Our cattery
Five Islands is a small cattery in Heinkenszand, a town in the county Zeeland in the Netherlands.
My main goals are:
To breed healthy cats with a wonderful temperament.
Contribute to the broadening of the gene pool, by breeding with foundation lines and cross them to my show lines.
All my cats are tested for HCM, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, ( ultrasound and DNA blood test MyBPC3), PKD (polycystic kidney disease), HD (Hip Dysplaesia), PL (Patellar Luxation, dislocation of the kneecap), FeLV and FIV, before I breed them. For HCM, FeLV and FIV they are tested annually. On the links page, you will find websites explaining in detail what these diseases entail.
I'm also interested in polydactyl Maine Coons. Silverfoot P was our first poly boy. On my polydactyl page you can read more about poly Maine Coons.
In the first place my cats are my pets and they are allowed to walk freely around the whole house. Their favourite place is our fenced garden.
My cats are examined regularly by my vet and they receive excellent medical help if necessary.
Together with their mother the kittens are checked by my vet immediately after birth.
We raise our kittens with a lot of care in a loving home and together with the other cats. During the first few weeks of their lifes the kittens stay together with their mother in my bedroom. After that they are allowed to go into the livingroom during the day and to roam freely where ever they want.
Because I consider socializing as very important, I give the kittens as much attention as possible. I also let them get used to all kinds of sounds and situations.
When they are 14 -16 weeks old, the kittens are allowed to go to their new homes. By then they are of course fully vaccinated, dewormed and chipped.
I sell all my kittens with a written sales contract and bring them to their new homes by myself.
How it started
After a long period without pets, we thought about taking a pet again.
At first I thought myself as being a dog person. But the male cat of one of my neighbours, that visited us every day, convinced me that cats are nice too. So we decided to get two pedigree cats in 2000.
We wanted a big cat with a natural appearance.
After reading several breed descriptions, we came to the conclusion that the Maine Coon with its social, affectionate, sweet, tolerant and stable character suited us the best.
At first we became a member of the Dutch Maine Coon Club. After that we delved into the breed by reading, visiting cat shows and discussions with breeders. And we came more and more attracted to Maine Coons. We attended a cat show and saw a Maine Coon which impressed us very much.
We then started to look for our Maine Coons . We decided to take two kittens, because we thought that they would be company for each other. And because we thought of breeding in the future, we got a female kitten as our second kitten.
Thats how Dakotah and Désirée entered our lives.
And we've never regretted it for a single moment.
For us the Maine Coon is just the ideal cat!
Our cattery name
After giving it thorough thought, we decided to breed our first litter.
One of the first things we did was to apply for a name for our cattery.
We wanted to refer the name to the water surrounding where we live and to a town or region in Maine. It should be something with island or water.
On internet we saw on a map of Maine the fishing village Five Islands. Because we knew that Zeeland consisted once of five islands, we decided to name our cattery Five Islands.