Our cats – and the way we raise them – are truly unique. We are not just owners or breeders; we are committed to optimizing the life and happiness of the amazing Siberian cat breed, and to cats in need around the world.
It is very much a labor of love: we have dedicated a huge chunk of our lives to these amazing, joyful cats. We wouldn’t have it any other way, and we are confident that your cat from Figg&Prowle will be a beloved, beautiful addition to your family.
We chose the Siberian cat very deliberately
For its versatility and health – from home to barn and back again, Siberians should be a cat with tremendous functionality, health, and longevity
For its handsome and harmonious moderate and balanced appearance
For its perfect companionship in the home and the family
This insistence on always delivering those three qualities is at the core of every decision we make while breeding.
When we decided to deliberately breed Siberian cats, we knew that there had to be a very special reason – and our approach had to be completely different than anything we’d seen before.
We decided to raise our Siberian kittens like we’d been raising show, agility, and working dogs for twenty years – with targeted socialization, research-based care, and the best enrichment and exposure we could come up with. And wow, it works.
You’re about to go on the most amazing journey! Our Siberian kittens are a very, very special experience, and they’ll change your life for the better.
We developed a deliberate, comprehensive socialization program for our Siberian kittens – we go so much further than “raised underfoot.” The kittens are born in our family game room and are handled lovingly many times a day. They begin exploring human spaces as soon as they can walk. At six weeks, we begin exposing them to at least one new thing every day. By thirteen weeks, when the kittens go home, they’re eager for human contact and worried by very little – they’re pushy and brave. They love toys and wands and gently batting human hands, and they’re ready to participate in whatever your family loves.
We spend far more time reading research papers than we do reading show catalogs!
Every Siberian cat we even consider breeding goes through genetic testing and analysis of its individual diversity and inbreeding. We test for dozens of traits and utilize x-rays and ultrasounds as well. We work toward the development and sharing of evidence-based breeding findings that are of value to the entire breeding community; our dogs and cats have been participants in multiple research studies.
Every breeder is working toward a certain goal – most often, we keep the kitten who best personifies progress toward that goal. But that means that every breeder fails to meet that goal in the rest of the kittens in the litter. Those “failures” are the kittens that we place in your homes – the pets and companions – so you must be comfortable with how a breeder fails, and what that means for you. We can compromise on the perfect face, the thickest coat, the flashiest color; those “failures” are nothing to be ashamed of. But we must never compromise on health, balance, or temperament in our Siberian kittens.
We've been breeding (first dogs, and then cats) for more than 20 years. We push ourselves to excel not just in terms of producing awesome cats, but in the very best health care, enrichment, knowledge, and honesty and transparency with owners.
Our priority is putting the right kitten in the right home - taking into account the personality of the kitten and the dreams of the prospective family.
The right kitten can encourage individuals and families to thrive beyond their expectations. We place a few special kittens each year in families in transition (due to divorce, loss, or trauma) and as emotional support animals and for animal-assisted therapy.
We've rearranged our lives and prioritized our time so our cats are never alone, even during working hours. Kittens are handled many times a day, and are never away from the loving hustle and bustle of a happy family. Raising kittens properly is a 24/7 operation, and we are committed to doing things the way they should be done.
We worry that some breeders point out only the wonderful stuff about owning cats, and aren't honest about the fact that cats can be fragile. Even extremely healthy breeds like Siberians are more susceptible to early (first year of life) death than dogs are, though cats make up for this by living much longer and more robust lives once they reach adulthood.
So no breeder should imply that there’s no way anything can go wrong, or that none of their cats are ever lost at a young age (if that’s true, they haven’t been breeding long enough).
The question is not whether a breeder loses cats, because we all do. The question is whether you know what to expect and feel supported and secure about how things will go if something does happen.
We warranty for FIP and HCM under certain conditions, and are here to mentor and assist with any issue, whether it’s in our contract or not.
We also pledge to support you, be in touch, not abandon you, and to advocate for you and your cat with your vet if needed, even if the issue is something that was not inherited or congenital.
Our choice of what to replace for is not the only right choice – some breeders do less, some do more. The question is whether it’s the right choice for you and your family. Whether you buy from us or buy from another responsible breeder, make sure you ask about these policies very directly and specifically, and make sure you are comfortable with the breeder’s policies before you invest in a purebred kitten.