Happily Ever After

The first thought that crossed my mind when we first moved to our new house was… finally, I can have a cat!!!! But not any cat… I was after something truly special, I was on a mission, library books, internet… wasn’t difficult, Ragdolls seemed to tick all the boxes, and finding the perfect breeder wasn’t complicated either, one look at Truly Scrumptious Ragdolls website and I knew exactly where I was going to get my kitten from.

Then the waiting… the hardest part, but Michelle kept us well updated, until one day my baby was born!! We got amazing pictures from day one, almost daily, I have to say I am not much a Facebook fan, but I found myself totally hooked, the best part of my day became coming home, making myself a cup of tea and staring at the pictures of the most beautiful creature I had ever seen in my life.

Counting the days… and the grams… 10 weeks seemed too long, but the day arrived when I could take her home, she knew since the second she put her little paw in our house, that this was her home, what can I say? Poppy has topped all my expectations, I can’t hardly remember how life was before she arrived, she is loving, gentle, clever, playful, such a good natured sweet little girl, we love her so much! She lets me cut her nails, brush her hair, even lets me put her the harness and comes with me for little walks around the garden, but the morning cuddles… ahhhhh all week I look forward to the weekend when I can spend extra time in bed, just cuddling my fluffy baby and listening to her purrrrrrr… it is a dream come true… I could already write a book about my dear Poppy, but I better stop here :0)

Thanks Michelle, for your dedication and for creating a Truly amazing experience for us!!

Love,
Cristina

Hello Michelle,

Daisy is fabulous; a very rewarding family member and we love her to bits!

Daisy is a true ragdoll in every sense of the word; she has lived up to her breed traits and we’re delighted.

She is an absolute piglet, loves her food, and is a fabulous hunter – always catching rabbits and mice. She doesn’t like to use the cat flap, which is probably a good thing, as she’d likely bring all her catches in to show us at all hours of the night. She sleeps with Britton for some of the night andthen makes her way outside for night games. She comes in the morning looking like something the cat dragged in, honestly, a complete mess with twigs,
sticks and goodness knows what else stuck to her. She always makes us laugh.

Daisy and Camie are great mates (our dog who is the same age). Daisy has the upper hand and always makes a bee line for Camie’s dog bed much to the dog’s upset as she doesn’t get much room once Daisy has made herself at home on it.

I see you have some kittens for sale – very tempting, I have to say, but we probably have our hands-ful with the two cats, dog, 4 hens (which are pets) and with 4 more chicks on the way!

I love your updated website – it’s fabulous.

Thanks again for your email.

Suzannah

Thank you so much for allowing our family to adopt one of your beautiful kittens. Lilly swiftly became a member of our family, and now we can’t imagine life without her. She is very friendly, and just wants to be near us all the time – more like a puppy in some ways! I especially appreciated that Lilly arrived knowing how to use her litter box, was happy to be outdoors (a free-range kitten), and around other animals. Our rabbits and guinea pigs have accepted her presence, and even our 7 year old tabby cat is starting to put up with her on occasion (a work in progress!). It’s wonderful to come home and be greeted by a beautiful, friendly ball of fluff – thank you again, and I’ll certainly be recommending your kittens.

Susan

Hey Michelle

Carter has fitted into our family perfectly; It’s like he has been here for ages – friends and family were shocked to come visit on the first afternoon and see how chilled out he was – running along playing with our two year old son; Cohen. On the first night, he had managed to use the litter box no sweat plus by the morning he was eating and drinking like he had no worries – This was just after my son had a full blown tantrum in front of him and Carter just looked at him as if too say “what is your problem?”

He is such a loving affectionate little guy, he follows me everywhere around the house, when he is asleep I have sneak out of lounge to make sure he doesn’t follow as I know he needs his sleep. He has investigated all cupboards including sitting on the dishwasher helping me to unload, He is a nightmare trying to make the bed but wouldn’t want it any other way as it is just so much fun. My husband couldn’t believe it when he got in the bath that Carter thought he was getting in too – the moment he got his paw wet he did a silly dance not putting his paw back down as if it was broken….so so cute – after it had dried; he then decided to happily fall asleep on the tiles surrounding the bath. Just wanted to thank you Michelle for everything and I can see that Carter has had the best start! We are looking forward to many happy years growing with Carter – we can see so early he is going to be such a joy!!

