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Home Page
Buying A Kitten
Caring For Your Kitten
Introducing A New Cat
Soiling & Spraying
Cat Litter & Training
Eating & Drinking
Cat Bonding
Cat Aggression
Timid Cats
Keeping Your Cat Safe 1
Keeping Your Cat Safe 2
In or Out?
Play Time
Multi-Cat Households
Elderly Cats
Cat Ailments & Symptoms
Persian Cats
British Shorthair Cats
Cat Care Tips, Advice & Products for the life of your Cat
In the rush and excitement of looking for a new kitten, its all to easy to forget the practicalities of your purchase, and what it could mean for you, other family members and of course the kitten itself.
When purchasing any new pet, it is imperative that you are firstly doing it for the right reasons, and secondly that you have the new pets best interests at heart.
Many people rush into buying a pet for many different reasons. It’s always important to be sure that that you think through exactly why you want a kitten. Perhaps this is the first time you’ve owned a cat, or perhaps you’ve recently lost a very much loved cat and want to try to fill the gap they left.
Whatever your reasons, make sure that a kitten is right for you.
Do you have the space? Can you afford the upkeep of a new kitten? Don’t forget not only do new kittens require a lot of accessories and costly food; they also need to visit the vets for routine vaccinations, flea checks and not forgetting they will need to be spayed/castrated once they reach around 6 months of age. All this doesn’t come cheaply.
Also, if you have recently lost an older cat, do give yourself time to grieve for this loss. You can never replace a cat, anymore than you can replace a person. Each one has its own unique personality which will never be mirrored in another cat, so don’t try to find a replacement, it’s simply not possible. Just like with the loss of anyone you loved, give yourself time.
If you’ve thought it through long and hard and your mind’s still made up, you have the equipment and are sure you can afford to care for this kitten for possibly the next 18 or so years, then the next step is to ensure you buy the right kitten for you!
Moggie or Pedigree?
The vast majority of people who own cats own a moggie. That is, a non-pedigree cat whose heritage is not known. It may sound peculiar to some people who have never considered owning a pedigree cat before to want to know a cat’s heritage, but many people love pedigree cats. They are, in effect ‘designer cats’, in the same sense as a pedigree dog is a ‘designer dog’. Just as we have ‘German shepherds’, ‘Dalmatians’ and ‘highland terriers’ in the dog world, in the cat world we have ‘Persians’, British shorthaired’ and ‘Siamese’.
Apart from appearances, there are several other differences between pedigrees and moggies. Probably the most notable to a buyer is the vast difference in price.
Whilst a moggie can set you back anywhere from free to £80 at a rescue centre (but fully inoculated and ready-spayed), a fully registered pedigree will set you back anywhere between £300 - £500 each. Whilst this may seem like a lot of money, many people decide it is worth the cost, as hopefully the cat will be with them for years to come, and a lot of pedigrees have unique personalities, such as the extremely vocal Siamese, the water loving Turkish van and the lazy teddy bear-like ragdoll.
Moggies also have great personalities of course, but it is less easy to predict what sort of character traits they will possess as they grow up.
Another thing to consider when deciding on a pedigree or a moggie is the health implications. Moggies tend to be much ‘hardier’ than pedigrees and generally live longer lives. This is basically because most pedigrees have some degree of inbreeding in their ancestry which has lead to problems with the genetic make up of certain breeds. If you do buy a pedigree, be sure to find out what the most common problems are with that breed, and then check with the breeder that their particular ‘line’ has been tested free of this illness. For example many Exotic Shorthairs have polycystic kidney disease or PKD. For this reason, you will want to check that the cattery you are buying an exotic shorthair kitten from is tested pkd negative.
Any reputable breeder will be very open about this and will want to show you their paperwork. Be wary of any who seem reluctant to show you this, as they probably don’t have it. Any breeder who truly cares about her kittens will want to make sure she gives her babies the best start in life and will test and ensure she does not breed from cats with hereditary problems.
Where to buy a kitten.
When looking to buy a kitten, there are several avenues open to you.
Firstly, with a pedigree, it is slightly easier as you can contact breed clubs, look in magazines such as ‘your cat’ for listings of breeders and trawl the many directories on the internet of breeders for the breed you are looking for. When you finally do visit a kitten at a breeder’s house, always make sure you don’t make any rash decisions. As with any kitten purchase, ensure you see the kittens with their mother, ensure both the mother and kittens look healthy (clean, shiny eyes, clean bottoms, no sign of diarrhea etc), make sure the kitten looks to be a healthy weight and make sure the surroundings where the kitten has been raised look to be clean and hygienic.
