Cattery Daily Life Journal
Contracts Protect the Buyers of Siberian Kittens Too
Recently I’ve been a bit surprised and dismayed at how many people out there shopping for purebred kittens do not understand the most fundamental protection available for themselves and the kitten they are purchasing, the contract. I have had what seemed like intelligent and caring buyers turn away when faced with signing a contract that they’ve not even seen yet because they feel it is too restrictive on their pet ownership rights. But what they do not seem to realize is that contract is there to protect their rights, to protect the kitten and to protect the breeder as well.
A good, responsible and ethical breeder will always require you to sign a contract of sale. This contract then acts as your guarantee and warranty. It spells out the purchase agreement so it also functions as a receipt and proof of the sale which is of vital importance to the buyer as well as the seller. How do you know you are not getting scammed by someone pretending to have kittens for sale if they aren’t offering a contract? How do you expect to get a health guarantee, and proof you are receiving a healthy kitten without a contract? How do you know what the steps are to have any health guarantees honored? Without a contract you don’t. Without a contract you won’t have any health guarantees or proof that you bought that kitten at all.
A good and responsible Siberian cat breeder will provide a contract that first describes the kitten or cat being purchased and lists the microchip number (if they chip, which most still do not but we do), the registration numbers if they are available at the time of sale (more often the case with retired adults), and the sex (plus intact status), color, date of birth, names of the parents and any other identifying marks. This means the contract also acts as your proof that you own the cat or kitten. This could become important in a court hearing if someone were to falsely accuse you of stealing the cat you’d have proof of sale. Just like a title to your car or a deed to your house. And this is before any registration papers may be available (they take time to process especially through TICA).
A good and responsible Siberian Cat breeder outlines the terms of the sale, so you know exactly how much money is owed with no hidden fees to surprise you at the end. It will also outline what happens if you fail to make payment as promised, since it’s not fair to leave a kitten and breeder hanging there while you disappear or decide not to finish the purchase. It also makes it clear when the transfer of ownership occurs and declares you rights to ownership of the kitten so the breeder cannot sell him or her again without legal consequences.
A good and responsible Siberian Cat breeder offers at minimum a 24 month health guarantee against congenital defects. That is genetic disorders that often do not appear until maturity which for a Siberian Cat only starts at 12 months old and often doesn’t finish until 5 years of age. If you have less of a guarantee then by the time your vet can pick up on the signs your guarantee has run out. If you have no contract at all, you have no guarantees at all and kitten is sold “as is” which may mean sick or dying or costing you thousands of dollars to treat. And the priceless costs of grief to you and your family.
An exceptional breeder offers much more than just the standard health guarantee but includes the rare and deadly FIP disease, as we do because there’s no way to guarantee against it happening and no cure. An exceptional breeder offers a longer health guarantee because they know they are raising healthy cats, have done important health screening of breeding cats and DNA testing and that they are selling only healthy cats and kittens as we do. In fact we are unique in offering up to a 12 year health guarantee if you opt to feed the Ideal Diet and follow the Ideal Care plan. But it’s optional.
A responsible Siberian cat breeder has a contract that states you were sold a healthy kitten and requires you to take the kitten to the vet within a small time frame of your receipt of the kitten to prove the cat is healthy and to set that baseline of health with your veterinarian. The contract will also require you to take care of your kitten, to provide minimums of care and has certain restrictions for the well being of your kitten but also often for your own good. Take declawing for example, banned by my contract, is a cruel and inhumane treatment of the animal and there are other ways to avoid problems with scratching. The procedure also often leads to behavior problems that may make your life miserable with your pet and jeopardize your happiness and the cat’s future as part of your home including litter box aversion leading to inappropriate elimination. So once again you see the contract is protecting the buyer.
This list is far from complete but I hope it gives you an idea of why contracts are so important and why you should not only be happy to find a breeder who requires contracts for sale of their Siberian kittens but it should be a requirement you have of any breeder. If they don’t have a contract, and a good health guarantee you should walk away. Find a good and responsible Siberian cat breeder. Find a contract that asserts that responsibility so that you can enjoy a worry free experience as a new Siberian kitten or Siberian Cat owner.
Naming the Siberian Cat – Pendraig Quantocius
Pendraig Quantocius @ 6 months, photo by Helmi Flick
So, we’ve been asked by many people what the story is behind the unusual name, Quantocius. Why did we choose to name our long awaited red classic tabby male Siberian kitten such an odd name? Where did it come from? Why is it so special?
