Norwegische Waldkatzen

About us

Breeding NFO is mainly my hobby, whereas my husband prefers to build model planes and makes them fly whenever wheather & wind is suitable.

But certainly Reiner also loves our furry companions and takes care of their ultimate safety in the garden, as well as building "borders" around the house in order to keep the current kittens from getting themselves into trouble while exploring the world...

Apart from this he buys catfood & cat candies almost every time he goes shopping. Everything else (catlitter, dry food, toys, etc.) will mainly be delivered by Zooplus & Cat's Country... :-)

Although it gives me a real good feeling to know that my husband is at home with the cats most of the time I still take time off whenever kittens are expected because I just don't want to miss anything. Of course my colleagues (who are not really crazy about cats) enjoy teasing me about my "maternity leave"... ;-)

150 m² inside and 500 m² of garden just for our cats' leisure & pleasure... On top of the wooden fence (which is surrounding the whole garden) is a cat net of approx. 1.50 m height, almost invisible if you don't take a close look. This makes the garden completely cat-safe and one of these days we will hopefully get around to do some "cultivating"... But this will still take some time and our cats really don't care as long as they are allowed to decide all by themselves when to go out and come back in again through their cat flaps down in the basement.

Since our Cattery name very often leads to questions I will explain it's meaning and pronounciation below.

When I first started looking for a suitable name I went to the public library and had an intense look into a Norwegian Dictionary. In order to have the translation and pronounciation of my final choice "av plysj" confirmed I also contacted the General Consulate of Norway in Düsseldorf where a very kind lady on the phone was really having a ball... :-)

The translation of "av plysj" is "aus Plüsch" i.e. "von Plüsch" (English: "made of plush") or - kind of oldfashioned - "plüschen". The pronounciation of the word "plysj" is almost exactly like the German "Plüsch", only the Norwegians pronounce the German 'ü' rather like a mixture between 'ü' and 'i'.

Please take note that our Cattery name has been registered in small letters and is NOT supposed to be written in capital letters as people often do!

On March 14, 1989 "av plysj" was officially registered for me by "Deutsche Edelkatze", my current Cat-Club at that time.

Below you can now immerge into the „Evolutionary History“ of our small Cattery, even better titled: „Blood, Sweat and Tears for an ultimate conviction !“ (In case this sounds boring to you please don't hesitate to go on and have a look at our other pages. We especially recommend our snapshots, part 1-8, as well as our Info-Pages.)

1986/1987 I went to a cat-show in Oberhausen as a visitor and fell in love with a beautiful race called "Norwegian Forestcat". During the following months I tried to convince my ex-husband that it would be a splendid idea to breed such lovely kittens ourselves... Buying a female would cost us about 850 DM and mating her with a gorgeous male round about 400 DM. Nine weeks later our precious cat would give birth to approx. 4 kittens which we would sell at a price of approx. 850 DM each. This would of course cover all our "investments" and still leave a "plus" in the end... :-) He thought it over and finally said "YES"!!!

1988 I bought my first Norwegian Lady “Cleo von Chi Cama” (called Tootsie) and was addicted forever! Yet starting my own Cattery was not even half as easy as I had pointed out to my (ex-)husband before... By the way: Approx. since my 20th breeding anniversary the background of my website is showing Tootsie :-))

1990 - after numerous (unsuccessful) attempts to have Tootsie mated with different males - I finally had to accept that she was obviously infertile. Even buying a stud for my Cattery (to avoid travelling problems with Tootsie) did not change anything. So I very sadly had her neutered but she still shared our life for 15 happy & healthy years.

Also born and purchased in 1988 was “Clara v. Nordkap” (Clärchen), my second Norwegian Lady, actually bought as a pal for Tootsie because Benny, our housecat, totally refused to play or even communicate at all with Tootsie.

1990 Clärchen was mated successfully with a lovely stud and gave birth to 2 extremely malformed kittens 9 weeks later… A second try (with another male) lead to the same disastrous result and Clärchen was also neutered.

Finally in 1992 my 3. Norwegian female „Skogkatten's Dunja“ (called Daisy) gave birth to the desperately desired healthy and beautiful first litter!!! Unfortunately right after giving birth to her kittens Daisy decided instantly that all other cats were dangerous enemies and beat the hell out of them whenever she got the chance... Another litter, only 6 months later, resulted into the same disaster and so it was time again for a decision… With tears in my eyes I gave Daisy - together with her black son Dario - to a very nice couple who promised to take good care of them. Being extremely close to giving up my breeding plans I decided to give myself one last chance and went to look for NFO Lady No.4…

In summer 1992 my 4. NFO "Filomena von der Puppenburg" moved in with us! After she had grown up finally - after so much time - I was lucky to raise a number of litters throughout the following years with lovely, healthy and of course very sweet kittens. Filomena’s daughters Lara and Ginger – much to my personal joy – also had numerous beautiful and healthy kittens of good type. (Further details on my litter pages.)

In the beginning of 1998 my ex husband and I separated, and we decided to "split" our cats, because it was just not possible for me to take all of them along with me into a rather small flat. We agreed that he would keep our neuters Tootsie and Filomena and I would move out with our daughter Sarah as well as Layla, Ruby and Nixon. No intentions to stop breeding because at this time I was only working part time and Sarah (13) was already at home around noon.

1998 on New Year’s eve I first met Reiner, moved in with him in May 1999 and together we decided to have a break concerning Cat-Breeding. Both of us were working full-time then and at least 2-3 nights per week we went dancing, which was our No.1 passion at that time.

Perhaps I should mention that Cat-Breeding only makes sense to me (and always did!) when at least one family member is at home during the day part-time. I could never imagine to go to work knowing that a litter of jaunty little kittens would be at home all alone, most probably getting themselves into deep trouble sooner or later. Locking them in just one room during the day for their own sake (as many breeders do) I never even wanted to think of! I started my Cattery at a time when I was “only” a housewife and my two kids Alexander and Sarah were 11 and 4 years old. With the knowledge and experience which kind of trouble kittens can create I could never understand how breeders - working full-time - could ever manage their hobby in a responsible way and without major loss. This is not meant as criticism, it’s just my very own point of view concerning sincere Cat-Breeding.

However in September 2000 Reiner was severely injured in an extremely bad motorbike accident which almost killed him and this way was forced into retirement far too early. After many months of convalescense and his final return “back to life” one day somehow I started thinking and dreaming again about breeding... At least, why not ??? So I bought “Akira vom Hexengrund” and – after she was grown – had another litter in 2001. Following were further litters in 2002, 2004 and 2005.

In February 2006 we moved once again (hopefully for the very last time!) and are now living with our cats in a quiet but central bungalow with 150 m² living area (plus 80 m² basement) and approx. 500 m² of cat-safe garden. Meanwhile our cats are chasing through the whole house and garden enjoying very much to come and go whenever they please (due to cat-flaps in several doors) and of course bringing in dead or “life” gifts frequently...L

Last but not least I would like to mention that during 20 years as an NFO breeder I went through many ups and downs. Nevertheless I consequently followed my way with utmost frankness, honesty and bluntness. Already in the very beginning I ran excessive cause studies and will certainly go on doing this should it ever be necessary again. From time to time I must have been a real pain in the neck of other breeders but I never concealed the truth and will certainly not do so in future.

I’m still dreaming of a prosperous, successful and friendly exchange between breeders. I think it is most important and desirable for all of us to talk to each other and to share information instead of blaming others for their faults. Positive communication is the only way to continue and improve such a great hobby in future!

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April 07
	May 07 (...and so much green already!)


April 07	May 07 (...and suddenly the fence is invisible again...)