A pedigree kitten should be at least 12 weeks old before leaving its mother, and should have had both of its first vaccinations. These are stipulated under the GCCF rules (The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy) and again, any breeder worth their salt will not hear of doing anything incorrectly. You should also come away with a pedigree certificate and usually most breeders give a month’s free insurance with all the kittens leaving their care. Check this before you agree to buy.
Never buy a pedigree kitten from a kitten farm (similar to a puppy farm). These are typically going to turn out to be shy, skittish cats and usually quite wary of humans. It is imperative that any kitten you buy, pedigree or not, has been raised in a household environment where it has been able to get used to people coming and going, vacuum cleaners buzzing around the house, kids playing and dogs barking. All normal everyday things which a cat needs to learn to accept. A kitten who has been raised outside in a cage with very little human contact until the day you take it home is going to be very nervous indeed and will probably never turn out to be much of a ‘lap cat’.
Next, you have the option of the moggie. Much of the same principles as explained above apply with a moggie with regards to ensuring the kittens are raised properly and appear healthy. Generally though moggie kittens will be put up for sale by their owners from as little as 6 – 8 weeks of age. This is partly due to the inexperience of owners who have just allowed their cats to breed to earn a ‘quick quid’ and partly due to the fact that these kittens wont have to hang around to have injections or vet checks – these will generally all be left to you.
The exception to this rule is with some animal shelters such as the RSPCA. They will generally sell kittens already inoculated, and often even spayed/neutered. It is now common practice for both pedigree breeders and animal shelters to have kittens operated on from as young as 10 weeks old. There are not any known side effects to the cat’s health for this practice, and it does mean that if you go to a rescue centre and buy a kitten for £80 you won’t in effect have to worry about any routine vets visits until your cat is 1 year of age when boosters become necessary. You will probably struggle to get this procedure and the vaccinations done as cheaply as this at your own vets, so in reality a rescue kitten might be the best route to go down.
Another option which is always well worth consideration is re homing an adult cat. Every year hundreds of thousands of healthy adult cats are destroyed in the UK alone simply because they ended up in a shelter and have nobody to care for them. As most people want that cute fluffy little kitten, the adults take a back seat which is such a shame as they have so much to give and don’t deserve this untimely death. Also, do remember that that cute little kitten may be sweet and adorable now, but kittens grow fast and in 6 months time will probably look just like that unwanted adult cat sat in the shelter.
Whichever type of cat you decide to go for, and however you do decide to buy it, one of the most important things you can do for your cat and the cat population in general is to have him or her spayed or neutered as soon as possible. There are so many homeless cats in shelters being killed every day and it’s so much better not to add to the problem.
Hopefully, with a bit of careful planning and preparation, you will choose the right kind of cat or kitten for you and you and your cat will share many happy years together.
When purchasing any new pet, it is imperative that you are firstly doing it for the right reasons, and secondly that you have the new pets best interests at heart.
Many people rush into buying a pet for many different reasons. It’s always important to be sure that that you think through exactly why you want a kitten. Perhaps this is the first time you’ve owned a cat, or perhaps you’ve recently lost a very much loved cat and want to try to fill the gap they left.
Whatever your reasons, make sure that a kitten is right for you.
Do you have the space? Can you afford the upkeep of a new kitten? Don’t forget not only do new kittens require a lot of accessories and costly food; they also need to visit the vets for routine vaccinations, flea checks and not forgetting they will need to be spayed/castrated once they reach around 6 months of age. All this doesn’t come cheaply.
Also, if you have recently lost an older cat, do give yourself time to grieve for this loss. You can never replace a cat, anymore than you can replace a person. Each one has its own unique personality which will never be mirrored in another cat, so don’t try to find a replacement, it’s simply not possible. Just like with the loss of anyone you loved, give yourself time.
If you’ve thought it through long and hard and your mind’s still made up, you have the equipment and are sure you can afford to care for this kitten for possibly the next 18 or so years, then the next step is to ensure you buy the right kitten for you!
Moggie or Pedigree?
The vast majority of people who own cats own a moggie. That is, a non-pedigree cat whose heritage is not known. It may sound peculiar to some people who have never considered owning a pedigree cat before to want to know a cat’s heritage, but many people love pedigree cats. They are, in effect ‘designer cats’, in the same sense as a pedigree dog is a ‘designer dog’. Just as we have ‘German shepherds’, ‘Dalmatians’ and ‘highland terriers’ in the dog world, in the cat world we have ‘Persians’, British shorthaired’ and ‘Siamese’.
Apart from appearances, there are several other differences between pedigrees and moggies. Probably the most notable to a buyer is the vast difference in price.
Whilst a moggie can set you back anywhere from free to £80 at a rescue centre (but fully inoculated and ready-spayed), a fully registered pedigree will set you back anywhere between £300 - £500 each. Whilst this may seem like a lot of money, many people decide it is worth the cost, as hopefully the cat will be with them for years to come, and a lot of pedigrees have unique personalities, such as the extremely vocal Siamese, the water loving Turkish van and the lazy teddy bear-like ragdoll.
