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RALICO Cattery began in 1994 in Louisville Kentucky, when I acquired my first Birman, Quig. Shortly after Quig came to live with me, I found my two girls Raz and Ricki. I had my first litter of Birman kittens in late summer of 1996. In the fall of 1997, I remarried and moved to SW Michigan which is where my husband, George calls home. Luckily, George fell in love with my cats in addition to me but it was an adjustment for him and especially for Peaches, his 6 year old retriever mix dog, to make. Cats and dog get along marvelously and we are one big happy family. Needless to say, there's never a dull moment in our home, especially when our Birman kittens reach the age of about 3 weeks. That's when the fun begins and we thoroughly enjoy every minute of raising our little darlings! Watching each kitten develop their own individual personalities is always a treat. The Birman breed is such a wonderful, loving breed and they do make a mark on one's heart that never goes away. I receive so many inquiries from people searching for a birman kitten who had a birman but lost them to Rainbow Bridge and they will not settle for any breed of cat other than another birman to take its' place. We retired Raz in the summer of 1999 and a couple months later in September, Maureen Escalette of Celtic Cattery, sent us a new seal point baby girl, CELTIC's Wendi Willow of RALICO, aka Wendi. A couple months later in November, we visited Cyndee Myers of CYNBIR Cattery and brought home our first blue point kitten, Daisy, to use in breeding program followed by another baby blue point girl, Phoebe in February, 2000. May 2002, we retired Ricki after she produced one nice girl for us earlier in the year, and we kept her to continue her mother's lines. We named her RALICO's Yosemite Samantha aka "Sammi". December 2002, we lost Peaches to cancer. It was so hard letting her go but we didn't want her to suffer any longer. Being without Peaches left a big void and in February 2003, Jasmine, a 7 week old German Shepherd came into our lives. She is quite a character and her and cats are getting along great. In the beginning, she wanted to play "It's time to chase the cats", but she has outgrown that game and all the girls and Zack can share our home equally. We let our 2003 kittens go a little earlier this year but because we had puppy training going on, we felt this was the best way to do it this year. Things have really come a long ways over the summer and we feel we're over a huge bump in the road and are looking forward to having some new kittens when the girls are ready. April 2003, our newest boy, CYNBIR Zack of RALICO, joined us and we are looking forward to some pretty babies he and some of our girls will give us . August 2004, we kept one special girl which we named "RALICO's Bunki Boo" and January 2005, another little girl, "RALICO's Candicane". Our cattery is complete for now as we do wish to keep RALICO a small cattery where all of our cats and kittens can live underfoot and are first and foremost, pets! We try to space out our litters each year, as that keeps us very busy but yet allowing us to interact nicely with each of our kittens. We honestly feel that it's the personal attention we give each one of them that only enhances the Birmans' wonderful personalities they are so famous for. We do not let any of the kittens go until we feel the right amount of socialization has occurred with the kittens. When we do place them, (which usually isn't until they are around 4 months old).. we want to feel confident that the prospective "new family" and "kitten" will have the best possible chance of adjusting quickly. I do not take placing any of my kittens lightly. I must feel confident that all of my kittens will have a home that is full of love and that the new family will give our kittens a happy life with lots of attention which, in my experience, the "Birman" breed require plenty of. I've never had a Birman that didn't want to be right in the midst of whatever is going on at home. They thrive on this attention and once a person experiences owning a Birman, I don't believe any other breed will be able to live up to their reputations. When I place one of my kittens in a new home, I do require that the new owners sign a cat/kitten contract which you will find a link to below. If you are interested in adopting one of my Birman kittens, please read this contract carefully and if for any reason you are not able to agree to all the conditions, perhaps you should look elsewhere for a kitten. However, I believe most all dedicated Birman breeders will require the same terms as I do. If you have any questions concerning
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