About Us

We are Lauren and Jürgen, we live in Altusried, Germany. I (Lauren) grew up with a cat of no specific origin - a "moggie", "street cat", "domestic cat", whatever you want to call it. Mackie was a very temperamental girl she never really gave anyone else (except me) any attention at all, except perhaps to hit them on the ankles as they walked passed wherever she may have chosen to lie or sit.

I had always wanted my own cat, but my father is allergic to cats so I was never allowed to have one. When we moved to a new house (I was about 10 years old) the people who had lived there before us had left their cat behind (they asked my parents if it was alright if they did), according to them, the cat was wild and never came into the house, they left food and water outside for her and she caught mice etc around the large property. My father agreed "as long as she never came inside".

Needless to say when we moved in I made it my sole purpose to domesticate the "wild" cat. She wasn't really wild though, just an outside cat. It didn't take very long for her to sleep on my bed and eat inside and become "my" cat.

When we had to move to a new city I insisted that we take her with us, after much persuasion my father agreed (he told me later that the only reason he agreed was that he thought she would run away when we got to our new house - the story of cats always returning to their old homes). Anyway, she didn't run away and spent the rest of her days with me, staying only in the house and our garden. I was very heart sore when I had to have her put to sleep at the age of 19 years due to chronic kidney failure. I will always remember her and she will always have her special place in my heart.

At the time that Mackie died I was finished school and was studying at college, it wasn't a good time to get another cat, after college I lived in the UK for a time, when I came back and bought my own apartment it was finally time to get another cat (or two).

For many years I had looked into which breed would be the best one for me. I could only afford one pedigreed cat; the other would have to be from a shelter. I settled on either a Norwegian Forest Cat or a Sacred Birman. At the time, I looked for breeders, but could find only Birman breeders in South Africa, no Norwegian breeders, so I assumed that there were no Norwegian Forest Cats in South Africa, until I went to a cat show and saw the most gorgeous cat I had ever seen!!! He was a Norwegian Forest Cat!!! His name was Eros (Sup. Ch. Ratatosk Eros) and I was in love!!! I spoke to his owners (and breeders) Lara and Pieter Redelinghuys of Ratatosk Cattery (they are no longer breeding), thanks to them I was introduced to these fabulous cats and thanks to their kindness had the opportunity to buy not only one, but two kittens from them! (PR. Ratatosk Chipembere and Ratatosk Nusi).

After meeting my kittens my brother decided to get two Norwegian kittens of his own (Ratatosk Tsuro and PR. Ratatosk Sassi). I never intended to have more than my original two cats, but due to unforeseen circumstances, my brother was unable to keep his cats, and I took them into my home when they were 8 months old...and then there were 4!

When I bought my cats I joined the Norwegian Forest Cat Development Group of South Africa and eventually became the chairperson. The group was very small and not very active, but we tried to be of support and assistance to each other.

After a rather disastrous 10 year relationship with a man who "hated" cats (that should have been my first sign to run a mile) I took back control of my life and decided that as soon as I was able to I would start breeding Norwegian Forest Cats. I decided to start breeding for three reasons:

  • The Norwegian Forest Cat was a relatively new breed to South Africa; they were only recognised by the Southern Africa Cat Council in January 1994. I wanted to contribute to the breed in South Africa where there were not very many Norwegian Forest Cats, compared with other countries or even other breeds of cat in South Africa. Thanks to the hard work of the first breeders and their beautiful cats, the breed has become more widely know and is now usually well represented at shows.
  • I believed that my share of serious breeding work would help to preserve and to improve the beauty of the breed.
  • the pure selfish pleasure of enjoying the beauty and charming characters of these unbelievable cats.

It took a bit longer to start than I thought it would, but with the help of my FANTASTIC husband (Jürgen) and the support of my friends and family I was able to get my dream cat!

Thanks to Renate, for her patience, advise and help!! Renate was a fabulous mentor, I learnt so much from her and produced 4 wonderful litters.

In 2013 we moved to Germany, we brought three cats with us (the others having died) - Ratatosk Chipembere, Zihuatanejo's Jade Jacarero and her daughter, Raela Abracadabra. We decided not to breed after we moved as I was concerned that I would not be able to find homes for my kittens. So both girls were spayed and are living their best lives as spoiled neuters. I can not imagine my life without these wonderful and hope that there will always be at least one Wegie in our home.