Susan

Breeds: Domestic, Polydactyl

About:
Our cattery is duel-purpose. We breed polydactyl cats as well as run a private cat sanctuary for abused, abandoned, pregnant, and rescued cats. We find good homes for the kittens that are born to us or brought to us, and keep for life any unadopted kittens or adults that we take in. ________________________ A story from our sanctuary: Nimbus came to us as a half-wild kitten years ago.After intensive humanizing, he became an affectionate barn cat who loved his freedom far to much to become a mere house cat. No matter how we brushed and tended his extra-long fur over the winter months, by the beginning of the hot summer days, he would always be a matted, tangled mess. The only solution was to stealth-shave him. He would happily submit to what felt like an extra-long lovey, only to look shocked and embarrassed when he walked away and discovered he was nearly naked again! ----- This character, though, had an unusual penchant for rescuing abandoned kittens himself. The only times he ever came up onto our deck and howled was when he had found yet another kitten who had been dumped. He would guide us to the frightened, half-wild babies and walk away satisfied once he saw us take charge of them. ----- The most memorable of his rescues was Nervous, a beautiful brown tiger boy who was wilder than most. Though he was only 8-10 weeks old, it took him more than 2 months of intensive taming before he could be renamed Nervy. Even at that, he was never affectionate unless we were with him in the barn (where he felt safest). ----- As with so many other cats we have aided through the years, it would take a serious injury to truly bond him to us. There is nothing like the bond that develops between an injured/sick/recovering cat and his primary care giver. ----- One day, my eldest boy brought Nervy to me after he had narrowly escaped being carried off by a predatory bird with large talons, perhaps the owl that had been killing our chickens. We tucked Nervy into a hospital kennel in our basement and tended his wounds for weeks as he weakly struggled with infection. By the time he was strong enough to get restless, my eldest and he had developed a deep understanding. We moved him to our enclosed mud room, and when he was strong enough, began letting him roam outdoors again - always letting him back into the mud room when he wanted shelter. He remains our smartest, most trainable, most affectionate cat to this day - insisting on sleeping where he can get the most lovies as we pass in and out of the mud room each day - and calling out for attention if he hasn't had enough visits! ----- I tell these interconnected stories not only to give you a sense of how we care for our sanctuary cats, but also to make a rarely considered point. We delay spaying/neutering the kittens born to our sanctuary as long as possible for one main reason: that special bonding time during the recovery from surgery should be given to a kitten's forever family. We have never adopted out a kitten after their surgery becomes unavoidable, because we ourselves bond deeply with those kittens as they recover! ----- Our vet recommends that you wait until the kitten is at least 6 months old and has lived with you for at least 1 month before you have them spayed or neutered. That is the ideal for both their urinary tract development and emotional readiness to develop that deep bond with you as you pamper them through recovery. ----- Happy kitten searching! Susan