There has been a recall on certain pet foods canned (or placed in sealed pouches) between December 2006 to March 2007.  Please warn others to not give canned food to their pets without checking out these sites to find out if it is on the recall list.  The "ingredient" they are mentioning very well may be rat poison.  The poison can led to renal failure and a painful death.   My family has already experienced a loss... don't let it happen to yours.

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/Press_Recall_03162007.pdf

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/product_cat.html

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/23/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
 
 

It looks like Brisco has been injured by the IAM's canned cat food. He is in the hosptial now for treatment. His kidneys are in bad shape. We are hopeful he will pull through. Please keep him in your prayers..
March 20th, 2007.

March 26th, 2007...   We lost Brisco today. He went into Renal Failure due to the cat food that was recalled. We are greif stricken over his loss.  We hope that this warning will save your babies.

We also lost Jingle Belle, Pawtrick, several kittens and Precious miscarried a whole litter of kittens. 

Please warn other's to not give canned food to their pets without checking out these sites to find out if it is on the recall list. It is said to cause renal failure and couild kill your babies.

As of November 2007, we have found out the damage to Dusty Rose and Choco Belle will most likely prevent them from having kittens in the future. They have kidney damage from the food that is most likely permanent damage and should not be bred according to our vet. He says that they were so small when the ingested the food and did not eat enough to kill them but do have damage from the food. We do not have any cats to breed for the future but hope to rebuild at some point in time. Please keep up bookmarked to find out the status and hopefully we will be able to start over in the near future. 

God bless you all and keep the faith that God will help us to start over.
 
 

NOTE: 

THE CITY OF ARLINGTON HAS FORCED US TO MOVE MOST OF OUT CATS TO A 
NEW LOCATION OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS OF ARLINGTON IN ORDER TO 
CONTINUE BREEDING. WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO CHANGE 
THE LAWS SO THAT ARLINGTON WILL ALLOW BREEDING IN THE HOMES OF 
THE CITY LIMITS. 
PRAY FOR A CHANGE IN THEIR LAWS.

April 13th, 2006:   Complications have happened to us this week, April 13th, 2006.. Animal services says we are not allowed to breed and sell kittens from our home in this city. They have given us till Wednesday April 19th to find homes for all our cats. They have not given me any laws or codes to look at to see why they are doing this. They said that keeping cats in my home is inventory and stock for a home based business and the city codes do not allow this. I have yet to see the codes they speak of but will fight this and hope that God will help us not to lose all our babies. We will place all we have to in foster homes till we can relocate if it comes to that. 

For the time being, I am closing my cattery until further notice. I will give it everything I have to work this situation out and get all my babies back home with me whether it be here or a new home in the country.. 

When animal services came out, someone had told them that I had 60 or more cats in my home and an offensive odor coming from my garage.. I have never had 60 cats even with kittens.. At the time animal services came out, there were only 16 cats here of which several were already sold and were leaving within the next couple of days.  We were told we could only keep three here so we have placed them outside of the city limit with other breeders for now.. We only have  3 cats here now.  We believe we know who made the complaint and told them this story but we can not prove it.. That is another long story.. Just be assured that we will do everything possible to get relocated and get things back to normal.. We will still post pictures on this web site of all kittens as they are born but kittens will not be in this home for viewing.. We will have to schedule a time for me to go and pick them up and meet you somewhere if you wish to see the kittens until we can move out of this city limits. 

As for the complaint about odor, there is a litter box odor at times but it is not strong or offensive and has never been so bad that anyone could smell it from the outside of my home.. I know that living with a lot of cats you can become desensitized to odors.. That is why I have one girl that comes out regularly, 2 times a week, to help me keep the work done to keep our home clean and as odor free as possible with litter boxes.. Even if someone has just one or two cats, there would be a small odor from time to time.. This is not any different because I work hard to keep my house and cattery as clean as possible for them and for us as a family.  I also ask customers as they enter if there is any odor I might not be aware of so that I can tend to it immediately.. Most all have told me that either there was no odor and they would not even know I had cats by smelling or there was a little bit at times because someone had just used the litter box shortly before they came or we had not done litter box duty before they got here that day. But there was never enough to be offensive or that they would not expect in anyone's home that had a cat. I know of places I have been in the past that would make your eyes burn it would be so bad and I swore when I started this business it would never be like that in my home.. Besides, friends tease me all the time about possibly having OCD because I want everything done right.. They compare me to the show MONK because I can't stand a crocked picture on the wall or I want my furniture just where it belongs.. I do let my desk area get out of sorts but the rest of my home, I want perfect as much as can be with kids. 

