08/28/2026
WHY I’M SHARING THIS
I posted a video a few days ago on TikTok with absolutely no ill intent, but after seeing recent events, I want to use it as a reference for a larger conversation about breeding, housing, and quality of life.
As many of you know, there was a recent report out of Las Vegas involving 21 Sphynx cats being seized. Some of the photos circulating are incredibly difficult to look at—cats confined in cages, a mother appearing to be missing an eye, and kittens who look dirty and unwell.
When you look at the cattery’s social media, however, you primarily see kittens in staged photoshoots. There appears to be very little showing their everyday environment or normal interaction.
And that is something I think is worth talking about.
WHAT I THOUGHT BREEDING WOULD LOOK LIKE
When I first started breeding, I genuinely believed every single one of my breeding cats would roam every part of our home freely, 24/7.
My husband had successfully operated a kennel years before we met, with a state-of-the-art facility, so when I decided to breed Sphynx, he immediately started building dedicated cat spaces throughout our home.
I was VERY against it at first.
In my mind, dedicated breeding spaces meant my cats were going to be locked away somewhere. He even floated the idea of installing veterinary-style kennels in the cat room, and my answer was an immediate absolutely not.
I told him, “If that is what I have to do to be a breeder, then I don’t want to do it.”
He continued building the cat spaces while honoring the one thing I felt strongly about: no cages.
THEN REALITY TAUGHT ME SOMETHING
I’d be lying if I said everything went perfectly.
At one point, one of my breeding queens absolutely destroyed what was then my babies’ nursery. We spent thousands of dollars replacing everything because of urine marking.
I still said no cages.
But that experience did help me understand why breeders—especially higher-volume breeders—may feel pushed toward more restrictive housing and management systems.
It also taught me that there is a HUGE difference between responsibly managing intact animals and simply confining animals because it is convenient.
WHY MY CATS CAN’T ALL FREE-ROAM 24/7
My original idea that every cat could live completely free together 24/7 simply wasn’t realistic.
In fact, allowing that would eventually make me an irresponsible breeder.
Intact males and females cannot have unlimited access to one another. If they did, females could breed whenever they came into heat, potentially too frequently, and there would be situations where parentage could not be responsibly controlled.
Responsible breeding requires knowing exactly which queen was bred, which sire she was bred to, when she was bred, and when she needs to NOT be bred.
That requires separation sometimes.
The important question, in my opinion, is what does that separation look like?
WHAT SEPARATION LOOKS LIKE HERE
Trippy Sphynx is a very small, low-volume cattery. We typically have only 1–3 litters per year.
We have three dedicated cat spaces: a nursery, a kitten room, and a common cat room. With the exception of the nursery, these rooms are actually larger than the bedrooms my children sleep in.
And size was something extremely important to me when we designed them:
Human comfort belongs in these rooms too.
There are places for us to sit, work, relax, play, and spend time because I never wanted a “cat room” to mean a place where animals are put away and forgotten.
If my cats need to be separated because a female is in heat and isn’t being bred, I can work from one of those spaces while my children hang out with the cats in another part of the house.
More recently, we introduced a catio—and they LOVE it. I go outside with them, spend time with them, and let them enjoy the enrichment of being outdoors safely.
It was such a success that we already plan to make it bigger.
Their enrichment, care, socialization, and overall quality of life will always matter here.
HOW MY PREGNANT QUEENS & KITTENS LIVE
My pregnant queens never see a cage.
They sleep with me every night leading up to delivery.
I have a large en suite bathroom connected to my bedroom that becomes part of our newborn setup. During approximately the first 2–3 weeks, the babies stay in a temperature-regulated, incubator-style birthing box.
Mom can come and go from her babies and spend time throughout the house while we’re home.
When we’re not home, she remains safely in the nursery area with her babies. That isn’t punishment or confinement for convenience—it prevents a mother from deciding to relocate newborn kittens somewhere unsafe where they could become chilled or injured.
Once we reach the appropriate weaning stage, the kittens transition into the baby nursery.
Once they are weaned and reliably using the litter box, they essentially become tiny free-range terrorists until they leave for their new homes. 😂 Which is often why you see me post candid photos of them, on my couch, running throughout the house on the kitchen table. They are literally everywhere 😅
The exception is nighttime.
At night, they sleep in the kitten room—the room shown in this video—for their own safety.
Anyone who has raised kittens knows their aspirations are often MUCH bigger than their bodies. 😂
TRANSPARENCY MATTERS
I don’t believe responsible breeding means animals must have unrestricted access to an entire house 24 hours a day.
I also don’t believe having a beautiful social media page automatically tells you how animals are actually living.
There is a middle ground called responsible management.
Breeding animals sometimes need to be separated. Kittens sometimes need to be contained for their safety. Newborns need controlled environments. Intact males and females cannot simply breed whenever nature tells them to.
But those realities should never mean sacrificing enrichment, cleanliness, socialization, human interaction, medical care, or quality of life.
That is also why I think breeders should show more than perfect kitten photos.
Show the nursery.
Show the cat rooms.
Show the messy days.
Show the enrichment.
Show how your adults live when they aren’t producing kittens.
Show what responsible separation actually looks like.
Because the cute kitten you see in a staged photo is only a tiny part of the story.
How the animals live when nobody is taking pictures matters just as much.
