We have always had the philosophy that because the cats are our pets first, we always keep all the breeding cats that are neutered and WILL NOT rehome any of them but wants to keep them for as long as they are going to be around. That's why our retired breeding cats stays until the day they die.
One of the reasons for keeping all our cats together is that we think that the cat is a gregarious animal, like their distant relatives the lions and that it is very healthy for the kittens to be socialized with the males, from the age of about 3-4 weeks old. In addition we can see how much joy the males get from playing with the kittens and the tender way they will look after them and even nurse them. They can spend hours just playing with the kittens and are quit "taken" with them!
Another reason is the fact that we want our cats to BE with US and to LIVE with us, because after all, they are our pets first and foremost and NOT some "productive" animal, who are confined in a small space somewhere without the possibility of having constant contact with humans!
In December 2003 we, Allan and I, moved into a rented house in Hårlev, at approximately 106 square meter, but we had to move again in April 2005, because the people we rented the house of, wanted to use it themselves. We are now living in Ringsted, located 40 min. from Copenhagen. The house has a first and second floor and is around 125 - 150 square meters. We have also gotten the oppertunity to build 1 small and 3 big runs, who together covers around 400 square meters. In addition to the runs, we are planing to convert the area between the house and the runs into an extra run, so the cats will have free access from the house and out to the runs. When we have settled in a bit more and have made most of the other things that needs to be done, outside as well as inside the house during the summer, we will take some pictures of it all and put on this page:-)
A couple of times we have been asked why we only have pictures of our cats outside and to be honest we have never thought that it would be a problem where the cats were photographed. But when we found out that people who DON'T know us personally thought that the cats ONLY live outside, due to the pictures, we thought that we better clarify this topic. The reason why we mainly have pictures of the cats outside is because we think that they show the cats the best. We also take pictures of the cats inside the house or inside the cat houses but they rarely show the cats from their best side:-) We will how ever try harder to take better pictures of the cats where everybody can see that they are inside to, just to remove any misunderstanding as to where the cats live:-)
Since I, Carli, has developed a slight allergy over the years towards some cat breeds, the cats can't be in the bedroom. Newborn babies and their mother stays in a secluded area in the living room until the kittens are around 3-4 weeks old. We take turns sleeping with the expecting Mom in the living room; that way she's not alone when she's giving birth. Our cats have access to most of the house, which consists of an entrance hall, the second floor, the living room and the kitchen.