Philosophies Behind Natural Rearing at Blakkatz
By Michelle T. Bernard, Author of Raising Cats Naturally

Because of its length, this document is available for download and printing.

Thank you for your interest in Blakkatz kittens. We are located 50 miles West of Charlotte, North Carolina. Yes, shipping is available to approved homes and is done at the expense of the purchaser. You can figure on $200 to $250 for shipping and related fees. What follows is a very detailed treatise on my philosophy and manner in raising cats. If you stop reading after a few paragraphs, you should look elsewhere for a kitten because I am very strict in selecting proper homes for the kittens I breed. I suggest Breedlist as a good place to look for a more conventional breeder. This is not intended to scare you away, but if you decide to come back to me with true interest in a kitten from Blakkatz, I want you to do it with eyes wide open.

First, a bit of history: in 1994, I started showing purebred cats in CFA. I wasn't sure what breed of cat I wanted to work with and showing in the Premiership division (for spayed or neutered cats) gave me the opportunity to play around with a few different breeds. I showed a Bombay, two Oriental Shorthairs and then a black smoke American Shorthair ("ASH") named Snowball. It was Snowball that turned me onto the ASH. The combination of moderate size, activity and noise level, apparent good health, large gene pool, and breeders who were willing to help me get started made my decision.

To read more about the American Shorthair's temperament and characteristics.

I still show, albeit irregularly. While my cats are all show quality, I often refrain from showing for a number of personal reasons. One reason is the time. Because I have a long commute to work, my weekends are precious! I do not want to spend them in a show hall. Also, I do not like what I know goes on behind closed doors in many CFA catteries. I believe CFA can and should do something about the problem. To read about a particular example, see this issue of Natural Rearing Notes.

I have always loved black cats, hence the cattery name, Blakkatz. The Bombay, a breed that only comes in black, was my first love, but they frequently do not have the robust health of the ASH and it is a hard breed to get into because of limited availability of good breeding stock. The deciding factor was the inherited head defect common in both the Bombay and Burmese. I was not going to breed a cat that produced horribly deformed kittens.

The first litter of Blakkatz kittens was born in 1997. I only produce two to three litters per year. This is because my cattery is small and I put a tremendous effort into bringing up each litter of kittens.

I do not breed silver tabbies. The reason for this is two fold. In order to keep good silver tabby color and brilliant green eyes, you have to keep breeding silver tabby to silver tabby to silver tabby. I feel that this limits the gene pool and the breeding program in general. I breed for health, temperament and a look I like, namely full, broad heads, square muzzles, large expressive eyes and an overall pretty look. Whatever color the cat ends up is fine with me. In addition, the other common tabby colors, brown and blue, tend to carry stronger show type than the silvers.

I work with solid black, solid blue, brown classic and blue classic. I may have some red (patch tabbies and red tabbies) thrown in depending upon what male I am using at the time.

Except for the breeding male, the cats and kittens of Blakkatz are house cats. They live in the house and sleep on my bed at night. Many breeders keep their breeding cats in a separate area like the basement or garage and the cats are frequently caged. Except for mothers with newborn kittens and the breeding male, none of my cats are caged. Kittens are usually delivered in a cage, but once the delivery is complete, the mother can come and go as she pleases. She is never closed into a cage. Once the kittens start walking, they are moved to my large master bathroom until they are litter box trained. Then they have free run of the house.

The breeding male cat lives in an outside 10 x 10 foot run. Most male cats have the nasty habit of spraying smelly urine and of course an intact male cat running loose with females is going to breed them every chance he can get. The lovely North Carolina weather enables me to house a male cat outside.

Now, for what sets me apart from most cat breeders. My cats are raised naturally. This means they eat a homemade diet consisting of raw meat, bone, organ meat and supplements. They are not vaccinated except for what is required by law. I treat any illnesses they may suffer with homeopathy. I rarely use conventional medicine.

Diet

You may be thinking, "RAW MEAT and BONE!!" What about salmonella, E.coli or parasites? Don't bones splinter?

I know it probably sounds very scary.

Cats, as a species, have survived for ions hunting, killing and consuming other animals. They have been so successful as hunters that they never developed the flexibility in digestion that would enable them to live on anything other than meat. Cats, all cats, are obligate carnivores. They must eat meat. Cats in the wild eat little besides other animals. They do not harvest brown rice, pick corn on the cob, or dig up carrots or potatoes to make a stew.

The African wild cat (Lybica group) lives on the entire continent of Africa with the exception of western Africa where there are rainforests. It is believed that the Lybica group of wild cats, those that inhabit North Africa, are the ancestors of today's domestic cats. Physiologically, the domestic cat is virtually identical to the African wild cat. In fact, the greatest treat to the African wild cat today is interbreeding with feral house cats, which of course is caused by man's encroachment into their environment.

