MandaBurms
Cattery does not sell breeding stock - it is a family
decision
made
from our experences as breeders. We are a small cattery
that pride ourselves on building one of the best cattery
environments possible. Many kitten owners will
attest to our ability to produce quality Burmese &
Mandalay kittens for their family.
Breeding
MandaBurms kittens is our hobby not a business and what
hobby makes money? Raising cats and kittens requires an
enormous amount of time and patience, not to mention the
money. Breeding and showing is not for someone who thinks
this is going to be a money making experience. If you
really put your heart into it as we do, you will find that
it can actually be quite the opposite.
Breeding
purebred cats is a byproduct of showing cats this can be
expensive and time consuming often taking up your weekend
to include travelling to & from the show. A cat show
is the proving ground for showing quality and improvement
within a breed. Cat shows are extremely competitive -
reputable breeders are always trying to breed the perfect
cat - hence winning at a cat show is getting harder &
harder.
Being
a registered breeder with NZCF indicates your kittens/cats
are from a purebred cattery.
Kitten
farming and backyard breeders rarely place any limitations
on their new owners.
MandaBurms
kittens are sold as pets only, a desexing and a written
contract is entered into. A five generation pedigree
history and three generation photo pedigree is provided
when written evidence from a registered veterinarian that
the kitten has been desexed.
As
breeding is our hobby we do have the right to choose our
owners.
MandaBurms
kittens are never sold in pet shops.
Raising
pedigree cats takes hours a day - we have missed a family
wedding as we have a litter due - Christmas day has even
been organised around a cat ready to deliver. Litter
training takes cleaning & patience. A lot
of time is spent on advertising the kittens - website
updates, paper work of sending out pedigrees etc, emailing
photos - even just taking the photos when non obliging
kittens will not keep still.Time for people to come and
visit their kitten and pick from the litter takes on
average 1 1/2 hours per kitten- some owners like to visit
their kitten more often - that is a lot of time especially
as MandaBurms queens have an average of seven kittens per
litter (7 x 1.5 = 10.5 visiting hours per litter).
We
are home most of the day so availabel when queens kitten, we
have the time to change litter trays 3-4 times a day &
feed mums so she can produce enough milk to feed her
young. We are also able to stay up most of the night for
kittening - Not to
mention lack of sleep from sleeping on the couch when a
queen is due. - or top up a struggling new born kitten. And
time to play & socialise with the kittens.
Breeding
takes Money - suitable breeding stock is a must and
sometimes must be purchased. We do not skimp on feeding
our cats & kittens, ours are feed premium dry food, we
also do not feed pet meat. After one batch of suspect meat
which caused all our cats to be ill we only feed human
quality meat - cooked chicken, raw beef, & lamb which
we raise ourselves.
Then
there is the vet bills - vacination of all cats &
kittens - after hours call out fee of $75.00 just to walk
in the door before vet looks at your cat....
Housing
& equipment costs - I am lucky as Brent has built our
chalets for our cats - and large runs. I never thought I
could keep a cat in an outside facility but when a stud
cat sprayed in our house the decision was easily made. Plus
when a queen is on call and is a loud caller - lack of
sleep also helps you change your view.
If
you want to breed cats to make money, forget it If you do
it well - it costs far more than you will ever make
selling off spring.
You
decide you might like to raise a litter for the children?
This
has been special for our kids - and lots of learning has been done with our
hobby. But cats, like humans, can have birth defects, get
sick, die etc... We have had many tears shed - it is one
of the negative sides of breeding - but also the law of
nature.
"Breeding
Stock" is much more expensive than "pet
quality" offspring and only the best specimens should
be used in a breeding programe. Reputable breeders are
very particular about which offspring should be used for
breeding.
You need access
to a stud cat - Chosen sire's must be tested for disease
especially if he has romanced many cats from different
catteries (hence why we are a closed cattery - only our
queens visit Lordy) Reputable stud owners do not let just
anyone use their boy. The stud quarters need facilities
for visiting breeding queens in case they go off the call
- or decides Lordy is not for her. We do not have
facilities for visiting queens hence why we do not offer
Lordy's services to other breeders.
Choosing owners
for your kittens takes time - the owners are making a
commitment to care for a cat for at least 10 years. We
have never sold to anyone we felt could not fullfil this
commitment. We understand "life" does happen and
sometimes owners are unable to keep their MandaBurms for
whatever reason, we will be happy to take him/her back and
re-home.
If
you think this hobby is for you
I
recommend going to a few cat shows and talk to breeders,
watch the judging. NZCF show schedule can be
found http://www.nzcatfancy.gen.nz/
The next step is find a mentor - an experienced breeder
who will work with you. Help set you up, answer your many
questions. Without the help of an honest breeder you are
putting yourself up for a lot of heart ache.
We
were very fortunate and found a wonderful Mentor - Dale
Goodman Dale fully veted us to see if we were suitable
breeders, Sold us our foundation queens - Briar &
Samantha arranged for our queen to visit a Stud (Simion
from Margaret Bull) with the agreement we could keep a
breeding queen. Allowed us to return to Dale's cattery for
matings until we breed our own stud - Lordy & then
housed Lordy while his Chalet was being finished as Lordy
began working & spraying early!!!
Dale
introduced us to the world of cat shows & attended our
first show. Dale was only a phone call away with any
concerns of kittening - Dale gave freely her time &
experience of cat breeding.
Mentoring
takes time, time that I can not give at the moment -
maybe when the kids have left home I could be available to
help someone set up as a breeder - but until then our
cattery does not sell breeding stock.
Please
do not hesitate to contact us.
If we can't assist you, we can refer you to another
breeder.
You
can contact us at:
Leanne
& Abbey Morris
MandaBurms,
