At Santa Fe Bengal Cattery, we do much more than the minimum requirements for our Cats. We house our boys and in heat girls in two large "Cat Houses" situated within ten feet of our house and main outdoor patio. The Cat Houses are Casitas (Santafean for Little Guest Houses) and fully finished just like a house, except that they are then specially finished to the Cats' preferences. Our Cats' can see and hear us and feel like are part of the family. Because the Cat Houses are located so close to our home, we have to keep the entire indoor and outdoor Habitats squeaky clean. Our Habitats have almost NO ODOR! Keeping un-neutered, whole male Cats' living quarters clean and clean smelling is no easy task! Male Cats mark their territory by spraying urine; as soon as we have steam cleaned, they re-mark. Females, who are not pregnant or with Kittens, also mark their territory, when in heat. So, it is a constant chore of cleaning to keep our Habitats as clean as they are.
Our Cats' bedding is of either thick, lush "bath mats", down feather beds, or thick, soft folded blankets. Their bedding is washed every several days and replaced with clean bedding. In the Winter, we put their bedding on top of (plastic wrapped to be sanitary, then in a pillow case) TEMPURPEDIC pillows and they absolutely love it!
Our Cats' have large spaces with free access to safe outdoor play areas. These areas are of "Coyote Safe" chain link construction (sides and top!), have high grade Armstrong maple plank-look linoleum as their flooring, both inside and out, plus the entire structure is covered by a roof to protect them from too much sun, and from rain and snow. The key to a clean Habitat is not to have just raw dirt or cement, but surfaces that are paw and fur-friendly, comfortable to a Cat's touch, and that can be thoroughly disinfected with a safe, ecologically-safe, viruscide kennel detergent for, the safety and health of our Bengals, and our home environment
We are currently finishing our landscaping, walkways, and the exterior finishes on the Cat Houses. They are currently painted. Both Houses will be Yellow Stucco to match our home and will have the same high-quality dark Tudor Brown standing seam metal roof as the pitch portions of our Territorial-style Home.
We added "Cat Exercise Wheels" to their habitats - we have a couple of these expensive cat exercise toys and one of our boys, Romeo, absolutely loves his wheel. Each Cat reacts diferently to the Exercise Wheel. They currently also have special perches and card board scratchers to amuse them and fill their basic needs, as well as lots of other ever changing toys. Each time we sell a Kitten... a portion of their price goes to their every day care and health needs for food, litter, treats, vaccines, and Veterinarian costs, as well as a portion towards our habitat heating, cooling, web site hosting, and electric bills, plus habitat daily cleaning products, laundry and bedding, renovations, and improvements. It is an expensive hobby to raise happy, healthy, top quality Bengals, but that's what we do!
Basically, these are the Mercedes of Cat Habitats... clean, updated and with all of the amenities... we even have sinks with running water, a small refrigerator, cabinetry to store bedding and supplies, and a small stereo to play special music during the day. This is all very costly! But making sure our Cats are happy and healthy is priceless to us. The habitats are so nice that I can easily sit with my Cats working on the computer or even sometimes even spend the night with them on the fold out bed! Our Habitats are an extension of our home.
Our pregnant girls, and Mothers and their new-borns, always are with us in our home.
Next Summer, when all is finished, we will be adding photos of our Cattery... check back to see... you will be very impressed! Our Veterinarian says that he has seen many Catteries, but none can come even close to ours!
Oh, one more extra... for our Cats' safety, we do have "Baby Monitor" systems from the Cat Houses to our house, so that we can monitor them during the day and through the night. Our house alarm system and video surrveillance system also protects our Cat Houses.
We love our cats!
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