Moggies also have great personalities of course, but it is less easy to predict what sort of character traits they will possess as they grow up.
Another thing to consider when deciding on a pedigree or a moggie is the health implications. Moggies tend to be much ‘hardier’ than pedigrees and generally live longer lives. This is basically because most pedigrees have some degree of inbreeding in their ancestry which has lead to problems with the genetic make up of certain breeds. If you do buy a pedigree, be sure to find out what the most common problems are with that breed, and then check with the breeder that their particular ‘line’ has been tested free of this illness. For example many Exotic Shorthairs have polycystic kidney disease or PKD. For this reason, you will want to check that the cattery you are buying an exotic shorthair kitten from is tested pkd negative.
Any reputable breeder will be very open about this and will want to show you their paperwork. Be wary of any who seem reluctant to show you this, as they probably don’t have it. Any breeder who truly cares about her kittens will want to make sure she gives her babies the best start in life and will test and ensure she does not breed from cats with hereditary problems.
Where to buy a kitten.
When looking to buy a kitten, there are several avenues open to you.
Firstly, with a pedigree, it is slightly easier as you can contact breed clubs, look in magazines such as ‘your cat’ for listings of breeders and trawl the many directories on the internet of breeders for the breed you are looking for. When you finally do visit a kitten at a breeder’s house, always make sure you don’t make any rash decisions. As with any kitten purchase, ensure you see the kittens with their mother, ensure both the mother and kittens look healthy (clean, shiny eyes, clean bottoms, no sign of diarrhea etc), make sure the kitten looks to be a healthy weight and make sure the surroundings where the kitten has been raised look to be clean and hygienic.
A pedigree kitten should be at least 12 weeks old before leaving its mother, and should have had both of its first vaccinations. These are stipulated under the GCCF rules (The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy) and again, any breeder worth their salt will not hear of doing anything incorrectly. You should also come away with a pedigree certificate and usually most breeders give a month’s free insurance with all the kittens leaving their care. Check this before you agree to buy.
Never buy a pedigree kitten from a kitten farm (similar to a puppy farm). These are typically going to turn out to be shy, skittish cats and usually quite wary of humans. It is imperative that any kitten you buy, pedigree or not, has been raised in a household environment where it has been able to get used to people coming and going, vacuum cleaners buzzing around the house, kids playing and dogs barking. All normal everyday things which a cat needs to learn to accept. A kitten who has been raised outside in a cage with very little human contact until the day you take it home is going to be very nervous indeed and will probably never turn out to be much of a ‘lap cat’.
Next, you have the option of the moggie. Much of the same principles as explained above apply with a moggie with regards to ensuring the kittens are raised properly and appear healthy. Generally though moggie kittens will be put up for sale by their owners from as little as 6 – 8 weeks of age. This is partly due to the inexperience of owners who have just allowed their cats to breed to earn a ‘quick quid’ and partly due to the fact that these kittens wont have to hang around to have injections or vet checks – these will generally all be left to you.
The exception to this rule is with some animal shelters such as the RSPCA. They will generally sell kittens already inoculated, and often even spayed/neutered. It is now common practice for both pedigree breeders and animal shelters to have kittens operated on from as young as 10 weeks old. There are not any known side effects to the cat’s health for this practice, and it does mean that if you go to a rescue centre and buy a kitten for £80 you won’t in effect have to worry about any routine vets visits until your cat is 1 year of age when boosters become necessary. You will probably struggle to get this procedure and the vaccinations done as cheaply as this at your own vets, so in reality a rescue kitten might be the best route to go down.
Another option which is always well worth consideration is re homing an adult cat. Every year hundreds of thousands of healthy adult cats are destroyed in the UK alone simply because they ended up in a shelter and have nobody to care for them. As most people want that cute fluffy little kitten, the adults take a back seat which is such a shame as they have so much to give and don’t deserve this untimely death. Also, do remember that that cute little kitten may be sweet and adorable now, but kittens grow fast and in 6 months time will probably look just like that unwanted adult cat sat in the shelter.
Whichever type of cat you decide to go for, and however you do decide to buy it, one of the most important things you can do for your cat and the cat population in general is to have him or her spayed or neutered as soon as possible. There are so many homeless cats in shelters being killed every day and it’s so much better not to add to the problem.
Hopefully, with a bit of careful planning and preparation, you will choose the right kind of cat or kitten for you and you and your cat will share many happy years together.
All advice given on this website is by expert cat owners. It is not in any way meant to be used in replacement to any vet or other professional advice. The owner takes no responsibility of any consequences due to any of the information held within the site. Privacy Policy