I can answer it all in a word, Love.
For those of you not in the know about how my husband and I met, let me explain so the answer above will make sense to you. My husband and I both had been rather ill used in life having difficult relationships we left, even after investing many years, money and tears into those relationships. Both of us found a way to engage ourselves by playing an online game EQII. I cannot speak for him but for me it was a way to enjoy friends that I had something in common with, play a game, and most importantly ignore reality that I was alone and hurting. I had barely survived leaving my ex-boyfriend of 7 years, emotionally and physically, and was further ravaged by selfish parents who only seemed capable of putting me down and trying to control me in every aspect of my life. Not to say they didn’t take me in, help support me but it came at a high price.
The only thing I managed to cling to was my cattery and it was by tooth and nail while everything else was systematically ripped from me and promises broken. It is no surprise then I found myself spending all my spare time when not working, or looking for a job, playing a game to escape all of that.
Pendraig Quantocius photo by Helmi Flick
Well one day a new character joined our guild in the game… a fellow that was smart and funny, and knew how to make me laugh and oh how I needed to laugh. It took me so long to learn to laugh again before I met him and I’d had my heart broken again since but here he was, gentle and fun and we had a blast playing that silly game together. His character had the ability to transform into a big orange tiger…. and mine into a wolf. We’d goof around while waiting on raids (you know, big groups of characters played by us geeks killing dragons and other “mobs”). And his name, this lovely dark elf monk / orange tiger character? Quantocius.
So, I named the cat for my husband, for the guy who made me laugh and showed me a truly selfless love that I have never known before. Everyone always wanted something out of me, if it was to abuse me, use me, smother me, berate me, and ignore me but not him. He just wanted to be with me in whatever way I was comfortable. Friendship turned to love, he came from Florida to Texas so we could meet in person… and it was Love. Love that manifested itself into a proposal, and a surprise pregnancy that has brought ultimate joy into both of our lives with a boy that is now 4 years old and yes… he loves the cats too.
Doug was a confessed dog lover, as am I, and he resisted the cats but this breed won him over and he is a wonderful partner in my cattery even though I started it a long time before I met him. And I am still amazed he stuck around after hearing I was a cat breeder. Most guys hear “cats” and take off, dating is rough.
Quantocius is Latin, it means “Sooner the better” according to the online dictionary. My husband says “quickly as possible” and truly that is how he entered my life once we finally found one another. To say he swept me off my feet and took my breath away is not an exaggeration! His trip from Florida to Texas was dangerously swift and he was there before I knew it. So was Gabriel for that matter…
For me Quantocius means Love. The true, abiding, selfless love I found in my husband. The man, who supports us, protects us, loves us and is completely devoted to his new family. It only made since then to name the red classic kitten I wanted so badly after this Love and I hope more than ever for him to be a great champion show cat so all the world learns his name and the Love he represents.
Pendraig Quantocius photo by Helmi Flick
Our newest Siberian Cat Stud from Norway has arrived
(N)Nordskjæret Eamonn of Pendraig and Gabriel
Pendraig Siberians is happy to welcome our new boy from Norway. He is a lovely red classic tabby out of lines we’ve long wanted to have as we build our traditional cattery up. His name is (N)Nordskjæret Eamonn. He is everything that we hoped for in a new stud. A robust but balanced build, promising type, a lovely and strong head that will help us bring strong heads to our lines in the future. He is a red classic which is our favorite color and pattern besides goldens. he is also a darling boy that loves attention and is intelligent and fun.
It was a long trip for him from Norway but he traveled it well and arrived clean and neat too! What a good boy he is and it’s amazing for a kitten too. He is our fourth Siberian kitten imported from Europe and our second from Norway. We are grateful and truly blessed to have him join our family.
(N)Nordskjæret Eamonn of Pendraig
Eamonn will help us towards our goals and we plan for him to have a long reign as a king at Pendraig Siberians. It has been a few years since we had a red stud and now we are lucky enough to have two, Eamonn and our up and coming boy Pendraig Quantocius. We started our cattery in 2003 with our first Siberian cat a red mackerel tabby and it is a wonderful feeling to get back to those roots.
There is so much we can say about this wonderful Siberian kitten but the most important thing is that we love him!! Thank you so much, Synnove of (N)Nordskjæret cattery for these amazing little guy and the beautiful photos too. We have started a photo album on our Siberian Cat Fanpage on Facebook.
