As you may know, ‘Neko’ in Japanese means cats. So, this name is a combination of Japanese and English words.  In the first place, ‘Nekoland’ rhymes with ‘Legoland’, which is a theme park full of fun and I reckon being with cats should be fun!  Also, once I had the drive to start up a cattery, I decided to import one breeder from Japan since I’ve always been impressed with the type of cats in Japan.  Beautiful cats bred by Japanese breeders have special charm – large, glittering and expressive eyes, sweet facial expressions as well as up to standard body figures.  In addition, since they have already rooted in Japan, of which the climate is not too different from that of Hong Kong, I believe they can adapt to Hong Kong a bit better than those from the other parts of the world.  Be that as it may, I was certain that I needed to import another breeder from America as well because after all, Maine Coon has the origin in the US.  Keeping this in mind, I included both Japanese and English in my cattery’s name.

Why are we called Nekoland

Why are we called Nekoland?

As a breeder

As a breeder

Future plans

Future plans

Special thanks

Special thanks

At present, I have only one male and one female breeder from Japan.  In order to expand my cattery and broaden the gene pool, my short-term goal is of course to import one more top show male and female from the USA.  As for my long term goals, I intend to enrich the colour base of my future litters.  Actually, the colours of Maine Coon are very rich and most are acceptable by CFA.  If you are interested to know more about how to identify their colours, please click here.

I have another more ambitious secret wish.  If my cattery runs smoothly and successfully, I desire to import F1 Maine Coon from Maine in the USA.  F1 stands for the first generation.  While doing research for Maine Coon, I found that although there are numerous breeders collaborating to perfect this breed of cats, the gene pool is actually not very wide.  Amazingly, it is said that today’s Maine Coon offspring can be traced back to 5 ancestors ONLY.  So, some adventurous breeders have been seeking to widen the gene pool by searching for F1 cats, which can be found in some Amercian farms and Maine.  For more information, click here.   However, one thing you have to note is that F1 cats are not registered with CFA and therefore cannot be put out to shows.

Another interesting fact is that one type of Maine Coon is polydactyls, which means they have more claws on their paws than the normal ones.  You may be surprised to know that some Maine Coon fanciers have ‘special interest’ in this type.  They are rather rare since not many breeders breed this type due to their failure to meet the CFA standard.  They are therefore quite sought-after!

Special thanks must be given to Manyee Cattery and Foxhouse Cattery.  Both Mr. Raymond Ng and Mr. Joseph Wong have given us invaluable advice and practical assistance in many ways in various stages of the setting up of our cattery.  The former is also my grooming mentor while the latter entrusted his show Somali, Foxhouse Leonardo, to me.  It was through showing my Somali that I developed deeper and deeper interest in cat shows.

Raymond has always been a strict but kind mentor.  He tells us right away whether our grooming is up to standard or not.  He has also given us vision into cat shows and breeding. Without his enlightenment, we would have been contented with fair standards, given that my husband and I are both born to be pretty laid-back type person!

It is a hard nut to crack to become a breeder.  Strictly speaking, I am currently NOT a real breeder yet because my first litter has yet to come.

Just like some other breeders, I encountered loads of difficulties and the path to setting up the cattery was not as smooth as most outsiders imagine.  One of the many challenges at first was of course to decide which breed to focus on.  When I had made up my mind, the next knotty problem was which catteries to work with and how to obtain my breeders.  Since I had the determination to get high-quality breeders, I started to do my research and contact renowned breeders from several countries, namely, America, Japan and Australia.  Prestigious breeders from America are mostly very nice and did not mind giving me guidance.  However, when it came to obtaining a cat for breeding, they would become reserved.  For one thing, I am a brand-new inexperienced breeder and they do not see why they have to work with me.  For another, most top catteries do not ship and require breeders to pick up cats in their countries.

When I at last succeeded in contacting an eminent Japanese breeder, there was the problem of communication because as you know, most Japanese have limited English ability.  I needed to resort to writing emails to her in Japanese, which I have only very little knowledge of!  Luckily, in this aspect, my brother offered me great help.  He read my first draft and corrected my mistakes before I sent the email messages.  As communication with a breeder has to be very frequent and there are loads of matters to deal with, you can imagine how problematic the whole thing is.

But that was not the end of the story.  I obtained my male kitten from the Japanese breeder I mentioned above when he was barely twenty days old.  I reserved him and was looking forward to his arrival (According to the law, a cat from Japan has to be at least 5 months old before he can arrive in Hong Kong).  He was a cute furry ball when he was still a young kitten!  I showed his pictures to all my friends and EVERY one of them said he was very very cute and adorable.  Unfortunately, after 6 months of waiting, he could not arrive because of health reasons.  What a great blow it was to me! 

 

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Contact us

電話: (852)-9377-5820

email: vnekoland@yahoo.com / virginliu@hotmail.com

 

NEKOLAND CATTERY

CFA Registered Maine Coon Cattery (CFA 註冊緬因貓舍)

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