Lots of Love,
Brent, Tarryn and Cohen Moratti xx

Hi Michelle and all you guys,

Well Sapphire and Flint are not quite so little now! They grew too quickly of course, it’s hard to believe that they were so little last autumn.

Both are in fine health and are bumptious teenagers, completely ruling the roost of course.They have both been very easy in the house from day one, always using the dirt box and only scratching the roped scratch posts and a hemp doormat that we have. They have left the leather seats and the cedar weatherboards alone.

We kept them inside until we had them spayed. They were ready for the big outdoors and are very outdoorsy now. We still keep them in after dark, because there are a lot of cats in the neighborhood and we don’t want them involved in fights. We have a cat door that they wait and paw at in the early morning. Of course they are very interested in birds and we have a lot around, but they are not the most nimble hunters so the birds are pretty safe. Sapphire is the more patient hunter and has presented a poor lizard so far, together with a lot of leaves. Flint crashes around at the end of thin branches but the birds have well flown by the time he gets there.

As soon as we let them outside they raced straight up the trees, they love climbing. They both just kept going up until they were right at the top of one of the trees at the back, then they took a while to figure out how to get down, but they came down pretty quick when it was dinner time. Their favorite trees are a bottlebrush that the tuis come to as well as lots of flying insects, and a big cabbage tree than they love leaping onto and climbing up the textured bark. They love the garden and roll around in the dirt, dig holes like dogs and are sorting out some favorite sun bathing spots, especially in some long grasses when the can play at being lions.

They don’t use the dirt box much at all now, doing their business outside.

They play a lot together, ambushing each other and racing off with arched backs around and around the house and jumping up in the air when they meet. It’s so good having both of them rather than just one. We have some toys but they play with each other most of the time, or steal little bottles and the XLO sponge when we forget to put it away. Flint loves this and its a great triumph for him when he gets it, its off to his little igloo house and grrr!! if anyone comes close. Early on we found red soft stuff in the dirt box, and though oh no one of them is ill, but it was just the bits of sponge that Flint had eaten passing through!

When we first brought them home I was adamant that they were not going to be allowed on our bed in our upstairs room. I was not going to have them onto any beds in the house. We don’t have a door to the upstairs room, so we decided we would move down into our downstairs room and they could get used to that. Of course they were both on the bed first night and have been there ever since. As have we. Meanwhile Sapphire has claimed the upstairs bed for herself and naps right in the middle. If Flint has behaved she lets him up too.

Flint likes to go off to his igloo house or he sprawls on the top tier of their big scratch post.Flint is a very handsome cat. He has a lovely face with wide set eyes and a longer nose than Sapphire. He has a big mane, his fur has a very slight caramel tinge. He is much bigger than Sapphire and quite heavier, like his Dad but his face is more like Tinsel I think. He is very loving, follows us around, comes when he is called, always meets us when we come home and say goodbye (and can I come) when we leave. He is quite vocal. He has very big paws. He still likes to suckle, this is quite annoying when he starts pawing at the same time because those claws are long and sharp! I growl and he is getting better at stopping, but Lee says I’m mean and should let him suckle until he stops himself – that’s alright for her to say, he prefers my skin for some reason. We think he is a bit like a dog and are waiting for him to bark.

Sapphire is quite the little madam. She has a soft voice and a lovely soft clean white coat. She likes the water, and hops into the shower under the spray and doesn’t mind. She walks like she is wearing high heels, and is always spotless. Every night she gets up on the vanity bench and does her face with Lee before bedtime. Her face is a bit more like her Dad, with a less prominent nose. She has the knack of being aloof and of course is the boss and everyone else just staff. She comes and sleeps with us on the hottie every night. She licks us, a bit like a dog, and nibbles too, Lee calls her the little biter. She is very good at getting Flint caught out being naughty while she escapes scot free.They both have little bandit masks and their colouring and markings are perfect.

They have been wonderfully brought up, well conditioned for our lifestyle and quite happy to get their paws dirty. Their next big adventure will be going to our beach at Waiheke for about ten days at the end of the month.

Here are a bunch of photos I took last night.

Good luck with the new litter, they look very tempting!! but I think we have our hands full with these two.

