5 years of Cattery Viosna *PL

Year 2015 it was five years since we started Thai Cattery Viosna *PL.

All started with a dream about thai cat

that motivated me when I was still a student. My own requirements, before making this dream come true, was to pass all the subjects in college (including the heaviest one then – biochemistry). After many hours spent on reading about thai breed and the search for right cattery, I finally found up the courage to call and reserve a cat. I knew that in my situation back then it won’t be all that easy and the decision itself was only the beginning. Fortunately, Tomek supported me from the start. It had me cost a lot of sacrifices and it took several months. Fortunately, I managed to pass all the exams and put the appropriate amount of money, also from my scholarship (and not to starve to death – at the end of student life can be difficult 😉 ). After returning home I really looked awful – I was tired and skinny as a stick in my last name (pl. kijek =eng. stick). But then it was not that important, because the only thing left was looking forward to meeting Whisper. Mrs. Anna Korczak who runs cattery Amelia * PL has allowed us not only to choose a cat, but also the name for her. Due to the happy coincidence, she was also able to bring her home to us 🙂

At first we did not think seriously about starting cattery and simply enjoyed the company of our cat.

We watched how smart she is, how she grows up, takes on point colors and becomes more beautiful. After getting back to college after summer holidays we lived just the two of us – Whisper and I – in a small room in a shared students flat. At this very time we really got attached to each other. I was the whole world to Whisper and I always tried to came back quickly after classes so she was not alone for too long. My flatmates knew exactly when I was getting back because Whisper stood by the door meowing before I could even turn the key in the stairwell.

The decision to start a cattery was taken only few months before Whispers first birthday.

At first we lived with cats (Whisper and her kittens when there was a litter;)) and a rabbit on two houses – some time in Olsztyn (fortunately I was able to get a bigger room), some time in Bydgoszcz. The fact that we were traveling so often helped the cats to get use to go by a car or a train. But choosing this breed we also had in mind this kind of a lifestyle, at least initially. Whisper became friends with Manfred – bunny rabbit who had been her companion for all our travels and supported he when she was afraid to travel by train at first. Unfortunately, at the end of my studies Manny passed away at the age of 9 years. Both Whisper, and us were really devastated.

In the meantime, I managed to graduate from both of my studies and settle down with cattery permanently in Bydgoszcz.

In our house, there were two new bunny rabbits – Marcel, and later Pola. As we didn’t have to travel to Olsztyn anymore, we knew that having larger group of cats is only a matter of time. After my volunteer work in Ukraine in 2013 we brought home a rescued cat who got a name – Dziabączek and soon after we decided to leave Elmirka in the cattery. But when Helenka was born – pretty little tabby cat from second litter of Elma – we could not resist and she also stayed with us.

Within 5 years of breeding cats we welcomed 10 litters of kittens of two females – Whisper and Elmirka.

Four males helped us in this:

• Grand International Champion Zhu-Shoy Thai Legend,
• Bazyli Chaber*PL,
• Grand International Champion Giboule White Elephant (teraz już World Champion),
• World Champion Dofin Musipusi*RU.

The first litter of kittens in cattery Viosna *PL was born in August 28, 2010 year.

All this time we have supported and helped our females at almost all births except one (Elmirka miot H – 12.5.2014). We didn’t sleep at nights to be able to be with them when they needed us. A couple of litters were born at night or early in the morning (A, B, E, F i G), for several deliveries we left classes/work (litters C, I, J). Kittens from  litter D Tomek welcomed into the world with the help of my mother (I was then in South Africa). We looked after each litter for another 24 hours to make sure all the kittens get colostrum (the first “milk” containing antibodies from the mother, giving immunity during the first weeks of life). We were with them to check whether they gain weight, if they eat, to ensure that these smallest ones in the litter also have access to the nipples. We watched as the babies open their eyes and we cut their little claws very carefully so they did not hurt each other while fighting for milk.

We took special care of our furry moms

and we have tried to create the most comfortable conditions – to ensure the best food, vitamins and supplements needed in certain periods of their lives. We have looked also after kittens health long before they were born – a regular deworming of adult cats, making sure at least once a year that our cats are free from FIV and FeLV, and recently we also did genetic tests to make sure that our cats do not carry a defect causing progressive retinal atrophy (PRA), which may be present in Siamese and Thai breeds.

For over these five years 44 kittens was born and raised in Cattery Viosna *PL.

It cost several flower pots, several phone chargers, a couple of cups, lots of toys and countless toy feathers on a stick. Thanks to the fact we have kittens, things such as vacuum cleaner, mop, paper towels, wipes, cleaning and disinfection have a very frequent use (even several times a day). Our house “enriched” with details such as a few scrapers, litterboxes and litterbox wipers, cat tunnels and a lot of lairs, beds and cat booths. Cats consumed annually a huge amount of food, and consequently we used significant amounts of cat litter. Not mentioning numbers of vaccines we’ve had used, deworming drugs, supplements, vitamins, check-ups ultrasound during pregnancy or X-rays before delivery. Thanks to the cattery our patience and endurance has often been put to the test, and sometimes it happened that we run out of it. All of our experiences have allowed, among others, to develop special information materials for future owners. We have been and still are there to support and assist not only the owners of our kittens. In the end, even if they already have a new family and live with them for years – for us they will always be “our” :).

Our kittens had found fantastic homes and new families.