Siberian Kittens Update: Meet the Golden Siberian Kittens
Gold Siberian Kittens born at Pendraig Siberians on April 23, 2011.
Golden Shaded Siberian Cat, Esenia Auric at 1 year old
We’ve had a long wait. Many years ago as we perused websites dreaming over amazing cats from lines that seemed impossible to obtain we saw the beautiful and rare Golden Siberian Cats. The color is mesmerizing, like a beautifully cut citrine jewel glint and gleaming every shade of gold imaginable from the faintest pale gold like ivory to shimmering warm golden between and reddish gold brilliant with it’s intensity. The tips of the hair down the back, the end of the tail and around the face lightly tipped with inky black and the best of the best with intense, emerald green eyes. What is not to love?
The color confuses many, though more research is finally being done and we know our belief that this is a unique genetic color will prove true. We know gold when we see it though and we are extremely excited and proud to have our first litter of golden Siberian kittens born here at Pendraig Siberians.
We were lucky to be trusted with the beautiful and alluring Esenia Auric from the Russian Cattery Auric. She is a bright gold with light satin paws, neck, chest and tummy and the most lovely golden hues throughout her coat. As she matures her eyes are becoming more and more green though in these photos by Helmi Flick she had more golden eyes at one year old.
Esenia is the first cat to give us some trouble breeding with a mild pyometra (infected uterus) that we treated successfully with help from our vet and natural rearing. Now she has been on 100% raw and robust and healthy. She had a previous litter but was frantic and unsure and lost them due to her anxiety. We are happy to see her not only caring for her new litter with ease but the way she loves them is most evident. They are fat, beautiful and absolutely golden. They are large for their age and the type is promising. We are looking forward to watching them grow.
TGC Jorrah Karat, photo by Helmi Flick
The sire of the litter is Triple Grand Champion (TICA) Jorrah Karat. A lovely, near golden brown spotted tabby that has gotten great notice in TICA. He is an excellent sire producing some lovely kittens for us including a gorgeous girl we sent to Norway recently (out of Gemma). Though this stud’s time at our cattery is coming to an end we will always carry his influence in our cattery through his amazing progeny. These kittens are most likely his last here at Pendraig and some of his greatest. Two stunning golden tabby Siberian kittens have join Pendraig Siberians as Litter “R”.
Now to introduce our lovely Golden Siberian Kittens.
Pendraig Rhys Emrys, Golden Siberian Kitten (1 week old)
The male is a bit bigger, with a slightly more dramatic shade to his coat though we know this changes much from now to when they are adults. He has a lovely muzzle, wide head and big boning that is not always found in the golden lines. He takes the best from both parents though at just a week we can not even begin to see his promise. We have named him Rhys, a name of kings in Wales. He will carry the surname for our goldens, Emrys “golden shining one” and in some stories the surname of Merlin known in Welsh as “Myrddin Emrys”. Meet Pendraig Rhys Emrys, “prince” of our cattery.
The darling girl is exquisite. Just a tad smaller, which is normal
Pendraig Rhosyn Emrys, Golden Siberian Kitten (1 week old)
for girls, she is almost the mirror image of her brother. she has just a slightly different shade to her golden, a richer and darker golden perhaps. She has a promising coat and lovely boning for a girl. We have high hopes for her and cannot wait to meet whichever new family decides to adopt her. We have named her Rhosyn (a modern Welsh name for “Rose”). She too will carry our golden surname. Meet Pendraig Rhosyn Emrys the golden Siberian kitten available to a new home.
Siberian Kittens – Q Litter at 1 month
Gemma's photo in Cat Fancy Magazine
It never ceases to amaze me how fast the kittens grow and change. Within a few short weeks they go from helpless, blind and strange looking little newborns to adorable fluff balls tearing up the nursery playing their games, exploring and learning what it is to be a cat. This litter is no different.
Our Siberian kittens have always been a source of great joy for us and this litter has been even more so because of the unique qualities of this amazing litter and the friendships that made it possible. And of course Gemma made her debut as our first cat to ever be in a national magazine. She was featured on page 28 of the May 2011 Cat Fancy magazine in their Siberian Cat article.
