Sun O'er Sea Maine Coons

How I Discovered the Mentee Model

In 2019, pre-pandemic, I sat in an IHOP at four a.m. with a cup of coffee, and strongly considered closing my cattery after three years, exactly one year after 90% of new catteries statistically close.

I could see our breed as a whole failing to maintain health and structure by the sheer number of poor quality programs, and I felt powerless. American-lined catteries have always been notoriously hard to break into as a breeder and most find it easier and cheaper to import out of country; it's about who you know and who will work with you. From the inside, I understand the importance; from the outside, it's a high gate that is daunting and requires much time and effort. USA breeders truly train their mentees, which is a blessing--in all actuality, and a 1-2 year commitment. On the flip side, the show world can be cruel and unforgiving, quick to exploit circumstances that others don't understand and rumors can run rampant, destroying nascent reputations. Such is the catty realities of the cat world...

I could feel the pressure as a new divorcee, struggling to keep her and her seven cats in a way that was sustainable, in the middle of a PhD program, and so on a phone call with the original co-founder of this cattery halfway across the country, I created a thirds-model financially that emphasized sustainability and ensured that I would never have an overcrowding situation, which is very common in the cat world, and made myself a promise that our cats would remain healthy and happy and loved as pets first.

My goal was to make what was often considered impossible (frequently laughed at or associated with uncontrolled breeding: movement away from enclosure/cage breeding), possible and implement a functioning cat colony that emphasized socialization and did not permit uncontrolled breeding. The range I found most sustainable was two to four cats, ensuring we never sacrificed the welfare of our cats for increased genetic diversity. We still needed genetic diversity to preserve the health of our lines and needed our lines to preserve the ever-fading true type of the nativeAmericanMaine Coon cat breed.

And so, we conceived the model that has ensured our success and sustained our mission:
We breed for health, structure, and temperament, and place on personality and fit.

It takes a village to run a solid program and one or two people cannot sufficiently staff our cattery or help us grow our vision while preserving phenotype, which propagates American breed standard (CFA) with health and genetic diversity at the forefront.

Our mentee program helps us keep our program top-notch and maintain the quality Sun O'er Sea has become known for. It allows us to remain competitive in the show hall and in husbandry, and do our very best in animal welfare. 

While most American breeders work in a closed network with breeder-friends who run their own independent programs (this is what differentiates American breeders from those overseas), we decided to incorporate mentees to build our own network that maximized control over our lines, future of our genetics, and assured our mission could be reached.