... a dream come true

When we first moved in together, back in 1983, my (Monique's) love for cats was the reason to add three cats to our brand-new family. First we fall in love with a charming little lady: a silver Chinchilla named Lady Ashley Mistique van het Gouden Huske. To keep her company we selected two more girls: Tipsy (a brown mackerel European Shorthair) and Nicky (a red half-bred Persian). Several years later we expanded our family with a little boy: Tommy, our British Shorthair.

It was not until the summer of 2000, some time after the passing away of Tipsy and Nicky, that we got infected with the Coon-virus. We agreed that we wanted to purchase a new kitten and we were very clear in our desires: we wanted a half longhaired male kitten, preferably of a big and sturdy breed. At firs we were thinking of a Norwegian Forrest cat or a Ragdoll, but then we stumbled on to the Main Coon: love at first sight!!! Things got a little bit out of hand when we instead of one male kitten, decided on two female kittens: our beloved girls Fébé and Jay. One thing led to the other, and the idea of our own cattery was born! Of course there is more to the story than just this thought: memberships of cat associations Felikat and RMC, registering our cattery name,  testing our girls for several diseases (both inheritable and infectious), a thorough investigation of the pedigrees and: the search for the right males to breed with.

Although he is a neuter, it did not stop him in his show career. In the autumn of 2004 we had an addition to our little cat-family: Mayday, a lovely little lady that has brought us beautiful kittens! From our second litter we held on to a tomcat: Taro. We showed him as kitten, for a brief period as a male and finally as a neuter. We had to stop showing him because as sweet as he is at home, he acted out terribly on shows. Next in line comes Misty, a girl from our third litter and Reggy, our first very own stud from our fourth litter. The both are going to shows regularly. And the most resent addition to our family is Bree: our first import-kitten and a very special girl to us!

Our cat’s are an important part of our lives. We try to maintain a “normal” household, and keep everything cat-proof at the same time. Unfortunately not all cat proof measures are coon proof! When it comes to coons, you have to do it the American way: think big! Our former cat tree that had functioned perfectly for four years in our pre-coon period, was reduced to rumble in less than three months by two little coon-terrors! Our cat’s have our whole house to their disposal and are not kept in cages. They also have a big secluded portion of our garden to their disposal.