Animal services even said that it was clean. They said that there was an odor but just enough that she could tell I had litter boxes.. She was surprised at how clean it was here.  The animal service representative that gave us the warning inspected the premises and found everything clean and fresh water and food and told me that we take excellent care of our cats but still she had been instructed to tell me all the cats had to go.. 

When I spoke to animal services city manager, he said it was not the condition of the cats, it had to do with Zoning laws. If there had been a problem with the condition of the cats, they said they would have taken them right away..  I have searched the internet and looked up city codes and rules and laws concerning residential areas to see why they are doing this but still have not found anything that shows we are running a business out of home that is illegal to do in a residential zone.. I was told that I could keep three here but could not breed them any longer. They also told me that I could move all the cats to a commercial building and continue business but that is not what I want for my babies.. 

We will keep you posted on the situation as it progresses.  We have found a place that the mothers with kittens and the mothers expecting kittens to be  where we can tend to them regularly and you will still be able to purchase kittens from these mothers.. As for breeding any other of our females, we will not be able to do that here in the city limits unless we win this case or until we relocate to a home in the country where we know there is no issue about this.. We are concidering selling some of our adults and starting over when we relocate but will let you know if and when we decide on who we will list.  Most of our adults have already been moved to other breeders homes except for a few we had to keep with us for sentimental reasons. We will be bteeding them and selling their kittens but will have to move the litters to other breeder's homes when they have delivered until their kittens have sold. 

We have been in business here since 1997 and I believe that this area was zoned commercial at that time. It is now zoned residential.. We hope we can use the grandfather clause..  I know all breeders who love their babies as we do, breed and sell kittens from their homes.. That is why the kittens are so lovable and socialized when they go to their new home.. If anyone reading this is a breeder inside city limits who knows anything that might help us, please email us and let us know..  In the meantime, we are looking for a home in the country.   Once we reopen, we will post it here. 
 

 In the mean time, we could use your prayers..
 
 

UPDATES:
April 20th, 2006:  We have contacted our local city council and spoke to Lana Wolff, our council woman, in hopes of changing the laws and codes here to allow breeding in a residential zone. We know that the city of Irving has an ammendment to code that does allow for those who live in a residential zone to breed and sell pets out of their homes.  I hope we are successful in getting our city to do the same.  I believe that there should be a way to get this law passed even if they put limits on us and  require us to register with the city.. I even believe that inspections to verify that the homes are meeting sanitation and health requirements would even be acceptable to breeders.. If you live inside city limits of Arlington, Texas and wish to help in making this change to the laws, please contact me. I hope this will be a positive step for many who love animals and enjoy this kind of work. I know we, who chose to breed and do it right don't really make much if any money from doing this but the pleasures alone of the babies and the joy from those who adopt our little ones is so rewarding that I feel we should take a stand and at least attempt to see if we can get this issue brought before the city council.   Thank you in advance and God bless.

April 22th, 2006:  We talked to the city council again today.. They brought up the issue in Tuesday's meeting of allowing breeders to breed and sell pets from their home but it was just in passing,  nothing official. The case has been assigned to an assistants who is doing the research into the surrounding city's codes and how they are worded. They are also getting copies from animal services to find out what laws or codes they are claiming I violated. Once they have done all the research on this, they will bring this up officially in the next City Council Meeting.. I was told they would call me back on Friday, or tomorrow with updates on their findings. They still can not tell me how long this will take but at least it is in the works.

May 5th, 2006: We talked to Tony in the City Council office again today.. They have received all the paperwork on codes in Arlington and he and Lana Wolff have had a meeting to go over it all.. I have mentioned my opinions on each code and the way it was being interpreted and they agreed I had a lot of good points.. They are still waiting for the city codes from Irving and Grand Prairie and will go over them as soon as they have them. They will be bringing this issue up in the city council meeting soon. It could take several weeks if not longer but we are hopeful.  Stay tuned.