Commercial cat food, especially dry food, contains ingredients that bear little resemblance to meat. Sure, you may find chicken listed as an ingredient somewhere between the corn meal and brown rice, but it usually is not what you would think of as chicken. It is chicken by-product, chicken meal, chicken digest and sometimes even chicken flavoring. Would you purchase a bag of potato chips that listed as an ingredient potato by-product? Probably not - so why should it be any different for your cat? Perhaps even more troublesome is the lack of moisture in dry food. Cats are not thirst-driven like dogs. They do not drink enough water to rehydrate their food to a proper level. This can lead to problems like Feline Urological Syndrome (FUS) and kidney disease.

When my cats eat chicken, it is just that, chicken, cut up and ground, by me, with the bone. It is high quality, human-grade chicken. Very few pet food manufacturers use human-grade meat. That would cut into their bottom line. The meat they use is usually not fit for human consumption. They chicken may have died in route to slaughter, or worst, it may be feathers, blood, feet and beaks that comprise the "chicken" in many brands of cat food.

Cats, because they have evolved as carnivores, have short, acidic digestive systems, perfectly designed to digest raw meat. Food does not stick around long enough in a cat's digestive system to become toxic. Herbivores and omnivores have longer, more alkaline digestive systems. They have teeth with flat surfaces designed for grinding food and a special enzyme in their saliva called amylase to begin digestion of the types of food that takes longer and more difficult to digest, like vegetables and grains. Cats do not have amylase in their saliva nor do they have any flat teeth in their mouth. A cat's teeth are sharp, designed for piercing and cutting meat into pieces small enough to swallow. Cats do not chew their food. They cut or tear it into manageable pieces and then swallow it.

Vegetables and grains generally take longer to digest, therefore, a creature consuming vegetables and grains must have a longer digestive system in order to complete digestion.

Cats have enzymes and digestive processes perfectly suited to digest meat. They lack enzymes and digestive processes necessary to properly digest vegetables and grains. There are a number of different nutrients and amino acids that cats have a particular need for. Taurine, an amino acid, is just one. Taurine is not available in plants, but is abundant in raw muscle and organ meat. Cooking makes taurine much less biologically available to cats.

So, why do cat food manufacturers use grains and vegetables in the food they produce? For the most part it's because grains (and it's mostly grains used in mainstream commercial cat food) and vegetables cost less than meat. Grains and vegetables contain protein, however, if an animal is unable to properly digest grains and vegetables, how can it use the protein? It cannot. Ingredients like cranberries, blueberries, carrots, sweet potatoes, aloe, alfalfa, garlic, yucca and the like are added by more natural cat food companies because they "look" healthy to the consumer. These ingredients may be healthy for humans, but not necessarily for cats.

I have been feeding a raw meat diet to my cats for over a decade. What they eat is very simple. Preparing cat food is certainly more work than opening a bag of dry cat food, but I firmly believe it's well worth the time. You can plan on it taking a couple of hours a week to make food and costing about $1.00 per day per cat.

If you are interested in a kitten from Blakkatz, you must commit to feeding a raw meat diet.

In February 2003, I published a book entitled, Raising Cats Naturally: How to care for your cat the way nature intended. This book will tell you everything you need to know about feeding a balanced raw meat diet. A copy of the book will be sent to you when you leave a kitten deposit. The diet I feed my cats is available here.

While diet is a very important part of natural rearing, it does not stop there.

Vaccination

Except for what's required by law (namely, rabies), most of my cats are not vaccinated. I haven't vaccinated a cat in over ten years. Now that I'm living in the country, my cats even spend some time outdoors and still I do not vaccinate them.

To read on about my thoughts on vaccination.

Homeopathy

I do not use conventional medicine to treat any illnesses my cats may experience. I believe most veterinary medicine does nothing more than suppress the symptoms. It does not cure the cat. Homeopathy, when used properly will cure and leave the cat in better health than he was before he got sick.

What the heck is homeopathy?

Conclusion

This may seem like absolute insanity to you or something you have no interest in doing. It may also seem like a lot of effort and work. Initially it may be more work than pouring dry food into a bowl and carting a kitten off to the veterinarian for antibiotics or vaccinations as "preventative" medicine, but in the long run, it's well worth it. My cats have done nothing but thrive. They are beautiful to behold and a joy to live with. The extra time and effort you put into the front end of rearing a kitten will pay-off in an adult that has a good chance of living a long healthy life, free from chronic disease. Or you can feed commercial food, medicate and vaccinate early on and get paid back by having to deal with a cat who may not even reach ten years old before he is diagnosed with kidney disease, cancer, diabetes or some other disease.

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Michelle Bernard has spent nearly a decade digging into what makes cats bloom naturally with excellent health. A freelance writer who breeds and shows American Shorthairs, she has been keeping her own cats vibrantly healthy using a raw meat diet, homeopathy, and plain common sense since 1993. Michelle is renowned for her sound approach to rearing cats and her writing on many aspects of holistic cat care. Michelle offers nutritional and natural health consultations from her home in North Carolina.