It all began with Princess Celeste begging for a kitten. We all love cats and no one was apposed to getting a kitten. However, we have had barn cats, stray cats, and even Persian cats. I’ve taken in my share of feral cats and even grabbed up a kitten or two in store parking lots and headed straight to the vet for check up, shots, and got them altered. It was nothing new for us to get a cat. We decided that this time, we were going to get something really special. John made mention a few times that he really liked the look of a Maine Coon. After very little deliberation, everyone agreed that this was the breed to own! We searched the net for the best breeder in the US and spent so much time looking at websites, Facebook pages, and photos. It was decided that we would buy from outside of the US. The reason was pretty simple. We are not a greedy family that plays into competition and contracts telling us what we can and cannot do with an animal that we purchase as our own. We decided that if we buy a cat, there will be no restrictions and it will be health tested before it arrives here in the US. It was a gamble as there are language barriers and scammers, as well as simple trust issues. We lucked out or should I say, we were simply BLESSED with the outcome!
Our first purchase was supposed to be for one female cat. However, Pawzilla kept popping up and stole my heart. What the heck, why buy just one when you can get two? So we picked another cat and that was Sushi for Celeste. Well, this did not make a couple of little girls very happy. Rory and Bella (the twins) each wanted a kitty too! No one wanted my favorite female from that same breeder but I quickly talked Rory into her! So it was settled, Sashimi was decided upon and was going to be owned by Rory. Bella “thought” she was getting the red kitty (Pawzilla). Little did we know, that would change the very day that they arrived at our home (then)in St. Louis. As soon as John saw this cat, he said nope, he’s mine and he named him “Pawzilla”. Notice, Pawzilla's name does not go along with our "fish theme" lol. BUT, it totally suits him!
Back to square one again and we needed to find Bella a kitty! To make a long drawn out story short, we found Tuna, a breeding age female that we loved the look of! We purchased her in the middle of moving from St. Louis MO to Dunlap IL. I picked her up at O’Hare airport in Chicago. It took a couple of weeks for Tuna to adjust but now she is one of the most loving cats! We are extremely pleased with all four of our babies! To read more about the fab-four, read their page and view photos.
We now have had a more than a few litters of kittens as well as years of experience behind us and although it is a LOT of work, we truly enjoy it. We are so in love with these cats. It is extremely hard not to want to keep every kitten but that is not a good idea…lol When you sit down to play with a litter of 5 week old kittens, they just steal your heart!
Our first purchase was supposed to be for one female cat. However, Pawzilla kept popping up and stole my heart. What the heck, why buy just one when you can get two? So we picked another cat and that was Sushi for Celeste. Well, this did not make a couple of little girls very happy. Rory and Bella (the twins) each wanted a kitty too! No one wanted my favorite female from that same breeder but I quickly talked Rory into her! So it was settled, Sashimi was decided upon and was going to be owned by Rory. Bella “thought” she was getting the red kitty (Pawzilla). Little did we know, that would change the very day that they arrived at our home (then)in St. Louis. As soon as John saw this cat, he said nope, he’s mine and he named him “Pawzilla”. Notice, Pawzilla's name does not go along with our "fish theme" lol. BUT, it totally suits him!
Back to square one again and we needed to find Bella a kitty! To make a long drawn out story short, we found Tuna, a breeding age female that we loved the look of! We purchased her in the middle of moving from St. Louis MO to Dunlap IL. I picked her up at O’Hare airport in Chicago. It took a couple of weeks for Tuna to adjust but now she is one of the most loving cats! We are extremely pleased with all four of our babies! To read more about the fab-four, read their page and view photos.
We now have had a more than a few litters of kittens as well as years of experience behind us and although it is a LOT of work, we truly enjoy it. We are so in love with these cats. It is extremely hard not to want to keep every kitten but that is not a good idea…lol When you sit down to play with a litter of 5 week old kittens, they just steal your heart!
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The twins were still sleeping in toddler beds when we first got their kittens. I think the cats today would love to have their own toddler bed to sleep in! They wouldn't leave room for a kid!
How we chose our first MC cats
We chose our Maine Coons by first, finding a trustworthy and reputable breeder. Her personality was pleasant and she went above and beyond for us. In today’s world, too many people treat others as if they are doing us a favor by speaking to us. That is something we wanted to get away from and we had success in finding the right person!