Love to all
Stu and Lee

Hi Micki

She is SO gorgeous. I arrived at the cargo place just at the right time, she had just arrived, and there she was in her box, looking at me in amazement! We popped back to my work to show my colleagues – she was so relaxed, quite happy to be cuddled – no fear at all! Then I brought her home, let the other 2 outside so I wouldn’t have them competing for my attention, and let her explore the “nursery”. She was full of energy, climbing everywhere – isn’t it amazing how she can stand on her back legs – or sit back on them like a rabbit! I have never seen a cat do this before. I’ve been alternating time with her and with the other 2 all afternoon, to try and transfer smells like you suggested, and to avoid them feeling neglected. Then she just fell asleep – so cute. She’s quite happy to sleep on my lap – finally – a lap cat!!
I think Johnny and Lisbeth can smell her, and know something’s up, but they don’t seem bothered. Kerry isn’t home yet so hasn’t met her. I am so looking forward to introducing her to J&L tomorrow – she seems pretty fearless so I think she’ll be OK – it remains to be seen about them!

Thank you so much – I know it was hard to let her go – but she really is my dream kitten, I love her already.

Will get back to her now, and let you know how we go tomorrow!

Jo

Hi Michelle

I want to thank you so much for our amazing new addition to our family – Paris! Words cannot express how much we love her! We know she is a very special wee girl as she is your very first lilac mitted kitten that you’ve bred and we want you to know that we are very honored to have her as our very first Ragdoll!

We certainly did our research and were very ‘fussy’ about the breed of kitten we would be looking for as we are NZKC Reg breeders of Maltese and our dogs and puppies all live in our home with us so we we knew the type of temperament we wanted in a cat so once we decided on a Ragdoll to be the best breed to fit in with our other fur-babies here, we started visiting several Ragdoll breeders. We weren’t easy to please, as I wanted to ensure we not only had a kitten with a fabulous nature – but I also wanted the very best quality kitten I could find that would be suitable to Show, and potentially to breed from also. We also know how important it is that our kitten be raised in a home (not in a cage) so this is another reason why we approached Michelle, as we wanted a kitten who had been bought up in a family atmosphere, who was used to being around children and other animals, and wanted our new kitten to be bought up the same way we bring up each of our puppies – showered with love from birth! This is why we were delighted to have a ‘Truly Scrumptious’ Ragdoll kitten (and not just ANY kitten – but a rare Lilac Mitted!), and during the many phone calls and emails it was obvious that Michelle and I have so much in common – especially the love and passion we share for our animals that we share our homes and our lives and our hearts with.

Our family could not have wanted more in a kitten…My three daughters have their new best friend and she literally follows us all around like one of my dogs do! Paris is so much fun to watch playing and finds anything amusing – whether it be chasing her toys around the ground, or jumping inside a plastic bag to ‘hide’ and then pounce out at any unsuspecting victim, or carrying around items of interest inside her mouth – just like a puppy would! Everyone loves her and she’s such a smoocher and has the most amazing purr – she is constantly purring and happy to be held by anyone.

She’s always happy and is contented as long as there is someone around to ‘hang out’ with – whether its sleeping with the kids on their beds, or being wheeled around by my 4 yr old in a dolls pram, or jumping into one of my Maltese beds and cuddling up against them – she is just so cruisy!

So as you can gather – our darling Paris has fitted right in with our family since day 1 and anyone would think she’s been here forever. She is constantly wanting to play with my Maltese – especially our wee 5 mth old Maltese, Mini. They are hilarious together and are never far apart from each other. For a few weeks Paris found that my Maltese are so placid that one of them was even willing to even let her suckle! It was so funny one Sat avo we had visitors around and my husband told us to look down to see our 2 yr old Maltese girl Nina – lying on her back while Paris has a ‘dry’ suckle off her! (No she had no puppies and isn’t even pregnant lol) She was lying there purring flat out while Nina lays there contented to let this new arrival have her way – thankful this stage didn’t last for more than a couple of weeks lol!

Paris has such a great personality – she’s playful but also very laid back which is why she fits in so well here – friends come and visit and comment on how she could so easily be one of my maltese puppies lol!

Thanks so much again for Paris – she’s one much loved member of our family and brings us so much joy, fun, love and cuddliness all wrapped up in one cute-as bundle – she certainly is one very Truly Scrumptions wee kitty!

With love from Toni Fanfulla and family at Fanfare Maltese, Tauranga xoxox