When we retired our previous stud cats, Sheridans and Galliano, we made the decision that our 2 upcoming boys would be indoor stud cats and live alongside the rest of our family. For the first 8 months or so this worked out extremely well although Ashanti did surprise us by mating his first girl at a mere 6 1/2 months of age. Tuaca on the other hand, was 13 months of age prior to mating anyone and the reason for this is that he was always being overshadowed by Ashanti. During the first 12 months of his life, Ashanti mated just about every girl in the home, he was relentless.

As time progressed, we had to admit defeat and we knew something had to be done and fast. The problem with Ashanti is that he does his "job" too well. Now most people would not see a problem with this but you honestly don't know what he is like. Yes he is an excellent stud cat, the best we have ever had and therein lay the problem. He is a big, strong boy, and despite him being downstairs while our calling girls were upstairs, on more than one occasion he managed to get through the barrier and get to the girls. In the early hours of one morning, he even went as far as to scale the wire stair barrier door, and break through a very thick Perspex barrier that was screwed on. It wasn't just him though because once Tuaca mated his first couple of ladies, he was also trying to constantly get upstairs. The difference is that he does not have Ashanti's determination. No one does!

We were now at the stage where it wasn't fair to our girls, and the other problem is that the majority of our ladies are prolific callers i.e. they call from the moment their babies are 1 week of age, and will keep calling every 2-4 weeks. So when you combine our girls, with 2 boys like Ashanti and Tuaca roaming about, you can imagine the disasters and unplanned matings.

This now brought us to the dilemma of what to do. Our stud house is still in tact, still set up with the heating/lights etc, but when our previous 2 boys were neutered, we started using the stud house as a "storage shed". Whilst we could have cleared everything out, neither of us were prepared to put our boys outside, they are family cats and there was no way we were going to move them into outside stud accommodation.

After hours of discussion, we came up with the perfect solution. We would convert our 2nd kitten room into an indoor stud cat accommodation. We could then open up the rest of the home so that the rest of our cat family/kittens could have the run of the home again as opposed to having restricted access due to the boys. The only problem with our solution was that it meant a heck of a lot of work and major upheaval for a day or two. It also meant we would be relying on our mate Tone, to come and convert the room for us. I sent an email to Teen and Tone of Maroochydore Siamese & Orientals explaining our problem and Tone came around on the Saturday and spent approximately 10 hours converting the room and laying vinyl throughout. We are extremely grateful to Tone for all his hard work and for doing such a tremendous job. The room looks fantastic and so professional for lack of a better word. Tone really is a star and we would have been lost without him. Both he and Teen are remarkable people and 2 of the best mates we could ever have.

As for what is in the stud room, well to some people's way of thinking, stud accommodation possibly seems a bit too bare however the main reason for this is that the majority of stud cats will spray for England. The more stuff that is in their stud house, the more stuff there is for them to spray on. In our stud room Ashanti has a double bunk bed, a scratch/activity post that we purchased specifically for him in his new room. He has 1 large hooded litter tray, food/water bowl,ping pong balls and toy mice. The radiator in their room is on permanently (as is the central heating throughout the home) and during the day their windows are opened but are closed again during the evening because Ashanti can be very vocal. He has everything he needs with regards to comfort and welfare.

During the day Ashanti has the run of the house alongside the rest of the cat family under my supervision. Then at around 4pm every afternoon he goes back into his stud room and he spends the evening in there with Sage and Parsley, our 2 neuter boys. We feel that this way, Ashanti has the best of both worlds in the respect that he is part of the family during the day, and then during the night, he is back in his "bonking" room where he spends the evening sleeping curled up with the "Blue boys".