Gryphonwood Birmans

04/19/2025

7 weeks old! Norma's blue boy was so snuggly last night. The blue point female was too busy zooming around to pose for a picture. They spend their days in the nursery with the other babies learning lots of important cat social things, but they come back to the bedroom along with Billie every night for bedtime. This is such a sweet time (now that everyone is reliably potty trained)!

04/07/2025

🐾 Easter Pet Safety Tips
Easter is full of fun and treats—but some can be very dangerous for pets! Here are a few things to watch out for:

🚫 Chocolate & Candy: Chocolate and sugar-free candies (especially those containing xylitol) are toxic to pets. Keep them well out of reach.

🌷 Lilies: Beautiful, but highly toxic to cats—even just a few bites of leaves or pollen can cause kidney failure. We do not even allow them in the house!

🥚 Plastic Easter Grass: This decorative filler can be very tempting for cats but can cause serious digestive blockages if ingested.

🧺 Easter Treats & Toys: Be cautious with small toys or parts that could be choking hazards or if ingested can cause blockages.

🍽️ Table Scraps: Resist those eyes! Rich or fatty foods can upset your pet's stomach or lead to pancreatitis.

If you suspect your pet has ingested something dangerous, call your nearest emergency clinic immediately.

04/05/2025

Happy Saturday! Trying to wrangle wiggly kittens into frame can be very challenging! Here are the 5 that Norma is raising - the 4 blue points are actually Billie's and the seal male is her own.

03/29/2025

Snack time after their daring escape. Norma you are such a good Momma.

03/05/2025

Pictures coming soon!!
Love it when a breeding plan actually works out: March 2nd Norma welcomed 3 fat babies and then exactly 24 hours later Billie gave birth to her 4 babies. Since Billie is B blood type, it was not safe for her babies to nurse from her during the critical 24 hour period when antibodies could be transfered to kittens and attack their red blood cells. Norma is an A blood type and without hesitation adopted Billie's 4 babies right after birth, ensuring they had that critical colostrum to jump start their immune system. In order to minimize stress on Billie and not exhaust Norma, 2 of Norma's day old kittens were moved to Billie to raise. Everyone is doing very well.
Just sharing a little bit of the kind of planning that every responsible Birman breeder undertakes to raise these wonderful cats.
Stay tuned for updates as the babies grow!

09/21/2024

How many Birmans can squeeze onto a chair? Olive, Possum and Billie are inseparable.

09/05/2024

Autumn is in the air and with it comes the light Fall shedding period for our adult Birmans in the Northern hemisphere.
So here is my semi annual PSA about the importance of hairball prevention. Hairballs are the result of accumulated and compacted ingested hair from the cat grooming it's coat. Hair cannot be digested and is either regurgitated or passed through the stool.
Hairballs are not OK/normal and are a symptom of imbalance that can lead to more serious health issues.
Prevention is important:
1. Minimize the amount of ingested hair by increasing grooming using a comb or brush to remove dead hair daily during the shed and at least weekly at other times of the year.
2. Maintain your adult Birman on a high fibre diet. In our experience, all of the adult Birmans in pet homes that experienced impacted intestinal hairballs or secondary symptoms of IBS, acute pancreatitis or impacted a**l glands were on low fibre, ultra high protein boutique brands of food. We do not recommend these.
3. During periods of high shedding add Hairball treats or Petromalt/Laxitone type Hairball paste as needed to prevent accumulation of hair in the stomach.

Our 'Golden Girls and Boys' (ancestors of most of our pet Birmans) are very healthy in their teens and are maintained on a combination of Iams Indoor Hairball, ProPlan Hairball or Royal Canin Intense Hairball as well as canned pate style food every morning. If you need to consider changing foods, please do so very slowly to allow their bodies to adjust to the new elevated levels of fibre. Typically over 2 -3 weeks time.

07/22/2024

This coming weekend our little girl will be showing as an adult in Whitby, Ontario. If you are in the area, come on out to the Iroquois Park Sports Centre to meet Billie and her emotional support cat Possum! We would love to meet you!
When kittens reach the age of 8 months they graduate into showing in Championship or Premiership adult classes. Championship is for intact cats who will likely become parents. Premiership is for spayed or neutered cats. Yes cats can continue to show for many years after being altered! Many new breeders learn 'the ropes' by showing a beautiful show quality alter under the mentorship of an experienced breeder/exhibitor.

07/04/2024

Bruno and Mimi will begin their new journey with their forever families soon. I am grateful for the joy they brought into our lives and have no doubt they will bring happiness to their new homes. I will miss their playful energy but know they will thrive with their new people.

06/25/2024

UPDATE: This little sweetie has found a wonderful home with a big brother named Milo to play with.

In the blink of an eye, a prospective show kitten became a pet. An outgoing seal point girl was destined for a fellow breeder, but a minor bump at the end of her tail was felt last Tuesday. It confused me because it was not present earlier and continued to vanish and reappear over the next few days. An x-ray Friday revealed that the bump was a malformed tail vertebrae, which had became more apparent as she grew and ligaments firmed up. These minor cosmetic issues can occur for many reasons. Although it will not affect her future health or happiness, it is a significant show flaw despite being almost undetectable. We will be reaching out via email to individuals on our waitlist to find a suitable pet home for this stunning little girl this week.

06/10/2024

Wow - grateful to all the judges who found a place in their finals for our Gryphonwood ladies! Miya (returning from maternity leave) and her kitten Billie had a great show at the Hawaiian themed Border Purrtrol cat show last weekend.

06/08/2024

This weekend if you are in the St Catherines/ Niagara area come on by the cat show and meet our mother & daughter Birman duo. Billie just turned 6 months old and her Mother Solomiya has already got her figure back and is ready to strut her stuff!

Upcoming Cat Show Events 2024 CCA Pedigree & Household Pet Cat Show June 8th & 9th, 2024Meridian Community Centre, 100 Meridian Way, Fonthill, ONWould you like to participate with your pedigree or household pet? Click here to learn more about being an exhibitor with your cat or cats!Would you like t...

05/20/2024

Come and meet us and other breeders as we exhibit our cats. Great vendors for all things kitty!

04/12/2024

Miya x Leandro babies. Bitter sweet final vet visit before this litter goes to their new homes this weekend. I will miss them but know they will have the best lives! The blue point in front will be staying with us. Look for her in the CCA and CFA cat shows starting in May - Gryphonwood Uptown Girl :)

01/13/2024

POV: When you are the climbing gym ;)

Now that all three babies are reliably litter trained and free in the nursery room the next big adventure will be moving a real cat tree in for them to explore.

01/04/2024

My view today during a Zoom budget meeting. Baby Birmans are so much more fun to watch!
Making progress with litter training - so far I see that 2 out of 3 are getting with the program.

01/02/2024

Looks like the babies have finally settled for the night - good job Miya!

01/02/2024

Babies are 5 weeks old already! Holiday's are over and house guests have departed, so it was long over due for babies to move into the nursery room. Have you ever wondered how baby kittens get litter trained? Our babies are confined to a puppy play pen with little litter boxes in every corner until they are reliably trained. We also use a kitten attractant and usually that is enough for them to get the idea. Please note the cardboard 'no climb' strips clipped on the top 1/3 of the pen walls....some litters never need those, but these little monkeys sure did! First one had climbed over the wall within 5 minutes!
Mom can easily hop over the fence to get a break, or use her adult size litter, but she likes spending most of her day cuddling her babies.