Kittens from cattery Viosna *PL had spread out over Poland – from Szczecin to Warsaw from Gdansk to Lodz, from Konin to Reda, from Iława to Gorzow Wielkopolski. A few kids went abroad – to Germany and the Netherlands. Two kittens born in our cattery became the founders of two new thai catteries in Poland.
We get beautiful photos of kittens in new homes and look forward to seeing them happy with their family. We get a kick out of our cats and people for whom they become members of the family. Sometimes we get surprised with dedication and commitment of the owners in taking care of them – it makes us don’t feel alienated in this regard. Throughout the years we have received and responded to countless emails and phones about the kittens or asking for advice or help – not only from the owners of Thai cats. Once we threw everything in just a moment and went to help one of our kittens in another city, who got seriously ill and needed urgent veterinary consultation. All the time we were and are for all our cats and their owners.

During these five years we attended 10 two-day long exhibitions.

Often it was our only free weekend in a month and we had spend it just sitting or standing for a few hours by the cage, chatting with visitors and waiting patiently for judges evaluation of our cats. We met hundreds of cat lovers and we had many conversations about cats. We met many future owners of our kittens this way. Many people for the first time heard from us about thai cats at the show. To help more people get familiar with the breed, we wrote, designed and printed our own leaflet, which can always be found on our cage during exhibition. On a daily basis it is also available at the clinic where I work.

Our cats – Whisper, Elmirka and Helen went with us for exhibitions and won more and more titles. At the moment the youngest Helen has already been admited a Champion, Whisper gained the International Champion, and Elmirka recently got awarded with the title of Grand International Champion.

Exhibitions also brought them additional honors:

Whisper Amelia*PL:

• nomination for Best in Show
• Best of Variety
• four times nominated for Best in Show & receiving Best of Best III four times

Elmirka Viosna *PL

• three times nominated for Best in Show
• Best in Variety
• five times nominated for Best in Show and receiving three times Best of Best III and Best of Best IV twice
• nomination for Best in Show twice and title of Best of Best III in kitten class
• third place of WCF Ring kitten (at age of 8 months)

Helenka Viosna *PL

• nominated for Best in Show and Best of Best twice in litter class
• nomination for Best in Show

Dziabąg

• title Audience Cat Award

Since we first took kittens in litter class in 2014 we got:

• litter F – nominated for Best in Show twice
• litter H – nominated for Best in Show and title Best of Best twice
• litter J – nominated for Best in Show and title Best of Best

In 2013 we totally changed our website layout.

Since 2015 we enabled english version of it. We still didn’t get all the older post to be translated but all the news since then apear in both languages. Often it takes some time because of the translation that needs to be done. Since we started cattery website it was visited by over a 16 thousand viewers in five years. We get visits from all over the world – Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, also China, Japan, Russia and the United States. This all allows us to believe that the websiteis interesting and draws attention. Thai Cattery Viosna *PL can also be found on a map, making it easier to get to us, to pick up the kittens.

Our Facebook was launched in 2010

and initially functioned as an individual profile, with time also appeared facebook page Viosna PL Thai Cat. However, most of the news appeared on the initial profile. Therefore, we had an unpleasant surprise when the portal policy changed and automatically transformed the profile into another page. As a result we have lost all the data and ended up with two fb pages which were put together as one. First entry on it dates from the 16th April 2012. Viosna PL Thai Cat continues on facebook today at https://www.facebook.com/ViosnaP/ and has over 830 fans.

For more than five years of breeding cats we spent many hours in the car and beat dozens thousands of kilometers

driving to cat shows, for mating or to visit the new homes of our cats. We spend countless hours to take hundreds of thousands photos so we can post on the webpage and facebook at least few of them. Our lives depend on the needs of our cats, plans must be adjusted to them, schedule of exhibitions, optimal mating time etc. In the last year, renovations we made were also focused on the cats and to give them the best possible conditions. Cattery is our hobby that consumes significant amounts of free time, most of the savings, and sometimes distracts us from work.

During these few years we had to learn many things associated with taking care of cats –

how best to vaccinate, that it wont hurt, when to microchip to reduce stress, how to prepare for delivering the kittens, what will be needed, when to assist or not. I have some knowledge and skills from the studies, conferences, practices, internships and work, Tomek have learnt by my side, even though his daily activities are far from this subject. I can proudly say that despite the very different interests, Tomek knows more about cats and has skills that most of my students in technical veterinary school don’t have. Thanks to the cattery I also feel a better veterinarian. Our cats are my motivation to continually increase knowledge in the field of veterinary care for cattery, genetic diseases, prevention, etc. Detailed knowledge of feline habits, behavior gained by observing so many cats we have and had, helpes me to understand my patients better, and therefore help them more efficient. Today to the knowledge and skills we can easily add years of experience that we have thanks to running a cattery.

We are grateful to all those who has supported us over the years.

In particular my parents, who take care of the cats when we manage to go somewhere for holiday, and support us in difficult moments.

Mrs Anna Korczak, who is with us from the beginning, helping with her experience. Letting us talk things out when we had a difficult time, supported us in our breeding work and is still with us today.

Dr. Paula Dziubińska and Marta Klubińska on who we can always count and who also care for our cats as veterinarians and consult when I can’t be objective as a vet – owner.

Mr Bogdan Lisiński who consults our sale and purchase agreement, which was changed and “improved” several times during these 5 years.

Agnieszka and Radek Daniluk from Torbolandia, for great atmosphere at exhibitions, beautiful bags with cats and projects together.

Other thai cats breeders, who work with us, care for purebred catteries, support and motivate us to improve.

We want to thank all of those who are inquiring and care what is in the pedigree of purebred cat 😉 Thanks to You our breeding work makes sense.

We would also thank everyone who has joined us, follow posts or became owners of our cats. Many thanks to those who support us on the way. Thank You that You are with us, we hope that in another 5 year You will still be there and there will be more of You 🙂 Thanks to You our hooby-work brings more joy and we know that our kittens will always find caring and loving homes with aware and responsible owners.

Thai Cattery Viosna*PL

Karolina, Tomek oraz Whisper, Elmirka, Helenka, Dziabączek, Marceli i Pola