Why We Raise Our Kittens in a Home, Not a Farm
Updated: Sep 11
There are many different ways to raise pedigree kittens.
Some breeders have dedicated catteries. Some have purpose-built rooms. Some operate on a much larger scale, with separate spaces for breeding cats, mothers and kittens.
And then there are breeders like us, where the cats and kittens are part of the home.
At Auralune, we've deliberately chosen to raise our kittens in a home environment rather than a farm-style or production environment.
It's not necessarily the easiest option.
In fact, there are some very real downsides.
But for us, the benefits — for the kittens, for the families who eventually take them home, and even for us as breeders — make the choice worthwhile.
Kittens don't just need to be handled. They need to experience life.
One of the biggest reasons we choose to raise kittens in our home is that we want them to learn what living in a home actually feels like.
A kitten growing up in a home experiences all the ordinary things that make up everyday life.
People talking. Doors opening and closing. Televisions. Cooking. Household appliances. Different rooms. Different surfaces. Visitors arriving. Other animals. People coming and going.
They hear the vacuum cleaner.
They discover that humans sometimes make completely inexplicable noises.
They learn that life carries on around them.
And that matters.
There is a difference between taking a kitten out of a dedicated breeding environment for twenty minutes of human interaction and having that kitten grow up surrounded by normal family life.
Our kittens aren't simply being socialised by being picked up and cuddled.
They're learning how to be cats who live with people and other cats.
A home isn't supposed to be sterile
There is another reason we believe home raising is important: the environment a kitten grows up in shouldn't be sterile.
During those very early weeks, we are deliberately careful about what the kittens are exposed to. They're vulnerable, so their environment is closely monitored and exposure is appropriately limited.
But once they're past that particularly vulnerable early period, we don't believe it is beneficial for them to live in a completely controlled, sterile bubble.
They need normal environmental exposure.
Our home is kept extremely clean — for the cats just as much as for us — but clean doesn't mean sterile. There is a difference.
Just as with small children, everyday life comes with ordinary environmental microbes. A developing immune system needs the opportunity to encounter the normal world around it rather than growing up completely isolated from it.
That doesn't mean deliberately exposing kittens to illness or allowing poor hygiene. Quite the opposite.
We are very careful about health, cleanliness and disease prevention.
But we also believe that healthy exposure to a normal environment is part of growing up.
A kitten should eventually be able to explore the world without every surface being treated as a potential threat.
They learn from the very beginning
Obviously, newborn kittens need a protected, quiet environment with their mother. They don't need — or benefit from — a house full of people and activity immediately after birth.
As they grow, though, their world gradually expands.
They begin with their mother and littermates, then their immediate surroundings, and eventually the wider home.
They start exploring.
They encounter new sights, sounds, smells and experiences.
And because we're right there with them, we can introduce those experiences gradually and appropriately rather than simply expecting them to cope with everything at once.
The goal isn't to overwhelm them with stimulation.
It's to make the world feel normal.
It's better for their future families, too
Eventually, these kittens leave us and go to their forever homes.
And their new families are already going to be giving them a huge amount of change.
New people.
New smells.
New rooms.
New routines.
Possibly new animals.
It's impossible to remove that transition completely — nor would we want to. Going to a new home is part of growing up.
But we can give a kitten a better starting point.
A kitten who has already lived in a home has experienced many of the things that will eventually be part of their new life.
The television isn't completely unfamiliar.
Household noises aren't completely unfamiliar.
People moving around aren't completely unfamiliar.
Exploring a room isn't completely unfamiliar.
They're still going to need time to settle in, of course. But they're not learning everything for the first time.
They're building on experiences they've already had.
And we get to know them properly
There is another enormous advantage to raising kittens in our home.
We get to know them.
Really know them!
When you're living alongside a litter, you see far more than whether a kitten is friendly.
You see personalities developing.
You see who is incredibly confident.
Who is curious about absolutely everything.
Who follows people around.
Who wants to be involved in everything happening in the house.
Who is happiest sitting quietly beside you.
Who is particularly playful.
Who is a little more cautious at first.
Those individual personalities matter enormously when we're helping a family choose their kitten.
We don't want to simply say, "They're all lovely."
Of course they're all lovely.
They're Siberian kittens. We're biased.
But they're also individuals, and we want to understand those individuals before they leave us.
There are downsides
We don't want to pretend that raising kittens in a home is automatically superior in every single respect.
A purpose-built cattery can have some genuine advantages.
It can be easier to maintain a controlled environment. Cleaning can be more straightforward. Surfaces can be specifically designed for sanitation. Different cats and litters can be separated into dedicated areas.
And a home with kittens?
Well...
A home with kittens is chaos.
There is litter everywhere.
There are toys everywhere.
Someone is always climbing something they probably shouldn't be climbing.
Food somehow ends up in places where food has absolutely no business being.
And then there is the Headcount.
The Headcount
In our household, the word "Headcount" has developed a very specific meaning.
If I — or anyone else — says "Headcount!", everybody knows exactly what needs to happen.
We need to locate every single cat in the house and make sure everyone is accounted for.
One cat under the bed?
Check.
One sleeping in a cupboard?
Check.
One mysteriously absent from the usual places?
Find the cat!
We are so accustomed to doing it that it's simply become part of normal life here.
Friends find it hilarious.
They look at us as though we've completely lost our minds and ask how on earth we tolerate living like this.
But to us?
It's just Tuesday.
When you have a multi-cat household, knowing where everyone is becomes second nature. And when you're responsible for breeding cats and kittens, that awareness is even more important.
It's one of those little things that you probably wouldn't have to think about in quite the same way if all your cats lived in separate, carefully controlled spaces.
For us, though, it's simply part of having cats who actually live in our home.
But there's one enormous upside
For all the cleaning, the chaos, the headcounts and the occasional moment of wondering exactly how there came to be a kitten there...
There is something rather wonderful about living in a house full of cats.
The personalities.
The relationships.
The different little characters who all have their own opinions, habits and ways of interacting with you.
And then, of course, there are the kittens.
The antics. The mischievousness. The completely unpredictable, uniquely beautiful chaos of a house full of kittens.
There is something magical about waking up and finding a tiny army of fluffy faces waiting for you.
Watching them discover the world.
Watching their personalities emerge.
Seeing them play, tumble, chase one another and inevitably get themselves into some sort of trouble.
And then watching them grow into the beautiful, confident cats they're going to become.
It is messy.
It is time-consuming.
It is occasionally completely bonkers.
But it is also pure joy.
Nothing quite compares to a house full of cats and kittens.
And honestly?
That's probably the biggest reason we wouldn't want to raise them any other way.
Auralune Siberian Cattery Thailand - Neva Masquerade Specialist
For more information about Auralune, our Siberian cats in Thailand and upcoming litters, follow us on Instagram. You can also find updates on available kittens and our waitlist there.
Contact us:
WhatsApp: +66 97 210 4130
Email: auralunecats@gmail.com
Comments