The sire of the litter is the beloved CH Cica’s Zoran Yaroslavovich Black owned by Nadezhda Siberian Cats, our dearest friends. He is a champion in CFA and adored by his family. He has proven to be an outstanding sire of amazing kittens not only for Nadezhda but for us now twice with our girls. He also passes on his friendly personality with his good looks.
This litter for us has been a great success so far and we are proud to have one kitten traveling to Hong Kong, another will be a show cat and future stud for a Savannah cat breeder who is starting her Siberian program and we hope to also have one more female in a show home. And of course the most important for us is the beautiful male red classic tabby, Pendraig Quantocius. He is our future stud and show hopeful and finally brings us back a red classic for our cattery which has been a dream of mine since I founded the cattery in 2003.
Siberian Kitten - Red Classic Tabby - Quantocius
Quantocius is only 1 month old so we still have to wait and see but his promise is great and he dazzles everyone who sees him. When it comes to red Siberian kittens we do know quality when we see it and he has great potential. It will be a joy showing him starting in July (when he is old enough to enter kitten class).
For those of you wanting a Siberian Kitten of your own this litter will soon be fully reserved but we have another litter due any day now and another we are planning for June. There is nothing like a Pendraig Siberian kitten, raised naturally and as part of our family.
Siberian Kitten from Russia – Pendraig’s New Princess
Turandot-Amour Fialka
TURANDOT-AMOUR FIALKA
It is with great joy that we announce our plans to bring over a new import from Russia. This girl is from Fialka cattery, a top cattery producing amazing traditional Siberian cats. We have long admired Fialka’s cats and it is a dream become reality that we are finally bringing home a Fialka Siberian Cat of our very own.
Turandot is very special not just because she is from Fialka lines on her sire’s side but because she offers the US a new foundation line through her dam. Cats not seen in our gene pool will be adding to the diversity of our breed and will be a great asset to our Golden Siberian Cat program.
Her sire is G Int. CH Amour-Timange Fialka. He is titled in both WCF and FIFe. He represents the glory that is the Siberian Cat in it’s traditional form, large, big boned, and well muscled he looks like a wild cat on the prowl.
His beautiful head and coat can set any heart a flutter. It is little wonder he has been so successful. He also comes from two EC (European Champions) for parents, EC Jonathan-Timange Fialka and EC Veilchen Prinzessin.
Turandot-Amour Fialka
Her dam Manchzhury Gertsoginya of Fialka is out of foundation lines bringing lines from as far away as Vladivostok in the far East (a Pacific Port) with lines from east of Moscow. She represents the aboriginal Siberian cat and provides a unique chance for diversity in our cattery, through her daughter, not found in many others.
Turandot represents the best of the marriage between champion show line cats and foundation cats. We can only believe she will bring the best of both to our cattery.
Turandot’s Pedigree (PawPeds)
Siberian Kittens Due from Gemma and Zoran
CH Forest Wind Gemma Sultanova of Pendraig
We are approaching the due date for our highly anticipated litter between two amazing Champion Siberian Cats. As Gemma continues to grow in her pregnancy her large belly are hinting at either a good sized litter or large kittens, likely both. Either of which both she and the sire, Zoran are known for producing.
In this litter we are hopeful for Red Classic tabby Siberian Kittens, Silver Classic Siberian Kittens and some Classic Torbie Siberian kittens as well. It should prove to be a colorful and delightful litter with excellent size, type, coats and super sweet personalities.
Both cats have had recent and clear HCM screenings. We are processing some other health checks for Gemma but all are expected to be normal. Her previous litter with Jorrah Karat produced some exceptional kittens including Pendraig Nimue Emrys of (N)Siberikos who will be traveling soon to Norway and her new home at (N)Siberikos cattery.
Zoran is a sweet character adored by his family that includes one very devoted mother and Siberian Cat Breeder at Nadezhda Siberians, her husband and their four beautiful girls. Zoran has produced some gorgeous kittens including Nadezhda Bella Zoranova Black who has had great success already showing in CFA and she has a regional breed title. Zoran has a striking pattern and coloring, outstanding type and boning, and the awesome Siberian cat coat that Cica cats are known for all over the world. Combined with Gemma’s outstanding qualities including her equally good coat, outstanding boning, very wide and well proportioned head these kittens should be outstanding.
