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Ethical Breeding: How to Find a Good Cat Breeder?

Shared from The Little Carnivore

If you are looking for a kitten of a specific breed, this article is for you. I will explain everything you need to know to find an ethical breeder and the red flags you should be careful about. You will see that there are many criteria and you can’t just pick up the first ad you see: you’ll need to do some research first. If this sounds complicated, I strongly recommend that you do not compromise on this: we are talking about the health of a kitten! If you don’t want to go through all the hassle, maybe look for a kitten at your local shelter: they will know what’s best for the kittens and you can be fairly sure they’ll do all the necessary checks.

In another article, I will explain why in my opinion ethical breeding is not the cause of cat overpopulation and shouldn’t be opposed to adopting.

The Pedigree, aka a Proof

First thing first, a kitten from a breeder should have a pedigree. A pedigree is a registration paper that certifies that your kitten belongs to a breed. It also contains the genealogy of the cat (generally 4 or 5 generations). For it to be reliable, a pedigree is generally issued by a reputable cat breed registry such as the TICA, FIFé, WCF, LOOF, CFA… depending on where you live. This means that the cattery is registered at one of those associations. This is something that you should be able to verify on their website.

The pedigree is the reflection of the work of a reputable breeder: you can verify that the breeder didn’t reproduce a mother with a son, or a brother and a sister for example.

With websites such as Pawpeds, you can also calculate the inbreeding coefficient of your cat. The lower the inbreeding coefficient, generally the better. It’s recommended to stay below 5% for 10 generations.

Without a pedigree, you have no proof that your cat belongs to a breed (No, there isn’t any DNA test for cat breeds as explained in this article). If you are looking for a cat without a pedigree, why not look at your local cat shelter? You will find many awesome cats and it will be another good way to responsibly adopt a cat.

If the breeder asks for more money to give you the pedigree or claims that you don’t need one because you won’t breed the kitten: run!

All “breeders” breeding cats without a pedigree are backyard breeders.

However, finding a breeder that sells kittens with a pedigree is not enough! Many breeders breeding cats with pedigrees are not ethical nor reputable: that’s why there are many other important criteria beyond the papers.

The Kitten’s Age

A breeder shouldn’t separate the kittens from their mother until at least when they are 12 weeks old. While kittens are weaned at around 8 weeks, they keep learning essential social skills from their mother until 14 weeks old. Being removed too early from their mother and siblings may cause many behavior issues later on, often leading to the cats being abandoned. A breeder that lets their kittens go before 12 weeks isn't a good breeder.

This is very important: if the breeder is being pushy and saying things like “the mother is rejecting the kittens” or “they already use solid food and use the litter”: run!

The Kitten’s Health

A breeder must take care of the health of their kittens. This means that the kittens need to come with a health record mentioning that they were vaccinated, treated for internal and external parasites, and microchipped.

A kitten should have received the core vaccines: feline herpes virus (FHV), feline calicivirus (FCV), feline panleukopenia (FPV), and, depending on where you live, rabies. Kittens generally receive their first vaccination at around 6-8 weeks old and get a booster at around 10-12 weeks old.

In some countries like France, it’s also mandatory that the kittens come with a health certificate from a vet. I would definitely ask the breeder if they can provide one, preferably less than 7 days old.

The parents of the kittens should be tested for infectious diseases such as the Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV). It’s important that for every test that I mention you request the breeder to provide you with a copy of the test result.

Testing for diseases is the most basic thing to do to breed healthy cats and if a breeder isn’t making those tests they don’t have the cats’ health in their best interest. It’s easy to lie and say that the tests were done when it’s not true, so don’t trust the breeders on their words and ask for proof.

Genetic Test

Depending on the breed, the parents of the kitten should be tested for some genetic diseases with a DNA test such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) for the Maine Coon and Ragdoll, pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKDef) for the Norwegian Forest Cat, Maine Coon, Siberian, Bengal…, polycystic kidney disease (PKD) for the British, Persian…, and many other diseases like the progressive retinal atrophy, spinal muscular atrophy…You can find a non-exhaustive list here.

For some breeds, the breeder should also test the blood type of the cats: unknowingly mating two cats with incompatible blood types may cause neonatal isoerythrolysis, which can result in the death of the kittens.

Health Examination

Other health tests may be needed depending on the breed such as an X-ray for hip dysplasia for Maine Coons, or an echography of the heart for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in several breeds.

White cats should also be BAER tested to verify that they are not deaf and a breeder should never mate two white cats together as it increases the risks of deafness.

You must research the test needed for the breed you are interested in.

The Health of the Queens

It’s important that breeding female cats (called queens) don’t have more than one litter a year and that they are not bred before one year old and not after 6 to 7 years old.

This is something you can verify by yourself if the breeder keeps track of the previous litters on their website.

The Look

While, if you are looking for a pet, your kitten doesn’t have to perfectly fit the breed standard, it may be interesting to read about it and see if the breeder stays close to it.

If the breeder has cats with extreme types (hypertypes), be really careful as those cats are often prone to health issues. Additionally, breeding for extreme types is almost always done at the expense of the cat's health.

About the Breeder

It’s important that you discuss with the breeder: you should have a good feeling with them. Don’t hesitate to ask them questions: they should be happy that a future family for their kitten is interested to know more about them.

