O nás – Fenrínar, CZ

My name is Jitka, and I am living my childhood dream. As a little girl, I had several cats, and I even raised two litters right in my bedroom. Since then, I knew that one day, I wanted to have my own cattery. Although I dreamed mainly about Maine Coon cats, I didn't know about the Ragdoll breed yet. In 2016, I got my first Ragdoll, and my first pedigreed cat, together with my (now) husband Petr. We were so enamored with the personality of the tomcat Burst that we couldn't resist staying loyal to the breed.

Burst, or simply "Kocour" (which means "Tomcat" in Czech), was a handsome and affectionate red colorpoint lynx Ragdoll boy. After we moved to Prague, he stayed with my parents in our family home. Like all our previous cats, Kocour had free access to the outdoors. Unfortunately, this proved to be his downfall, as he contracted the feline leukemia virus (FeLV), and passed away in 2021.

My love for animals guided me in choosing my college major, and I studied Companion Animal Sciences with a focus on exotic mammals at the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague. I apply most of the principles of ethics, welfare, and ethology that I learned during my studies in my cattery. As a breeder, I strive to do my job as well as possible, relying on my professional knowledge from school, science articles, books, and spending hours reading discussions among breeders, drawing on their practical experiences. I have also completed two courses for cat breeders - Pawpeds G1 and Campus Felinarium The Pleiades. Every day, I learn something new, and caring for cats and breeding them is my passion, which I love to talk about. You will leave our house with your head full of new knowledge! 😄

I believe in honesty, so I will never hide the bad things that happen in our breeding. In every breeding, health problems will sooner or later arise - parasitic infections, viral infections, and congenital defects. Breeders are often innocent in this, for example, they may have purchased a healthy cat for breeding, but it developed giardiasis (an infection with intestinal parasites causing bloody diarrhea) during a stressful situation, which was previously hidden. Or a kitten may have an accident, requiring hospitalization, and at the clinic, it catches the herpes virus (one of the causes of feline flu) and subsequently infects all its siblings. Even with FIP (feline infectious peritonitis), breeders often come as blind to the situation, because the disease is almost impossible to predict. The disease is caused by mutations of the FCoV virus, which most cats have, and mutation occurs in only about 5% of them. While a fair breeder cannot guarantee that a kitten from their breeding will never get sick, they provide a guarantee in case of congenital defects, genetic diseases, and FIP. I explain our guarantee in more detail here.

When I'm not preoccupied with the health of our cats and kittens, I search for breeders who share the same values, who select beautiful and healthy cats for breeding and whom I would like to collaborate with. My wish is to create my own line of beautiful cats that meet the written standard. The Ragdoll is its own breed and should not resemble a Persian or a British Longhair. Pointed coloring (Siamese markings) and blue eyes do not make a Ragdoll. A Ragdoll should be a robust cat with balanced features and semi-long, silky fur that lies close to the body. An adult Ragdoll should have medium-sized ears and a medium-length nose, but we often see extremes on either side. A responsible breeder is dedicated to breeding, which is a long journey full of compromises and disappointments. It is important to have breeding goals! For breeders, the primary goal should be to maintain a viable population of the Ragdoll breed with a low coefficient of inbreeding😉.