CH Zoran Yaroslavovich Black of Nadezhda
Pendraig’s New Siberian Kittens – P Litter
TGC Jorrah Karat X Sunbeam Lilyana Krasa of Pendraig
Litter of Siberian Kittens born Dec 22 2010 at Pendraig
We are happy to announce the birth of Pendraig’s newest Siberian Cat litter, Litter P. This is a repeat litter of the successful pairing between TGC Jorrah Karat and our long time queen, Lily. We have 5 gorgeous kittens. 3 girls and 2 boys. We are happy to see more red males including 1 red silver mackerel and one bright red mackerel male. The females are a rainbow as we’ve come to expect from Lily with one silver mackerel, one brown classic torbie female with touches of red on toes and perhaps more that will show as she grows and one blue mackerel torbie female also lightly touched by cream (red) markings and she may possibly be one of the low grade silvers Lily often produces.
All the Siberian kittens are doing well with good weights, lovely coats and the girls have some serious “torbietude”. We are holding two females for evaluation for breeding/show potential homes (one retained for a future Pendraig queen). The rest are available to pet homes.
Lily’s kittens have been placed all over the United States in homes that have dogs, children, single adults and more. They seem to adjust to any situation and bring love and laughter to the families that adore them.
To see photos and find out availability of these kittens please check out our Siberian Kittens for Sale section on our website. Happy New Year!
Happy Holidays from Pendraig Siberian Cats!
Happy Holidays from Pendraig Siberian Cats
This holiday season we want to wish you all the best of love, family, friends and happiness. Here at Pendraig we’ve trimmed the tree and the cats, along with our three year old son, are quite enamored of it. For the Siberian cats it’s more of a question why haven’t we always had an indoor tree? Perhaps they are right.
We are on the verge of some changes here as a family and as we can we will keep you updated. The posts have been few and far between but we apologize and will try to remedy that after the holidays are over.
One thing I’d like to announce is I am hard at work on a natural rearing how-to for cats book. It will cover many topics of natural cat care and diet including the many wonderful and important questions you kitten and cat owner/buyers have brought to me over the years. If you have a question you’d like to make sure is included please let me know. I will also be writing my responses as posts instead of just emailing the query personally so we can all share in the information. First will be hairballs, why, how and what they are and what to do about them… naturally.
I love to see photos of your kittens and cats, and it is that time of year to make sure you’ve sent in your yearly update and photo of your Pendraig Siberian Kitten or Cat. It is my favorite part of this season seeing all the graduates in loving homes and enjoyed by their family. I will also be posting the photos as I get them onto the facebook page in the Holiday Photos section so get yours in today!
Happy Holidays! Our love goes out to each and every kitten and cat in our Pendraig family and to the people who love them. Bless you all.
Love,
Dawn, Doug & Gabriel Campbell and the Pendraig Siberian Cats
Siberian Kittens for 2011 – Pendraig’s Plans
We’ve changed our plans and updated the website to reflect some new developments. Due to some help by my son, who I suppose decided to take a hand at breeding plans on his own, Lily was rebred to Karat and we expect kittens on Christmas Day if she took. It will be another couple of weeks before I can confirm but it seems likely. The colors expected are the usual possibility of red and torbie, probably lots of mackerel tabbies as she usually has with Karat (or spotted), possibly a silver or two and if I am really lucky maybe a classic tabby or two but so far these two do not give me any though they both carry for the gene.
Photo 3
Gemma will now be bred to Zoran and they should have some quite handsome kittens with exceptional size, coats and personalities. Gemma and Zoran both produce kittens that are intelligent, calm and confident as well as beautiful and absolutely huge (especially Zoran!). We will breed Gemma as soon as possible for Siberian kittens sometime in January or February.
We will also be trying Esenia again, hopefully bred at the same time as Gemma. We expect an entirely golden litter out of her and Karat and we pray for a much better result now that she knows what motherhood is about.
We hope you will enjoy these new Siberian kitten litters with us and be here to help watch them grow! The O Litter is going home in a few weeks and it has been a pleasure to share them with their new families and with our friends. Be sure to also sign up on our Facebook Fan Page for regular updates! We have the most successful Facebook page for Siberian Cats with over 1500 fans. We are delighted to have such a following! =)
Later in 2011 we will be breeding our new girl (N)Siberikos FeLine of Pendraig after she has had her health checks and we find a suitable mate for her. We will update that as we get closer, right now she is just a kitten and Queen in training (Princess).
Lazar at 2 years old, photographed by Cat's Cradle
Album: Pendraig Lazar the Silver Siberian Cat at 2 Years old