As fate would have it, in 1999, we found ourselves with both Tonkinese and Bombay cats for breeding. FrankLee Cattery was off and running! Our first Tonkinese breeding girls were Kipkat Kate of FrankLee and Kipkat Misha of FrankLee.

A cattery is more than just cats, of course, so some changes needed to be made to the house to accommodate its new residents. We decided to turn the entire lower floor over to the cattery. This included a large kitchen/recreation room, a bedroom, bathroom, utility room, and tack room. (A tack room is a place where saddles, bridles, and the like, are kept.) Except for the addition of one partition, the needed changes were more decorative than architectural—carpet was replaced by tile, and a number of screen doors were installed. The utility room became the kitten/litter-training room. The tack room became the stud room. Most cats were allowed to roam the kitchen/recreation area—we still have a pool table there—if they are not actually upstairs in the main part of the house. Kittens are born and nursed in a cozy corner in one of the upstairs bedrooms. Visitors may encounter cats anywhere in the house, but the farmhouse is big enough that no one feels too crowded.

Not all the animals around the house are Tonkinese and Bombay cats. The matriarch of the cattery is Sarah Jane Potts, an unflappable cat sans pedigree. There are also a couple of dogs—Josie, who is clearly part poodle, and Bloodhound Benjamin. Everyone seems to get along just fine.