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PrairieBaby Maine Coon Cats
"We've longed to see the roses, but never felt the thorns
And bought our pretty crowns , but never paid the price."
Our Way of Breeding
Prairiebaby Texas PP is owned by Joanne and Ryan Reeson
Contrary to newer trends and fashions, our passion is to preserve the traditional, moderate Maine Coon type. We specialize in outcrossed Polydactyl Maine Coons and the color White.
November 2007
We had been breeding Maine Coon cats in Germany from 1987 - 1991 under the Cattery name "Dustin's". Our breeding break occurred between 1992 and 1996, when we immigrated to Canada. In spring of 1997 we purchased our first breeding females here in Canada and shortly after PrairieBaby Cattery was founded.
In spring of 1999 we started Maine Coon foundation breeding and in the year 2000 the Masterweaver Polydactyl line was being established. We have brought 12 new blood lines into the Maine Coon breed during this time of new foundation breeding.
Note: The year of 2006 was most likely our last year of early foundation breeding. We will continue with our outcross breeding program on a smaller scale in 2007.
This is how our cats looked like in 1988:
16 year old male *Valentin*
from one of our
breedings in Germany
We have tried to stay true to the traditional type in our foundation breeding program:
Silver Creek,
2005 kitten
F5, ca. 80 % Newer Foundation lines
For geographic reasons, we presently show our cats in ACFA exclusively. We are MCBFA breeder members and also members of the Breeders Ethics Commitee of the Manitoba Cat Club (ACFA). Judith is also the Vice President of the Prairie Felines TICA Club in Winnipeg. We were given a "TICA Outstanding Cattery" award in 2002.
Our first goal is to send happy, sweet natured Maine Coon kittens to pet homes where they will be loved and nurtured and in return bring much joy to their owners.
That's me with with F2 baby Joshua
Our second goal is to create new bloodlines for the Maine Coon breed and occasionally provide good quality cats with truly mixed pedigrees to other breeders. We are trying to make people aware of the fact that the Maine Coon fancy is in desperate need for some radical changes. Our desire is to make a long-lasting contribution to the continuous vitality and longevity of this lovely breed. Please read more about this topic on our Link " Foundation Projects"
Lack of knowledge, but also wrong motives and ignorance of breeders, who are driven by their need for recognition, have caused severe damage to our breed. Business and reputation of catteries has always been more important than preserving the breed as a whole. This has endangered the Maine Coon cat, originally a rather healthy and hardy breed, to become the target of dangerous genetic diseases and a general immune depression. While much is being done to promote our breed, breeders and associations don't seem to be very concerned about the protection of the Maine Coon cat - except on paper.
This paragraph was taken from one of the breed articles on the CFA website:
<<Favoured varieties of today have been bred sire to daughter and cousin to cousin until their breeds are ruined [...] man's insistence on upon breeding in order to perpetuate features approved in the show ring has produced animals of weak constitution, prone to such conditions as skin troubles, lacking in intelligence, no longer mentally alert, eventually stupid; and at last breeding with difficulty: a state of affairs leading in the end to the sterility and death of the breed.">>
We have seen quite some *moral blind spot tragedies* around us over the past 20 years which has caused us to take appropriate action. Please visit the heritage site for more information about the limited gene pool of our breed:
Our third goal is of course to work new lines up to fifth/sixth generation where they can be successfully shown. Our F5 Maine Coons usually carry everything that is needed to produce good quality offspring. We have our own Polydactyl Maine Coon line.
Here are three examples females out of our foundation lines were bred to different show line males:
And here another few show line x foundation mix pictures we took in 2007:
kittens are 12 weeks old on pictures
ca. 46 % Foundation
these kittens are from Jelly Roll and our Tigger
The boy below was born in Denmark and belongs to Astrid Lykken. He is from our F2 foundation girl Ashanti, bred to a show line male:
And here is a result of a high foundation breeding we did with Kumskaka:
Kumskaka Merciful Rain PP
"Hobbit"
ca. 78 % newer foundation lines
owned by Prairiebaby
Coonopry River Song for Hope
"Hazelnut"
F4, 100 % foundation!
