Our first Birman came as a late Christmas gift in the beginning of January of 1996, and the next one followed a about 3 months after. We we had NO PLANS on becoming breeders, but we got "bitten by the bug", and "(N) Apelia's" was registered as our cattery prefix in the beginning of 1997, with Apelia's first kittens arriving in June of 1997. We showed our cats some in the beginning years, but have never really been "show people", so we keep to the genetics of breeding and are satisfied with that.

Our cats are our only children - though we have sold kittens to families with children, which has never been a problem. We are trying to walk the fine line between having enough girls for our stud, but not having too many cats, as we want them all to feel special, and that means giving them all quality time. Keeping the number of individuals down to a responsible number is also important because of hygiene. Each cat needs to have enough space. We are lucky to have a large house, with two cat rooms, and a small, but much loved, outside run. It is very important for us to keep stress level as low as possible, as it strengthens the immunsystem.

We are a chosed cattery, so we have always had our own studs. We have never loaned out any of the males we have had, though we are open to "swapping" matings, if there are lines in a male that are interesting for us. So far, this has not happened, but who knows..

If you're wondering where the name "Apelia's" comes from it's actually the name of a wine we found when we were on vacation on the island of Corfu, Greece. We wanted a name that reminded us of Summer, Sun and just relaxing in a warm place. To us, our cattery is something we wanted to give a name we had good memories from (not necessarily the wine itself), and the name "Apelia" is also a very easy name to live with, leaving enough space for creative kitten names! We are very satisfied that we got our first choice of prefix names! We wanted something that reminds us of good memories. Since it's a name we're *stuck with* for a long time, we feel it's important to put some real thought into what a cattery prefix feels right.

We are situated in the small community of Enebakk, which is about a 45 minute drive from Oslo, Norway. Except for the houses in the area around us, we are surrounded by farmland and forest, and we love the peacefulness of living in the country, yet at the same time not being too far away from the city.

We do have two cat rooms, but they are also in the main part of the house also, except for at night and some hours during the early day when I have the windows open. It's important to have fresh air - both for us, as well as for the cats, and I hate any cat smell that is not necessary. We enjoy having them with us during the rest of the time, and they usually settle down somewhere after always inspecting the house from top to toe again, each day. We have made a "cat room", that is used both for breeding, and also gives our stud "time for himself". We wanted our cat room to be as hygenic as possible, and have chosen floor and wall materials that will be suitable for thorough washing.

We have another catroom that is ajointing to the outside cat run (though it's not as big as many have), so that the cats can go outside. During the Winter they don't usually like to be outside too much - it's cold and icy, and our Birmans would much rather snuggle up in front of the fireplace, or on the couch under a blanket.

We try to feed our Birmans high protein dryfood, and base their diet on a variety of quality products, though we base their diet on good, dry food brands (both for adults & kittens), and our main brand is Specific, though we do mix a little Hills Prescription Diet or Royal Canine with Specific, for variation. Since we believe in serving our Birmans a variety of food, we also try to give them fish and other protein food at least once a week, as well as different types of wet food.

We have earlier tested some of our Birmans for both FIP, FIV, and FELV, and have recently also tested everyone for Chlamydia - and have a clean "bill of health". We have no plans on testing our cats, unless we see problems occuring, and this is one reason why we are a very closed cattery. We try to keep the stress level low here (at least for our Birmans!!), as this has an effect on their immune system. This and good hygiene is what we prefer before a lot of testing. But we do have a very close relationship with our vet, so we keep up to date, as far as what the latest research and conferences he attends. We also keep him up to date, if we find something he hasn't seen, or experience something that is of interest to him. He comes regularly home to us for vaccines and it feels good to know that he believes our cattery is a healthy one, as well as having social cats.

Feel free to contact us!