About Cica Cattery

Cica Cattery is run out of the home of Maria Pavlovszky and her long-suffering husband George Fowler.

Maria Pavlovszky, who has a 1990 Ph.D. in Russian literature from The University of Chicago, has admired Siberians since childhood (my first encounter with these beautiful cats happened in 1972 during my first visit to Russia), and has been breeding and showing them since 1995. Maria has several prize winning cats, including 8 TICA Supreme Grand Champions and many Grand Champions in TICA and ACFA and Champions in CFA.

She brought a number of her primary breeding cats from Russia, where she frequently traveled on professional business. As a fluent Russian speaker, she established excellent personal relationships with several leading breeders in Moscow, and brought excellent cats with fresh bloodlines to the US as the foundation of the Cica Cattery breeding program, not to mention her active and successful participation in cat shows around the Midwest.

We promote bringing in new foundation lines from Russia since this is the origin of the breed and we need new lines. We are happy to get people in touch with Russian catteries not on the Internet.

Member of the following Organizations:
TICA, ACFA, CFA, TAIGA
SRI - Siberian Research Inc.
Cat Lovers Worldwide

About Maria in her own words

I saw these cats in 1972 in Moscow when I was there first time in my life. Since I'm in love with them, I just could not figure out how to get them out. Plus while I was living in Hungary with my mother and grandfather I could not make the life for the cats I wanted. My grandfather hated my cats and my cats were always in and out. I was just a schoolgirl etc. But all my life I had lots of cats, witnessed life outdoors, breeding, giving birth, dying, suffering.  When I had my own family and had to move to the US, I had my first spoiled indoor only cat. He was just a barn cat, but my ideal one, 17 pounds black longhaired male.

In one of my Russian classes I had a Russian student and she told me that she emigrated with her cat and it is so easy to take a cat out of Russia. So I knew I go to Russia from time to time to conferences and I have my childhood friend there I can try to get a couple Siberians. I had children and I thought it will be so good for all of us to have babies, plus promote the most wonderful breed (at least for me). You need to know that I developed into a person under the influence of Russian culture, my spiritual values were formed through this great tradition. (It is something unheard of a Hungarian - I'm Hungarian from my mother's side and Polish from my father's side whose name I kept). Cats always played a crucial role in my inner development, I was an only child, being alone with a blind grandmother (my father died early, my mother and grandfather were at work all the time).

All feelings, cries were helped by the love and support from my cat, especially the very first one a black male. Cats are just so in tune with my inner life, often I feel we are mirror images of each other. I should not be talking about all these sentimental issues, but I have to say that Siberians are not business for me (I even hate that word). I love them, they help me, unfortunately I can not be rational about them. No one in the right mind would keep several intact males running all over, but they are great. I do not have too many litters, so the number of kittens I sell is about a fourth of all the cat population in my house. I still have a household pet and the aging retired cats. I never make money on them, my husband also calls it an expensive hobby. I try to go to as many shows as I can afford, I can not save on the vet, they get the best care, yearly check ups including blood work. I feel the cats are happy they are having a happy life. I'm so happy when I can find a perfect match for a kitten and they are both happy. I always want to be sure that a cat gets more love at the new home than at my home (I have to love all of them). I never (it happened once in a last minute emergency) shipped a cat, I want to see the new owner, personal meeting gives something extra.

I'm still struggling with the issue how much vanity is involved in showing, is it not too much burden on the cat etc. I just feel that a good cat needs to be brought out and shown as an ideal representative of the breed. It is very hard for me to make any new owners to show cats. I even think that the cats feel how much they are praised at a show and at least this aspect is beneficial for them. I really do not want to be very competitive, to sell too many cats, I just want to feel that cats and people are happy around me and I do whatever I can to improve and promote the breed. Probably all of you know the wonderful feeling having a litter of kittens next to my bed. I finish it, now everyone knows my cat "business".
Maria