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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. Most people
don't know that Siamese are born all white with pink noses and pink feet.
The gene responsible for the colour at their extremities is heat sensitive and
since there is less blood flow at the extremities these areas get darker.
Siamese from warmer climates are always lighter in colour than Siamese from
colder climates. As they
age week by week their color points become more evident. By about 6 to 7 weeks old we
are pretty sure what colors they will be.
What do we feed our cats?
We start our
kittens off with high quality canned food such as California Natural,
Merricks, Holistic Select, Wellness, etc. and Royal Canin Baby Cat kibble as
their first solid food. At 8 weeks or so we also give them Royal Canin
Kitten 36 dry food. Normally we do not believe in feeding our cats dry foods
containing grains. The only reason we start them off with Royal Canin
is the crunchability and size of the kibble. Unfortunately, with the higher quality foods listed in
the next paragraph, although the kibble might be small enough for young kittens
the food is so dense and hard that the kittens cannot crunch it. By the
time the kittens are
10 to12 weeks, when they have the run of the house, they are pretty much
switched over to one of the no-grain foods we feed the adults. There are
a few different super premium no-grain foods on the market but we
usually stick with Acana. Some other foods in this
category are Solid Gold, Orijen, and Go Natural. 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. All of the
no-grain foods are considered super premium foods and in our opinion are the best food nutritionally for your kitten/cat. All of the cats and kittens
are free-fed the dry food and the kittens and nursing moms also get some
canned food in the morning.
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 the first
ingredient and grains are the second and third ingredient, the
combination of ingredients 2 and 3 together is more than ingredient
number 1 so you are really feeding your cat a grain based diet. By nature, all
cats are carnivores with a biological need for fresh meat proteins and
very few carbohydrates. If you want your fur family members to enjoy a long, healthy, trouble-free life
you need to feed them a real meat based diet, not a diet based on mostly
grains and vegetables.
The bottom line
is we (like you) want to feed our cats the
best food available to ensure they remain happy and
healthy for a very long time. That's why we recommend the foods listed
above. We know the grain-free foods are the best.
Just like some 100 year old people are
still alive after a lifetime of smoking and drinking, your cat may live a long time eating a
cheaper, grain based food but are they healthy?
For your cat the more real meat or fish there is in the first
three ingredients the healthier your cat will be when he/she gets older.
So why take a chance with your cats health just to save a few dollars?
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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 the same.
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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,
(PDF),
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 20 cats in the
house there is no litter box smell (and we have 22 litter boxes). 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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Boys vs Girls
Because
our kittens are "fixed" at 12 weeks old they will not develop any of the
traits associated with their sex. For instance, boys will never spray to
mark their territory. While both boys and girls will be
affectionate we have found that, generally speaking, boys seem to be
more affectionate than girls and tend to bond to their human sooner and
deeper.
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