During this time of self isolation, I am doing on line shopping like a lot of other people. Unlike many people, I am buying litter boxes. For some reason, there are good deals with free shipping available. I am focusing on litter boxes with high sides. I am tired of sweeping up what seems

    beginning with Ruby I knew the day would come that my Labrador breeding would come to an end.  I didn’t expect it to be now. I thought I would have a few more years.  My dogs made the decision for me.  In some ways, that made it easier. I’m too long

    With the corona virus scare, the Cat Fanciers Association has cancelled all shows through the end of May. Wow. I took a look at my calendar and deleted all the shows I had planned.  No dog judging assignments or cat shows for the next 2.5 months! I thought about what I will do

      As a breeder, I have a great responsibility, no matter what life I am producing.  I have bred Quarter Horses, Labrador Retrievers and RagaMuffin cats. I believe my skills have improved over the years. It’s a learning curve for sure. The most important attribute a breeder can have is a clear goal.

photo by Carolyn Jimenez     ICandy Fanny Farmer turned eight months old on February 4. This means she graduated to championship class in CFA cat shows. She was so much fun as a kitten to show, bringing the party with her every time. I was really looking forward to the next step

My first homegrown breeding male, Fudgie   You have your precious queen and now you are ready for that special breeding. Whether you are looking to bring a foundation stud in to your cattery, adding new blood lines with an additional male in the cattery, or planning on taking your queen to an

    The excitement grows as the queen’s belly expands. Normal pregnancy in cats averages 65 days.  Larger litters tend to have a bit shorter gestations, while extremes can be from 54 to 74 days. As the kittens grow in the uterus, fetal cortisol increases to a threshold which triggers a cascade of events including

      Recently, I took Grand Champion Felisophic Sugar Daddy for a trip in his carrier. This time, it was not to a cat show. This time it was for an echocardiogram.  You see, an echocardiogram is the definitive way to ensure a cat does not have Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM). While RagaMuffin Sugar Daddy

iCandy Fanny Farmer at 4 months   RagaMuffin kitten iCandy Fanny Farmer is six months old now. As a small kitten she had “the look”. As she grew, I became more convinced that she would have what it takes to be a show cat. At her first show, she was relaxed in the

  I was sitting around chatting at a cat show with friends recently when one mentioned having a canned food heater that she used to make the food more attractive for her cats. I had never heard of such a thing! A quick Google search revealed that, yes, there existed an Animal’s Instinct Pet Food