People often ask me what to look out for when buying a kitten.

When I brought my first kitten, a Siamese, I went to the breeders house, she showed me a kitten, I asked to see another one, she took that kitten outside and brought in another one. I bought the first kitten. Nowadays I would do it differently.

Here are things that would now concern me if I were buying a kitten.

People who:

• breed their queens continuously without a break
• are not registered
• don't offer any health guarantee
• don't vaccinate
• keep their cats in cages.
• don't let you see all the litter, or the parents

Cat's are very people orientated, and if left in cages are not well socialised.

Buying a kitten is a big deal. Don't buy the first one you see. If you were buying a house, car, etc you would shop around. Do the same, visit different breeders, check out all the cat's and kittens, ask which governing council the breeder is registered with, have a look at where the cats and kittens sleep. Go with your gut feelings. If a breeder has a problem with any question you ask, or you are simply not comfortable, walk away.

Sometimes you may see a kitten who is covered in fleas, sick, etc, please do not buy this kitten out of pity. Contact the R.S.P.C.A., and the shire council about the breeder.  Buying the kitten will only encourage such breeders to continue breeding. If they don't sell the kittens, maybe they will stop.

Another problem with kittens brought from backyard breeders is you generally have no help from them if the kitten is sick. They may have no idea of the bloodlines of the cats they use. Most buy undesexed pet quality kittens and then breed from them illegally. They just pick two and put them together to make kittens. They have no idea how closely the bloodlines are, they have no idea of genetic faults, skin problems etc. They are not breeding for "type" - are you getting a "real" Devon.

Buying from Pet shops. Registered breeders should not and most do not sell to pet shops. Lots of pet shops get their kittens from backyard breeders. They don't care about genetic faults, bloodlines etc. They charge far more than you would pay from a breeder, usually with only one vaccination. They don't guarantee the health of the kitten, if there is a problem, they wont tell you where they got the kitten from.