We hope that all these picture will encourage people to start outcrossing soon!
We strive for a balanced appearance with good boning, a broad muzzle, relatively big and broad head, long shaggy coat and an extremely gentle and affectionate temperament. We value health and temperament, then type and size equally, and then color, in that sequence. Looks are important to us, but....if you are searching for a modern looking "top show cat", we would gladly refer you to someone else.
We consider environment and food to play a main factor in general health. We keep our breeding cats in small groups and our hygiene standards are high. Most windows in our house have window seats so the cats can get lots of fresh air when needed. Each one of our cats have access to a fenced outdoor run. We don't believe in caging unless it's for a short period for the purpose of mating only.
Our females and kittens live in small groups an enjoy their own private areas with outdoor run. They are separated from the males at all times (except for breeding). See our "cat-gyms"
Our males also live in small groups in one of the cat gyms . We spend time with our male breeding cats on a daily (sometimes hourly) basis. We do not cage our breeding males. Tigger lives presently with us in the house because he is such a good boy :-)
Our Maine Coon queens are good mothers who birth easily, have no problems getting pregnant, have large, healthy litters (average litter size is 5 life kittens) and raise their babies with plenty of milk and a strong natural instinct. We don't keep weak or sickly cats for breeding just because they look good.
Our kittens go to their new homes with a written, vet-certified health guarantee and well socialized. The ancestors are tested for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a disease of the heart) and Hip Displasia (HD) and often for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) also. We only deal with breeders who test for HCM and HD and preferably PKD also. Our Cattery is vet certified Felv/Fiv negative.
Before pet kittens leave our home they are being spayed/neutered for the protection of the breed and to prevent irresponsible breeding. Early spaying does not affect their physical development and has a positive effect on their character. Each baby is accompanied with valuable information about kitten care. The relationship with the new parents of our babies does not end with the sale of a kitten. We gladly give advice and support at any time....
We deliver to approved homes, encourage people though to come and visit with us, spend some time with our family and our cats and find out about the different personalities and colors of the kittens. We give honest appraisal for each kitten and only sell a show quality kitten if we truly consider it show quality. Most of our kittens go to pet homes.
Having a public health inspector as a husband, hygiene is a big issue in our house. However, even though we like it clean and orderly, children and cats have one thing in common: They can make a real mess REAL quick. So, we would ask visitors to make an appointment.
What is different at PrairieBaby Cattery ?
1.) We provide individual registration papers for each kitten, not only the blue slip like most catteries.
2.) The ancestors of kittens from our Cattery are usually tested for Heart-, Kidney- and Hip problems (HCM, PKD and HD).
3.) Not only do we guarantee our kittens to be Felv/Fiv negative, we have done hundreds of Felv/Fiv tests over the past 20 years.
4.) A kitten from us already comes spayed/neutered. Our vet gives us a special rate. This saves the buyer money and also the hassle to care for the kitten after surgery. PrairieBaby takes over the risk for the procedure until the kittens leave our house. The cost for spaying/neutering is not included in the kitten price.We keep boys for one week after the neutering and girls two weeks after the spaying. We have had phenominal results with early spay/neuter.
5.) Some close friends have convinced me of the benefits of natural rearing.
I have recently switched my entire flock of cats to a raw meat diet. The change in food has definitely doubled my costs in raising a litter. In return we are experiencing many wonderful results in regards to their general health. We honestly don't know why we haven't considered natural rearing of cats earlier!
But......we still feed our kittens a little bit of canned food and dry kibbles addtionally to the raw meat diet - but only in "snack quantities" :))
The following link on raw feeding was copied with permission:
Our drinking water is of course unclorinated. Our pregnant and nursing cats get a daily serving of goats milk and brewer's yeast, two natural, easily digestible, high quality supplements.
