As an introduction of myself, I have been breeding and showing Cairn Terriers, under the prefix Rose Croft for the past 35 years.  I have had a very successful breeding program,  by breeding the top winning Cairn Terrier in the history of the breed, and many other Best in Show and top winners, not just here in the USA, but in several other countries as well.

My Cairn breeding program is based on three things HEALTH, Temperament and Type.  Without health, it doesn't matter how many awards your dog or cats have won.  As most puppies and kittens we breed go to new homes as pets, not show or breeding animals.   Nothing would break my heart sooner than placing a puppy or kitten in a new home and then having something happen to it that could have been prevented by screening my adults for inheritable health related concerns or improper vaccination.  No matter how hard we try, unforeseen problems can still arise.                                                        Photo by Helmi

When acquiring a new pet, please ask a lot of questions, read the contract and health guarantees very carefully.  A health guarantee means more than the kitten/puppy being seen by a vet before it enters your home and should be longer than the first 72 hours after it enters your home.

I hope to is to carry over my experience and success in breeding dogs to my LaPerms.

Even though LaPerms came into existence in the spring of 1982, it is still a very young breed.  Since the breed started with just one female cat named Curly, and developed on it's own accord for a 10 more years, before the breed originator, Linda Koehl,  decided to start controlling and developing her breeding program, it is very important to keep expanding the gene pool, while maintaining the uniqueness that sets the LaPerm apart from the other rex-coated breeds.

Solveig Pflueger, head of Genetics at TICA certified that the LaPerm gene is unique. It differs from the Devon & Cornish Rex in that it is dominant, and from the Selkirk Rex and the American Wirehair by being a complete dominant gene. Homozygous Selkirk Rexes look different from their heterozygous counterparts. It also differs from the American Wirehair in that has complete penetrance, i.e. 50% of kittens from a heterozygous LaPerm crossed with a domestic will be curly.  Dr. Leslie Lyons, of U.C. Davis is doing a new study to find the DNA markers for each rex gene.   She personally came to my home to take blood, hair and cheek swab samples of my cats.   We have already send cheek swabs of all of our cats with pedigrees.  We encourage all LaPerm owners and breeders to send cheek swabs to Dr. Lyons Feline Genome Project!

In the USA, the home of the LaPerm breed, allowed out-crossing has been limited to the Domestic cat.  CFA allowed AOV (any other variety) Ocicat for a two year period, but this out-cross was suspended after a 2 year trail period.    You will see these cats in the background of several of my cats. 

I will continue to out-cross to Domestics of the proper type, even though this eliminates them from showing at TICA shows because of the ruling that does not allow LaPerms to be shown who have unknown parentage in the first three generations.   Hopefully the LaPerm Breed Committee will ask for a change in this rule.  They can be shown in CFA for championship starting May 2008.

In the near future, I hope to import a cat or two back from other counties that do allow domestic out-crosses.  This will help even more to increase the gene pool here in the USA. 

Because the LaPerm gene pool is so small and registrations have dropped to an all time low, many of the kittens I am producing will be retained here or placed with other established breeders.  But this does not mean there will not be kittens available for pets, simply not many.   Please be patience.  Also please consider adopting an older cat which has been retired from breeding.
 

Cats are carnivores, plain and simple. They need meat to survive. Many cats can subsist for quite some time on grocery store food, but more and more often we see diseases such as cancer, hyperthyroidism, IBD, diabetes, and heart disease, all of which can be linked to a history of poor nutrition. You may believe that grocery store foods are formulated by nutritionists, and they're supposed to be fully balanced and complete, right? Wrong. The best thing you can do for your cat is to feed her the way she was meant to be fed: meat!

At one time I was making my own raw diet, but at this time finding the right ingredients is not an option.  I have been researching pre-made raw diets, but have not found one that both the cats and I are fully content with.   As at this time Arohanui LaPerms are fed Chicken Soup dry and Merrick canned foods with an addition of raw. 

When work, commitment and pleasure all become one and you reach that deep well where passion lives, nothing is impossible.