May 12th, 2006:  I found the Irving codes about breeding cats and dogs on the Irving City website and sent the information via e-mail to Tony in Lana Wolff's office today.  He responded with thanks and said he and Lana Wolff would get together and look it over.  The code reads as below. Hopefully we will have positive news to give you before too long. Keep us in your prayers.  Thanks again.. 

June 16th, 2006:  Today, Tony, from Lana Wolff's office called and told me he would call me back on Monday with the date and time of the next meeting with Animal Service's Director about the city codes. We will be able to attend and bring up reasons for the codes to be changed.. I would appreciate your help. If any of you can write to me with information about our cattery and your bundle of joy that you purchased from us and why you believe we should not be shut down that we may present at this meeting, it would be greatly appreciated. 

Please either mail it to this address or email us as soon as you can so that we may present our case with as much documentation as possible. Thanks again and God bless.

June 30th, 2006:

This is the email from Tony at the city council's office.. The meeting has been scheduled and if you wish to attend or have any input about changing animal codes to allow breeding in Arlington, it would be appreciated.

Here is the information regarding the meeting of the Animal Services Center Advisory Board.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Wednesday, July 12 @ 12:00 p.m.
Animal Services Center
5920 W. Pioneer Parkway

Best regards,

TR 

July 19th, 2006:

Well, the meeting with Animal Services did not achieve anything. They did not know why I was sent to them in the first place. Later I found out that they city thought that they would make a good advocate for us to start with to see if they would recommend the city council to look into changing the codes and adopting the codes that Irving has that allows breeding in residential zones. I did talk to Alan Pierce and Chris and others in the meeting but nothing came of it at this time.. I now plan on going to the next City Council meeting on July 25th at 6:30 p.m. to speak to the city council and take them the Irving Codes to concider. This meeting will be held at 101 W. Abrams at City Hall in Arlington, Texas.. Please keep us in your prayers and hope that this time we make some progress.. Anyone interested in coming is welcome. I hope that some of you who have catteries or kennels will attend and help make our point. Please think about it.

City Council meeting 
on July 25th at 6:30 p.m.
101 W. Abrams at City Hall 
in Arlington, Texas..
 

July 26th, 2006:

The meeting with the City Council went ok. The next step was for the city to call me for a meeting to go over the options of changing the code to allow breeders in Arlington Residential Zones.  There were three people present, Michelle Hardin, AICP Assistant Director or the Dept. of Planning and Developement Services, Mike Bass, Assistant Director of Community Services, a representative of Animal Services.  I explained my concerns and issues and at least got them to concider the option. The next step will be for them to attend the next Animal Services Meeting to discuss my issues with them to see if they might go with us to the City Council to request the laws be changed. This meeting will be help on September 13th and I plan to be there. I hope we can get the news involved and get the word out to everyone the next time it is brought up to the City Council and maybe there will be others there to agree with us. That would be of great help. I was told that laws are not changed for just one person but I know there are many of you out there that would like to see this change as much as me. Please email us if you would like to know when you could show up to show your support.

September 13th, 2006:

The meeting today was for the purpose of passing out the laws from the surrounding cities for concideration of change to Arlington Codes. There was little discussion at this time. The next meeting is Wednesday, November 15th, 2006 at which time there will be discussion as to changes that might be made to the residential codes to possibly allow breeding of pets in the homes of Arlington residences. We are very hopeful that these changes will happen soon.  Please stay posted for future updates. 
 

Novemaber 2006:

Something is wrong with Brisco and some of our other breeder cats. We have lost Pawtrick and Jingle Belle and her whole litter.  We will not be breeding until everyone is better. This is making it so hard on me trying to get everyone well enough and is costing a fortune.  Please be patient while we figure out what is going on.

MARCH 2007 :
NOTE:   DUE TO THE MENU CAT FOOD RECALL AND LOSS OF SO MANY OF OUR CATS AND KITTENS, WE ARE OUT OF BUSINESS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. READ ABOVE TO LEARN MORE. We have lost several cats and kittens over the past few months due to the food we were feeding them. This is what the problem was all along but we just kept feeding them more of the canned food with vitamins and medicine mixed in and just did not know we were gradually killing them or damaging their kidneys.  Please make sure you keep a check on the recall and check to be sure you are not feeding your cats or pets any of the tainted foods. 

God bless,
Pawtrix Cove Cattery