Welcome to SaxiKatt UK Cattery. Breeders of Old Bloodline Norwegian Forest Cats
I am a breeder located in Rossendale in the United Kingdom
Licensed by Rossendale Council AWL056
Registered by FIFe Felis Britannica FB CR 001320
Annually Vet Inspected by Oakmount Vets
Play the video below of our outside cat run.
Email – saxikatt@gmail.com
Facebook – @saxikatt
BlueSky – @saxikatt.bsky.social (proudly no longer on ‘X’)
! had the delight of having our vet attend the cattery on December 2024 and February 2025. She spent the day examining & vaccinating our studs, dams, neuters and kittens. She reviewed our facilities for our cats and kittens and was very pleased with everything we provide. I am writing this so that all past, present and future owners of our kittens can feel assured that the standards of care we provide are of the highest level.
I am committed to providing a visiting service to choose a kitten or at the very least to come and see our cattery. All my cats are pets and other than the studs they all live in the house with me together with access to my large outside secure play area. The studs have their own thermostatically heated sheds with outside runs, electric water fountains and climbing areas. Children and extended family members are welcome.
Boys will be boys and are up for mating anytime any day. Our society (FIFe) advocates that we can breed our girls three times in two years however unless our vets have approved I am trying to get to a litter in every two years which gives each girl adequate rest.
We have 3 studs after a retirement but a fourth on the way. We have 12 active females. All our other cats are neutered males and females together with some rescues. Unlike some breeders we do not sell on retired females as they are our babies. They stop here and live the life of Reilly (not sure what that means).
I have new kittens which will be released in July 2025 to my friends on the waiting list first.
The people of Asia Minor were the first to domesticate cats which rapidly was taken up by the Egyptians and the Phoenician traders. The Phoenicians together with the Romans were the first incursions of domestic cats into Europe. This cat is thought to be Felis libyca. On reaching Europe it is postulated that Felis libyca may have interbred with the stocky and heavier European wildcat Felis sylvestris (or possibly mutated) to produce the precursors of many of today’s cats. However, as Felis sylvestris is not seen in the Scandinavian countries it is suspected that cats entered Norway after being picked up by the Vikings. For many centuries there have been documented stories of large Norwegian Skogkatt (forest cat in Norwegian) on farms and in the surrounding forest. Regardless of their initial genesis there is enough evidence to cite them as a ‘natural species’.
In Norway, a movement started in the 1930’s to have the Skogkatt recognised as a breed and this culminated with the first Norwegian Forest Cat being exhibited in a cat show in Oslo during 1938. Unfortunately, this was preempted by the commencement of World War II where during and immediately afterwards the breeding of cats was considered to be a low priority. During these years the Skogkatt came to the borderline of extinction.
The breed was championed by Carl-Fredrick Nordane and in recognition of his and the work of others namely, Pans Cattery owned by the late Egil and Else Nylund (the mother of the Skogkatt), bred Pans Truls a cat whose physiology was used to define the phenotype of the breed for show purposes.
They were fully recognised and accepted in their own right at the FIFe General Assembly held in Paris in 1977 and the breeding standard was set. This breed standard (for show) was the very first that fully described how this species should look based on historical descriptions, photographs and drawings. Therefore, this is the standard that most traditional breeders use. This standard is a key descriptor to be used on this historically significant breed particularly considering some of the changes being enforced on this majestic breed.
However it is equally important to note that this was imposed on the Skogkatt at the time for show purposes. Like all breeds of cat there are variations. Some are bigger whilst some are smaller. Some have shaggy coats others not so much. The traditional breed standard is just a set of rules for showing cats. Not the holy Bible of how a cat must look. In my opinion the thing that sets the Norwegian Forest Cat higher above all others is their personality. So to put it in simplistic terms when the Norwegian breed standard was based on a single cat. This is the same as saying a human breed standard is Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. If you don’t look like them you cannot be human.
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Contact
Please drop us an email with any questions or a kitten request. We will aim to get back to you as soon as possible either via email or a telephone call.