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Woodycoon Maine Coons is a joint venture by Ros and Martin Wood.
We breed and show cats as a hobby, having owned (or been owned by) cats for most of our lives and shown pedigree cats since Jan 1996. We started breeding Maine Coons in 1999. We live in a cottage (part of which dates back to the 17th century) in a quiet rural backwater in Buckinghamshire, not far from the Bedfordshire border.
We are founder members of CoonTICA (a TICA club) and part of maine-coon-breeders.com - a group of experienced Maine Coon breeders and also belong to both the NBA Cat Club. Martin works full-time and Ros works part-time to support both our home and our hobby. Martin was elected as TICA's Regional Director for Northern Europe (which includes the UK) in January 2007 and
the first non-US member of TICA's Rules Committee.
You can read more about how we started further down this page.
In breeding Maine Coons, we aim to raise healthy kittens with a "laid back" temperament, that have excellent type and size. Equally, it's
also about bringing many years of entertainment, love and companionship to their new owners, since we cannot keep all the kittens that we breed (much as we would like to !). We're pleased to say that many stay
in touch and send us up to date photos etc. It's really lovely having such a wonderful extended family.
All our cats live with us in the cottage - we do not have any pens outside (although Sirius does have
his own de-luxe bachelor pad !). We do have a fully enclosed garden with cat-proof fencing that allows our cats to experience the delights of being outside without running any risks from passing traffic, dogs etc.
Just before a queen is
due she moves into residence in a spare bedroom, and we take it in turns to stay with her overnight. We are therefore on-hand when the queen goes into labour, and also during those important first days when the
new-born kittens are very vulnerable.
Once the kittens are mobile they move home to our dedicated kitten room, which is divided off with glass windows from the kitchen. It allows us to keep an eye on
them and observe their play without intruding on them. Here they get used to all the day to day domestic noises and sometimes listen to Radio 4 in their spare time.
Once inoculated they are free to explore
the cottage and socialise with the other cats. As a general rule we don't let them into our enclosed garden, even though it is fully cat proofed and safe. We find young kittens don't usually come with reverse
gear and our tree climbing days are sadly behind us. Beside which, it's not fair to let them experience something their new owners perhaps cannot match.
Woodycoon's History
Ros has had cats since she left university which is more years than she'd like to think.
Martin grew up with cats, but after leaving university the demands of a job that involved frequent travel meant that he couldn't have any pets. This unhappy situation was resolved once he and Ros got married !
After owning 2 amazingly ginger brothers Thomas & Treacle - coon like cats - who were larger than average semi long hairs, we started to look for similar type cats as they were getting on a bit. As it turned
out, we lost Thomas at 15 years from cancer and Treacle lived to 17 years before he faced the same fate.
We went to our first ever cat show at the Supreme where we saw a Treacle look-a-like - a Maine
Coon. Having never heard of the breed we spent the next couple of years going to more shows and saving our pennies. We wanted a ginger (red), but ended up with a Brown Tabby boy (Buttons) who sold
himself to us, a Red boy (Ginger) and a beautiful Tortie and White girl (Poppy). - we only went for two but kittens are better in multiples as they play together, a joy to watch.
Their breeder suggested we
should 'play' at showing and see if we liked it. So we went along to our first cat show in January 1996 as complete novices. At the end of the day, we emerged from the show hall clutching our kittens and
a bunch of rosettes, having met some new friends.
Looking back now you could say we got well and truly hooked.
We deliberately didn't start breeding until 1999, after we'd learnt a little of what makes a good Coon and what you might mistake for a "weggie" (Norwegian Forest Cat). Even now, there is still much to learn.
We started our show career with the GCCF (Governing Council of the Cat Fancy) but in 2000, switched over to the FIFe system with the Cat Association (and now Felis Britannica).
In 2004, we started
showing with TICA (The International Cat Association) and find this show format is more exciting and entertaining for exhibitors and visitors alike.
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