We believe that all vertebrae animals are sentient and empathic beings (see the following references for details: 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9) and that they should be treated as such. Cowboy Cat Ranch does not use laboratory animals. We will never conduct experiments with cats or other animals that will result in significant discomfort, stress, pain or death, and will never collaborate with scientists who do. 

We will never allow any conflict of interest. We carefully screen our people to assure they are not employed by or have any financial interest in companies in industries related to our fields of interest, for example veterinary medicine or environmental enrichment. We will never accept money from companies that make money by selling anything cat-related. Our research will never have a commercial interest or motive. We will never accept money, free products or discounts when promoting products for cats on social media or our website.

We believe academic publishing in its current form is broken (1,2) and are highly supportive of reform. We believe more credit should be given to scientists who produce high quality review-reports. We support double-blind transparent peer-review, where review reports are published together with the article. When funds are available to cover the costs, results from our studies will be published in open access journals. Furthermore, we strongly prefer to publish in journals from not-for-profit publishers. Read more about our publishing and authorship policy here.

In the interest of the cat, we believe all domestic cats should be kept indoors only. This is also of enormous importance to birds and reptiles. We believe all domestic cats should be sterilized at an early age, because an overpopulation of domestic cats is bad for the cats as well as local wildlife. Cowboy Cat Ranch supports trap-neuter-return programs for feral cats who cannot be kept indoors. When keeping cats indoors, it is important to make sure their indoor environment meets all their needs. This can be achieved by environmental enrichment. The cats at Cowboy Cat Ranch can enjoy the outdoors in large outdoor enclosures.

Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of healthy cats (and dogs) are euthanized in shelters every year in the USA alone because there is no space for them. When looking for a cat (or dog), please adopt from a shelter. With so many cats and dogs desperately looking for a home, please reconsider purchasing a pet from a breeder. While kittens are cute as a button and lots of fun, older cats make fantastic companions too. When possible, please consider adopting a bonded pair.

Cowboy Cat Ranch encourages people to not eat animals and not consume their milk (products). Founders Sebastiaan and Evelien have been vegetarian since their teenage years and eat little to no dairy. We promote eating plant(-based) food because it prevents needless suffering of non-human animals, and it benefits our planet and human health. The cats at Cowboy Cat Ranch however do eat meat, because for them there is no healthy alternative available.