Since we’re about 2 weeks away from the first day of Winter I thought it only appropriate to share some Cattery News with our Lake View Coons friends and family, including the highly anticipated announcement relating to our current litter! But first, I wanted to officially announce some additional titles earned, this year and at the end of last year’s show season.

Titles Earned

For those who have been following our blog, you may have seen that we announced titles earned for our boys Orion and Uno, but since that last cattery news announcement, we were notified that both boys were both awarded TICA International Awards of Excellence for the 2021-2022 show season too!

RW QGC IAU Orion’s Hunt StarArk earned an International Award of Excellence for being the Best Black Silver Mackerel Tabby and LakeViewCoons Humble Beginnings Uno earned an International Award of Excellence for being the Best Black Smoke Polydactyl Maine Coon.

In September, we also had the privilege to attend TICA’s Regional Awards Banquet in Greenville, SC where we were honored with a beautiful rosette and plaque on behalf of Orion who earned his Regional title for the 24th Best Long Hair Cat in the SE Region for the 2021-2022 show season.

Last, and certainly not least, with the 2022-2023 show season well underway, we have some fun news to announce. Our future queen, LakeViewCoons Anchored Hope has officially been awarded her Champion and Grand Champion titles!

Anyone attempting to do so will tell you that showing an intact female Maine Coon under a year of age in the Championship class isn’t an easy feat (especially a girl with a non-standard - high silver - black smoke coat). The written standard and thus the show hall in general seems to cater to the larger in size (typically male) Maine Coons, and as a result, we don’t often see many females winning. For that reason we are especially grateful to the judges that acknowledged our girl and allowed her to be recognized in their rings.

Health Screening Results

Speaking of future queens, we are thrilled to announce that LakeViewCoons Twisted Fate and her sister GCH LakeViewCoons Anchored Hope have finally received their OFA Advanced Cardiac and Hip Grading results. Both girls received the “all clear” and have officially entered our breeding program. And, in a continued effort to be transparent, we have published watermarked and redacted copies of these results under the QUEENS tab of our website (click: “Queens” > “About Hope” or “About Fate” > “Heart Echo / Hip X-Ray Results”).

Just as important, we had both of our studs, Mando and Orion, and our retired queen, Mitz, seen for their three year repeat echocardiogram and those results also came back favorably. Our plan is to repeat this very important health screening again when the three of them turn 5 years old.

Planned Pairings

We are probably most excited to announce our upcoming plans for this coming Winter. GRC LakeViewCoons Anchored Hope and RW QGC IAU Orion’s Hunt StarArk were recently paired, and nature willing, we are expecting a litter in the New Year! This pairing has the potential to produce kittens with solid black, black smoke, black silver classic tabby, black silver mackerel tabby, black (brown) classic tabby, and black (brown) mackerel tabby coats.

We had hoped to also pair Orion with LakeViewCoons Twisted Fate this winter but because the days are shorter she is no longer calling. Unfortunately, that means this particular mating will likely be postponed until early Spring.

Our Recent Loss

The life of a breeder can be so hard, and I know many of our fellow breeders who are following our breeding journey can relate. We always preface our breeding plans with “nature willing” and this is an example as to why.

Unfortunately, at her 12 week checkup, our sweet girl Echo Sounding was diagnosed with intussusception, a condition of the GI tract. Usually this condition is caused when a young kitten ingests something foreign like a string or hair-like object, but the surgery didn’t reveal anything like that. Her case was referred to by the veterinary surgeon as a fluke (that is, there were no congenital, genetic, or environmental factors that could be identified). Echo underwent major abdominal surgery to address the condition and her recovery was going well, considering, for about a week. Sadly, she eventually took a turn for the worse and developed aspiration pneumonia which she was unable to recover from.

If you follow us on social media, you’ve already heard the news and we just wanted to say thanks again from the bottom of our hearts for all the wonderfully kind and thoughtful messages that were sent, and especially to Kennedy Jones and staff at Harrogate Hospital for Animals who sent an incredibly heartwarming card with encouraging words and condolences.

Adoption Applications

On a lighter note, we wanted to announce that we will be opening up our adoption application process next month. Because we received such an overwhelming response with our last few wave of applicants, we’ve also decided to limit the submissions to a 24 hour window. Our digital adoption application form will be made visible to our website beginning on Saturday, January 7th at 8am and ending on Sunday, January 8th at 8am.

No early OR late entries will be accepted or considered.

Interested individuals need to submit an application with each litter. We do not keep past applications on file.

Please note, we do not currently charge more for male versus female, polydactyl versus standard, or for “rare” coat colors or patterns. Our pricing is however based on our ever changing monthly cost for Hip Grading and Advanced Cardiac Health screening, routine veterinary care, emergency veterinary care, as well as food and supplies. Each of these things, coupled with overall demand, is what drives the national average price for the breed, which currently ranges between 1k-5k (and in my honest opinion the amount of health screening a breeder does beyond basic DNA testing, and/or if the cattery breeds with titled cats or not should be what determines if they are asking the higher prices — Although, sadly, that’s not always the case, so be sure to do your homework when interviewing breeders).

With all that being said, the price for our current litter falls in the mid range of the national average: $2500.

For those who are not already aware of how our cattery’s reservation process works, we always reserve first pick for our Cattery, and then after that to the few breeders we are closely networked with and trust. Next, we give priority to our immediate family and then to our current Lake View Coons family. We also prioritize approved applicants who express an interest in adopting siblings or have experience with and an interest in showing.

For more details on our cattery’s reservation process, be sure to visit our website FAQ page: www.LakeViewCoons.com/faq