In my opinion, there are two kinds of animal breeders. There are the responsible ones who make sure to buy healthy breeders, continue to health test and feed the best, as well as house them in a superb environment and love them. Then there are irresponsible breeders of animals who do not care about the health, skip most vetting, and do not spend the time or the money on health testing. Those are the ones who price the kittens lower and sell them quick. The problem with some responsible breeders, again, in my opinion… they are so set in their ways, controlling over something they have SOLD, and are extremely judgmental and controlling over a kitten that they YES, brought into the world, but NO longer own. There has to be a happy medium here where breeders realize that they were beginners once too. Not everyone has a mentor available to help and not everyone is out to taint the breed. This attitude is unfortunately in EVERY single industry of the world today. People have become mean and do not realize how sad their words, actions, and behavior are. We are hoping to be one of the few who stand out and do it right. Pawzilla, Sushi, and Sashimi came from Russia from Quazar Cattery. We did not pick them because of their size like a lot of people do when buying European lines. We wanted health tested, healthy, papered, Maine Coon cats from a reputable, ethical, loving breeder. This breeder proved quickly that she was kind hearted, did not treat us disrespectful, was on top of things and handled everything quickly. Even with the language barrier, she was amazing.
Our business transaction working with Tuna’s breeder did not go near as smooth but it was a success in the end. We are extremely pleased with this amazing cat! She too is from Russia. Now that we got everything in order, her breeder has been pleasant and kept in touch with us. It is her cat that has ginormous litters!!!
I wanted to make sure we add a shout out to the amazing couriers that were used for all of our cats! Savely is the Russian courier based out of Chicago IL. He and his team were simply amazing! They did the best job, went above and beyond what I even asked for! One time it was a hand delivery service to our home in St. Louis. The other time it was getting the cat from JFK in New York to Chicago OHare for me to pick up in person. Both times went off without a hitch and I am very thankful to them all! Also, Julia from Moscow….she shipped the cats all from Moscow to New York for us and she too was the best, most professional courier and is who gave us Savely’s name. She saved us on our purchase of Tuna as well! If it weren’t for her, we may not have been able to have gotten Tuna after paying for her. Lots of love to Julia!!!
In my opinion, there are two kinds of animal breeders. There are the responsible ones who make sure to buy healthy breeders, continue to health test and feed the best, as well as house them in a superb environment and love them. Then there are irresponsible breeders of animals who do not care about the health, skip most vetting, and do not spend the time or the money on health testing. Those are the ones who price the kittens lower and sell them quick. The problem with some responsible breeders, again, in my opinion… they are so set in their ways, controlling over something they have SOLD, and are extremely judgmental and controlling over a kitten that they YES, brought into the world, but NO longer own. There has to be a happy medium here where breeders realize that they were beginners once too. Not everyone has a mentor available to help and not everyone is out to taint the breed. This attitude is unfortunately in EVERY single industry of the world today. People have become mean and do not realize how sad their words, actions, and behavior are. We are hoping to be one of the few who stand out and do it right. Pawzilla, Sushi, and Sashimi came from Russia from Quazar Cattery. We did not pick them because of their size like a lot of people do when buying European lines. We wanted health tested, healthy, papered, Maine Coon cats from a reputable, ethical, loving breeder. This breeder proved quickly that she was kind hearted, did not treat us disrespectful, was on top of things and handled everything quickly. Even with the language barrier, she was amazing.
Our business transaction working with Tuna’s breeder did not go near as smooth but it was a success in the end. We are extremely pleased with this amazing cat! She too is from Russia. Now that we got everything in order, her breeder has been pleasant and kept in touch with us. It is her cat that has ginormous litters!!!
I wanted to make sure we add a shout out to the amazing couriers that were used for all of our cats! Savely is the Russian courier based out of Chicago IL. He and his team were simply amazing! They did the best job, went above and beyond what I even asked for! One time it was a hand delivery service to our home in St. Louis. The other time it was getting the cat from JFK in New York to Chicago OHare for me to pick up in person. Both times went off without a hitch and I am very thankful to them all! Also, Julia from Moscow….she shipped the cats all from Moscow to New York for us and she too was the best, most professional courier and is who gave us Savely’s name. She saved us on our purchase of Tuna as well! If it weren’t for her, we may not have been able to have gotten Tuna after paying for her. Lots of love to Julia!!!
Health Testing through Optimal Selection
Our Maine Coon Cat DNA results
Unlike what we thought, our first cats were health tested in Russia but we did not get told that three of them were carriers of certain risks. Our male was clear on everything which means we can breed a carrier to him and not worry of any disease affected kittens being born. A carrier may or may not pass on the trait.
Since we received the unclear results on our first three girls, we have only added 100% clear cats to our program. We have clear results on all four new cats in the bottom row but retesting so we can share the results. Please be patient while we wait for these to come in so we can post.
Click the button links below to view each full DNA health testing results from our submissions to Optimal Selection.
Unlike what we thought, our first cats were health tested in Russia but we did not get told that three of them were carriers of certain risks. Our male was clear on everything which means we can breed a carrier to him and not worry of any disease affected kittens being born. A carrier may or may not pass on the trait.
Since we received the unclear results on our first three girls, we have only added 100% clear cats to our program. We have clear results on all four new cats in the bottom row but retesting so we can share the results. Please be patient while we wait for these to come in so we can post.
Click the button links below to view each full DNA health testing results from our submissions to Optimal Selection.