving forever homes where they will become cherished members of your family.

If your retiree needs to fly to you, all shipping costs (cargo fees and carrier) are the responsibility of the new owner.
 
Maine Coons are not fully mature until they are four to five years of age!

The following retired beauty queens and gallant sires are available to the right home:


Tigerlily
She is a gorgeous cat, very personable and affectionate. She will be your constant companion. Her coat is very silky and easy to care for requiring a good combing once a week.
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Snowfire
Another beautiful girl that loves her human companions. She will demand attention and pets. She has a beautiful full coat that requires a good combing once a week.
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Quicksilver
A very large girl that is a bit of a tom boy. She’ll be by your side, chatting you up. She loves to play and clown around with her toys. Her coat needs only an occasional combing.
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Shadow
A very quiet dignified girl that would appreciate a quiet dignified home. Her coat is very easy to care for requiring a good combing once a week.
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Mitzi
A very quiet girl that needs just the right person to draw her out. She gets along very well with her one daughter and both would benefit from being in the same home together. They are very playful with each other and are inseparable at our home. Mitzi’s daughter loves attention. They will do well together in an adult only home.
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Heidi
A large beautiful girl that is a bit shy. She would do well in an adult only home.
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Why Do Breeders Let Adult Cats Go?

The reasons breeders pet out adult cats (placing cats in pet homes) are many.  All of them come down to one thing: love. These breeders have the best interests of the cat at heart.

Most people who breed live in normal sized homes. They can (and should) only keep as many adult cats as they can give plenty of love and attention. A breeding program requires a certain number of adults to keep viable: you need a few queens, perhaps a stud or two. Most breeders also keep a few adult spays or neuters to show when their breeding cats are busy raising litters.

Imagine, now, that you are a breeder and that you have decided that six adult cats is your limit. You feel you can care for and give six adult cats all the love and attention they deserve. You have six breeding cats right now, and one of them has a litter of kittens. In that litter is a female kitten with great potential. As she grows older, it becomes obvious that the quality of this cat is better than one of your queens whose quality is not as good. After all, it's important for a breeder to constantly improve the quality of the breeding cats. You've spayed the queen, but now you have seven cats. You decided six would be your strict limit and know it's important to the emotional health of your cats to stick to your original notion that you can only keep six. The cat is only two and a half years old and has produced two decent litters of kittens for you. It's time for her to retire to a home where she can be the beloved pet in a one or two cat household, the center of a family's attention, rather than the seventh cat of a breeding program.

Or imagine another scenario: You have the maximum number of cats you have decided to keep. Two are neutered boys you have decided to show. One of the neutered boys doesn't like to be shown. In fact, he hates it. It's not good for a cat to be shown if he doesn't like it. The cat wants to be a pet, not a show cat, but it's important for you to show in your program so judges can evaluate the progeny of your breeding program. This is how you know if you are doing a good job. One of your queens has a kitten you think would be an excellent show prospect. You decide that the boy who doesn't like showing would be happier in a pet home, so you decide to find him that excellent home where he can be spoiled in the manner he deserves.
Or perhaps a female destined for breeding has medical trouble with pregnancy or birth. Or perhaps she is not a good mother, but a delightful pet. It is best to spay her and pet her out under those circumstances.

Perhaps it is the breeder's policy to spay or neuter cats over a certain age, because the kittens tend to be healthier when born to younger parents.

Deciding to pet out an adult cat is an act of LOVE on the part of the breeder. The hardest part of breeding is letting go of your cats, especially the adults, because good breeders become attached to every cat they produce. But it's important for an ethical breeder to recognize the need to keep numbers down to a level where every cat gets the individual attention they deserve. Breeders must have the emotional and physical health of their cats uppermost in their minds.

It is also important for breeders to keep the best interest of the cats at heart, and not selfishly keep everything they produce whether it is in the best interests of the cat or not. Some cats are happier in a one or two pet household, at the centre of a family's attention. A good breeder recognizes this and does what he or she can to make sure that every cat they produce is in the happiest situation it can be.


Copyright 1995, 1996 Barbara C. French