5.) We handle vaccinations with caution. We believe that through outcrossing and a raw food diet our kittens have a very strong immune system which makes them well capable to recognize and fight disease. Our kittens are vaccinated twice with a regular 4-way vaccine. We will under no circumstances vaccinate for Ringworm, Fip of Felv/Fiv. Rabies vaccination will only be given if a cat has to cross the border. We don't recommend re-vaccinating cats as adults. For making an educated decision if you would like your kitten vaccinated, please visit the following website:
7.) Our kittens are raised by a stay home mom. This means that they are being handled frequently and accustomed to everyday noises in an average household, including noisy children. And.....even though we show our cats in ACFA, we don't spend every other weekend at the show hall which gives us plenty of time for our children and cats.
8.) You will find us brag about the temperament of almost each kitten we offer. The reason for this is that we only keep cats for breeding with exceptionally loving and sound characters.
Please note: Since we run an in-house Cattery, we are not open for casual visits. Buyers are welcome to pick up their kittens and can be given a tour during this time. We would kindly ask that people visit local cat shows to find out how Maine Coons look like. Thank you.
Breeding cats are released on occasion to established catteries with excellent references who test for HCM and HD (and preferrably for PKD) and who are interested in fighting genetic problems in our breed.
We prefer selling our breeding kittens to show line breeders before selling to other foundation breeders.Why? Because we want our lines integrated in the general gene pool. We are not interested in creating separate breed.
Male cats from our Cattery cannot be used for outside stud service unless we have a special agreement with the purchaser. If we sell a breeding male, it is sold to the person we have a written contract with and not to serve a whole country. If you wish to give stud service, please use a male with your own Cattery name on it, not ours.
In rare cases we might decide to sell to new breeders if we see potential and if we have time to mentor and to build a relationship. We recommend showing an altered cat for a while to get to know the standard of the breed before starting a breeding program.
The requirements for a novice breeder to be able to *possibly* obtain one of our kittens are:
1.) the novice breeder is actively showing her/his cats
2.) the novice breeder has a mentor who lives close by
3.) the novice breeder has been educating him/herself about lines, genetics, breed specific problems, etc. for a while
4.) the novice breeder can give us several good references
5.) the novice breeder would agree to sell his/her first litters of kittens as pets only
6) the novice breeder would agree to only breed our kitten to show line cats until he/she is more experienced
7) the novice breeder has a positive attitude towards being closely watched by mentors
We don't give exclusive breeding rights on lines or breeding cats as we do not consider this of any value for the breed. We also do not sell a kitten of a particular litter to only one specific breeder in a certain country. We chose the people we work with by our own ethical values, not by geographic origin. If two breeders in one country don't work together there should be no reason they cannot have cats from the same pedigree. If you want to be the only breeder in your country that can offer certain lines, please don't come to us for a kitten. You might rather want to re-avaluate your motives in breeding then.
The genetic history of our breeding cats will be openly presented at all times. We don't hide facts from other breeders that might be important for their breeding program. The future of our breed is of greater concern to us than the reputation of certain lines or catteries.
Special Clause for people in Sweden and England: You need a place (in another country for your kitten to stay for 6 months because we can't send kittens into a 6 month quarantine. Sorry! Canada is a rabies country.
You can find out more about litters that have been born and also upcoming litters on our page " nursery news". We would also encourage you to make yourself familiar with our kitten contract.
Please feel free to view our guestbook or contact us for references!
Please e-mail me at judithschulz@tbaytel.net if you have questions.
Oh and by the way..........There is an enormous difference between animal “welfare” organizations, which work for the humane treatment of animals, and animal “rights” organizations, which aim to completely end the use and ownership of animals. Learn the truth:
Thanks for your interest.
Judith Schulz
(Frequently Asked Questions)
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