About Us
We live in a southern suburb of Denver: Castle Pines. It is at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and we are so lucky to be able to visit all the unique and beautiful places in the mountains.
In 1996 Jim and I moved from Rochester, New York to Castle Pines. We absolutely loved being near the mountains, enjoying all that Denver offers as a large metropolitan city, having 364 days of sunshine a year and skiing to our heart’s content.
I found a job in Health Care and Jim found a job at PERA – the Public Employees Retirement Association. A few years later I had the desire to do something else. So, I embarked on a totally new kind of job: a pet sitting service. I have always loved animals and I loved doing work where I could spend time every day playing with them.
It was while doing this job that I met my first Bengal cat. Usually, when I entered the house most cats sat down, looked straight at me and asked me,” Just what are you doing in my house?” However, when I walked into the Bengal’s home, he bolted out of an open bedroom door and ran towards me, with his tail up, asking if we could play. He was gorgeous, all regal looking and muscular. I had never felt a pelt as soft and silky as his.
I threw a ball and he brought it back while jumping with glee. He made stops at his scratching post and joyfully showed me how he could take several swipes at it while he was running and carrying a toy in his mouth. I fell in love with Bengals right then and there, and my life changed forever.
I came home that day and told Jim I wanted a Bengal cat. I called a Bengal breeder that afternoon and arranged to purchase a Bengal. She said, “You can show this boy, and he will win for you!” Just like that I was introduced to cat shows! It was so much fun. When my cat won I was thrilled, and I realized what the perfect Bengal was supposed to look like, so I had to start making that perfect Bengal. And so our breeding program had begun.
One beautiful October day we drove up into the mountains to experience the turning of the summer leaves to fall gold. We felt the gentle wind, and the Aspen trees shimmered and glittered as thought they were dipped in gold. They looked just like the golden glitter our Bengals have in their fur. Glitter is an inherited characteristic and is a hollow hair shaft that absorbs the sunlight and gives the fur a glimmering gold appearance throughout the brown fur. They look so alike that we named our cattery AspenGold!
We have been breeding and showing Bengal cats for twenty-three years now, and I can say I have bred some awesome Bengal cats. We have produced several Supreme Grand Champions, and it is such a thrill when we have a cat that is so striking in appearance, so wild looking, but so absolutely affectionate and loving. I am in love with all of them.