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Here you will find some of the most
commonly asked questions we hear and maybe some that aren't too common
but you would still ask if you thought about it. ;-) Click on the
question to see the answer.
What colors
do we have?
What do we feed our
cats?
Do we
guarantee the kittens health?
Why do we
have a kitten contract?
What kind of litter do we
recommend?
Why do we spay/neuter the kittens
at 12 weeks old?
Why won't you let the kittens go to
new homes before 12 weeks?
What point colors do we have?
The
Traditional Siamese originally came in four point colors: Seal, Chocolate, Blue,
and Lilac. These are the only four colors we breed. However, the lilac
point is very rare. We have a lilac stud (Eddie) and at the moment
Shiraz and Tia Maria are the only 2 girls we have that when bred to
Eddie will produce lilac points.
What do we feed our cats?
We start our
kittens off with Merrick canned food (click
here to find a store near
you) and Royal Canin Baby Cat kibble as
their first solid food. At 8 weeks or so we also start giving them Royal Canin
Kitten 36 dry food. The main reason we start them off with Royal Canin
is kibble size. Unfortunately none of the higher quality foods listed in
the next paragraph have kibble small enough for very young kittens. At
12 weeks when the kittens have the run of the house they are pretty much
switched over to Innova which is good for kittens or cats. In the
morning we give them each a tablespoon of Merrick canned food.
We were feeding
our adults Orijen but we discovered the kibbles were too big and hard
for them to crunch so they were swallowing the food whole and then
throwing it up. Then we switched all of our adult cats to EVO but twice we had bought 15 lb bags with a lot of powdered food in the bag. Since the cats
won't eat powder we have to throw it away and that gets expensive. So
then we switched to Innova and that's what they've been eating for the
past few months with no problems. All of these foods are considered
super premium foods and are very good nutritionally for
your kitten/cat. There are a few other foods in this category such as Solid Gold and Go Natural
that are also excellent, super premium foods. We strongly believe that
foods of this quality will ensure our cats live a very long and healthy
life with minimal problems when they become senior citizens.
Most people
do not realize that the first three ingredients of any food are about 75
to 80% of what's in the bag. If meat is not one of the first
three, you are feeding your cat mostly a vegetable based diet. By nature, all
cats are carnivores with a biological need for fresh meat proteins and
very few carbohydrates. They might not enjoy a long, healthy, trouble-free life if fed
a diet based on mostly vegetables. If grains happen to be the number 2 and
number 3 ingredients in the bag you are feeding your animal much
more grains then they need. This also translates to bigger piles in the
litter box.
We want the
best nutritional food available to ensure our cats remain happy and
healthy for a very long time. That's why we recommend the foods listed
above.
The first three ingredients of Innova are: Turkey, chicken meal, and
chicken.
Your cat may live a long time eating a
cheaper, grain based food but
the more real meat or fish there is in the first
three ingredients the healthier your cat will be when he/she gets older.
Why take a chance with your cats health?
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Our Health Guarantee
Our kittens are
examined by a Vet at 8 weeks when they receive their first set of shots
and again at 12 weeks when they receive their second set of shots and
get spayed or neutered. The kittens are also wormed at 8 and 12
weeks.
Although we know
our cats carry no serious diseases, our health guarantee is your
assurance against any genetic or hereditary problems. We guarantee to
replace any kitten found to have a genetic defect in their first year.
You can find our
health guarantee here on the contract
page or here as a PDF document.
One reason we keep our kittens for 12 weeks
before we let them go to their new home is to ensure they are
healthy, fully litter trained, well socialized and eating well on their
own. We will not let them go until all of these goals are met. We
know that the kittens are in excellent health when they leave our home
and we expect you to take your kitten to your vet within 72 hours so you
too will know he/she is in perfect health.
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Our Kitten Contract
We want to make sure you realize
how serious we take letting you adopt one of our fur babies. So we have a
Sales Contract
(or PDF format),
that
must be signed and agreed to by both parties before the kitten leaves our home.
This is a legal document that gives us the right to seize the kitten if it
is mistreated, neglected, or not fed a healthy nutritious diet.
Our
primary goal in having a signed contract is to ensure that our babies will
continue to have a happy home where they will be loved and cherished for
their hopefully very long life. Therefore we want to do everything we can to make sure
the fit between you and one of our babies is the right one.
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Litter
We have tried
almost every litter on the market and we have found Nature's Miracle to
be the best. This is a corn based, scoopable, and flushable litter. It
is really dust free and lasts a long time. We have 16 litter boxes in
our house and Naomi cleans them every day. She just scoops out the lumps
and about once a week adds a little more litter to the box. They are
never completely dumped.
We have had many
people come to our house who are amazed that with 15 adult cats in the
house there is no litter box smell. We can't say enough about how good
this litter is. If your local pet store does not stock it ask him to
bring it in for you. you won't regret it. Trust me.
Litters we do
not recommend.......
Scoopable, clay
based litters - do not use this litter!. Here's why: Clay based litters
get almost as hard as cement when it gets wet. After the cat has used
the box they often lick their paws clean. When they do this they ingest
the clay litter. This litter, over time, can cause blockages in
the cat's digestive systems and/or bowels resulting in death or very
expensive surgery. Kittens are particularly susceptible to this. Clay
based litter is also very dusty. Besides the dust getting all over
everything in your house, the kitten or cat will breath in this dust
which can cause blockages of the nasal passages.
Wheat based
litters - we have found that urine will also turn these litters almost
into cement to the point where the litter scoop will break and you have
to use a knife to chip it out. Seriously, Naomi had to do that. Not to
mention the wet wheat smell when you come in the house.
Whatever you
choose to use make sure it is of natural ingredients that will not harm
your cat. Here is a very interesting web site about various types of
litter and the dangers of using clay based products.
http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/catmomtoc.html
http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/articles/clump.html
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Early Spay/Neuter
After extensive research on this topic we came to the
conclusion that early altering is a very good policy. There are no adverse
effects to this procedure other than the fact that early spay/neuter
results in a slightly longer growth period. As
a result of the extended period of growth, the length of the long bones is
increased in animals neutered at a young age and the animal's size will
be a bit larger at adulthood. While this effect is well documented, it is not
at all dramatic and should not be envisioned as a "King Kong" type of
effect. The
American Veterinarian Medical Association endorsed the concept of
early age altering in 1993.
Some vets do not
believe in prepuberal altering and they are entitled to their beliefs.
But bear in mind, not all doctors are 100% correct in their beliefs. I strongly
urge you to do your own research on this subject just as we did. Here
are some links on the topic to get you started. Or you can google "early
spay and neuter".
http://maxshouse.com/links_to_early_neutering_articles_.htm some
links on this site are broken but most are ok.
http://www.winnfelinehealth.org/Health/spay-neuter.html
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Why we keep our kittens until 13 weeks old
We occasionally
hear from people who want to get a kitten that's 8 weeks old or younger.
We absolutely will not let our kittens go before 13 weeks. The health
and well-being of our kittens is far more important to us than the
desires of people who want a very young kitten.
There are critical
mental, emotional, and developmental milestones that a kitten
experiences between six and twelve weeks of age. Separating the kitten
from mother, siblings, and familiar surroundings at that age can cause
undue anxiety and stress at the least, and serious medical problems or
even death in the very worst cases. For more detailed information on why
we have this policy please click
here.
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