I can still remember that call on a Sunday evening, telling me that there was 3 newborn kittens, 2 males and a female. From scratch I had wanted a female because I "might" want to breed just one litter at some point. I saw those kittens the next evening and was totally taken by the behavior of their mother, Pr Grorudmyra`s Tina. I just couldn`t believe that this female would let me, a total stranger, touch her kittens! Later I have found out that this is part of the unique temperment MOST Forest cats have, but on that night I was very impressed with this "miracle" and I just had to have that female kitten. This started my whole life with the Wegie, as this breed affectionately is called.
My first Forest Cat, EC & Pr Alfheim`s Fie, DM, has become a symbol to me on how a "real" Forest Cat should look like. Of course Fie has faults, all Forest Cats I have seen so far have faults, but she is very close to the ideal picture I have in my head of a Forest Cat. She is big and broad built with the correct coat texture and a tail that suits the body lenght. Her ears could be bigger and her profil didn`t become totally straight until she became 5 years old. She has always had this stunning temperment and look, and even though she can look tough, she knows that we, Michael and I, have the final word.
I only intended to go to one show with Fie. This was the show where she and her brothers would be judged as a litter and then I planned on never going to another cat show in my life. Well, they say that experience makes you wise if not wealthy and there are nothing that covers the cat world better:-) I think I now have been to at least 50 shows, hobby as well as international ones, and none of them have made me wealthy, except in experience:-)
At the beginning there was only I, Carli, but in 1994 Michael came into my life. I had known him for about 6 months and he had been foolish enough to buy a kitten from me GIP Bat Cat Gyldenløve. He brought bat Cat home when he was old enough to move out of the cattery but then, after a very short month, Bat Cat moved back to me bringing his owner with him!
In the beginning, I lived in an apartment in a part of Copenhagen called Østerbro, when Michael moved in with me. In October 1996 we moved to the country, 100 km South of Copenhagen, to a small town, Hastrup. The house is at 218 square meters, so there should be room enough for all of us. None of our cats live outside or in other separate parts of the house- we all live together.
My males live inside the house, I have 4 at the moment, 2 adults and 2 kittens, together with my females and that is a very good arrangement! None of the males are outside in runs or other areas of the house- they are a part of my family and dayly life at Casa Gyldenløve and that is something that I feel very comfortable with!
The smell from the spraying males can be too much at times but I have chosen to have my cats were I live, so I "just" have to clean more often than if the males were not living with me. They are my pets, first and foremost, not production or farm animals, and I wouldn´t dream of NOT having them around me.
We had build an outside run in July 2000 so that our cats would have contact with the inside as well as the outside world. The run ended up being between 250 and 300 square meters, so the cats could have a good time outside too. We woriginally only wanted the cats outside when we were outside with them since we were afraid that they might get into trouble and hurt themselves when we were not around, but after 6 months we felt secure enough that nothign woudl harm them, so from then on the catdoor was always open for them to chose either to be insde or to be outside.
Since life just doesn`t pass us by, but make us change in one way or the other, Michael and I desided to go our seperate ways. That meant, that Michael toke Bat Cat Gyldenløve and Tilia Nova`s Quest with him, to his new home, and the rest of the cats stayed with me. But since I didn`t have the capability to keep all of them, I chose to place some of the cats with people that I trust and love.
A little bit about us:
In April 2005 I moved into a rented house with my wonderfull boyfriend, Allan, in Ringsted. The house is app. 125 square meters big. Allan works in an office, with sales and logistic at Maxit, a company who produces mortar in Karlslunde. In his spare time Allan plays in a jazzband & a rock band and likes to mess around with computers as well:-) I work as a night watch in a nursing home in a Copenhagen suburb.
If you have any questions to me/us, you are always welcome to contact me.
Best regards Carli Haekkerup
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