Here are some questions to evaluate the motivation of the breeder: What are their goals when breeding cats? Are they aiming to improve the breed? Are health and temperament their priority before the look?

Of course, the breeder should also be able to answer questions about the kitten: its personality, the food they eat… and to send you many pictures!

In exchange, it’s normal that the breeder also asks you many questions about your house, your interest in the breed, to verify that you will be the perfect family for their kittens. The breeder will try to evaluate if your lifestyle and character will fit with the ones of the kittens.

If the breeder doesn’t want to know anything about you, that would be a bad sign!

Depending on where you live, the breeder should have done some mandatory training or have a certificate to be allowed to breed. For example, in France, breeders must have the ACACED. Another example of a reputable course for cat breeders is the one by Pawpeds: on their website, you can find a list of all the graduates.

It’s common to visit the breeder before reserving the kitten when they are around 2 months old, after their first vaccine. This is generally great so that you can see the kitten and verify that their character will fit with your family. It’s also a good chance to verify that the kittens are growing in good conditions. Do the kittens live in the breeder's house, or in cages? Is the house clean? Do the cats and kittens look healthy? You should see the mother of the kitten and the dad (except if the stud is in another cattery: in that case, the breeder should give you some information and pictures of the dad).

If the breeder attends cat shows it’s generally a good sign, as it means they are trying to breed their cats to the standard and improve the breed. However, not showing their cat isn’t necessarily a red flag as it can be costly, not all cats enjoy it, and the breeder may be afraid to get some disease transmitted to their cat.

The breeder will establish a contract that should protect both the breeder and you. A good breeder will include a clause that the kitten cannot be resold or surrendered to a shelter. If, for any reason, you cannot keep the kitten, the breeder must be notified and they will either help to rehome the cat or take it back.

Additionally, the kitten should come neutered or spayed or the contract should include a clause that the kitten must be neutered/spayed, as this would prevent irresponsible breeding.

Lastly, a breeder should be transparent: do they list all their male and female cats? With pedigree pictures and pictures of their health test? Do they provide information on their values, on their previous litters, on their retired cats?

Be Care About These Red Flags

I’m not sure this even needs to be said, but if the kittens are growing into cages that’s definitely a big red flag.

Price

If the price is too low or too high in comparison to other catteries, that would be a red flag. I can’t give you a price range as this will vary between countries and breeds, but keep this in mind. In fact, if the price is too low, it may mean that the breeder saves money on the health tests, while if the price is very high, it could just be a scam.

International Delivery

Be especially careful if the breeder offers international shipping, especially if they don’t deliver the kitten themselves. A reputable breeder will want to meet in person the future family of their kitten.

Several Breeds

A possible red flag is if the breeder is breeding several breeds, especially more than 2 breeds. This is often (but not always) a red flag. Most breeders are passionate about one breed and focus on that breed. Breeding many breeds is often a sign of running a kitten mill.

Pet Shops

I’m not even mentioning it in this article, but you should never buy a kitten from a pet shop. The kittens almost always come from mills and grew up in poor conditions without any health care. You may think “poor kitten in the small cages”, but this is part of their strategy to get you to buy the kitten. If you buy the kitten, you are giving them the money to replace this kitten with another one and supporting the business of the kitten mills.

Extraordinary Claims

A big red flag is if a breeder tells you that their cats are particularly “rare” or “special” or “unique”, or if they make any other extraordinary claim. There is surely something fishy.

For example, if someone is selling “XXL Maine Coons”, run!

Popular Breeds

If you are looking for a kitten from a popular breed such as the Maine Coon, Bengal, or British, be especially careful when choosing a breeder. If a breed is popular it means that many people are looking for kittens from that breed: a scammer who is into it for money has all the interest to “breed” a popular breed as they will have more people to scam.

So, here were all my pieces of advice on choosing a reputable breeder, though this list is not exhaustive!

I know that when you are impatient to get a new kitten you may easily fall in love with some cute pictures. However, it’s important to take into account that you are choosing a new family member that will be with you for, hopefully, the next 15 to 20 years! But not only that: if you buy a kitten from a backyard breeder or a kitten mill you are supporting their business and giving them the means to keep breeding unhealthy cats.

To conclude I would say: adopt or shop but, more importantly, do it responsibly.

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tromboneralert · 2 hours

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I’ve been fired exactly once in my life. In my early twenties I was working at a pizza place. The pizzas were artisanal, thin crust and personal. They’re a huge chain now but when I first started the company was in its infancy. It was the wild west of management, and the core investors would frequently stop by to check on things. One of these people was this round little man with rage issues. A knock off Danny Devito with no charisma at all.

His favorite thing to do was to come in on a Friday or Saturday night. We'd be at our stations: taking orders, making pizza, manning the oven, finishing orders off, running the cash register. He'd shove his way onto the line and start rearranging people. "You, get off orders and work the cash register, you come over and make the pizzas!" With a line of customers snaking out the door he'd throw off all our grooves and rattle us.

Then, inevitably, a mistake would happen.

When it did he'd call the person over and say, "Hey c'mere. You're fired." Just like that. No inflection, just a flat "You're fired." It was absolutely a power kink, and because of his involvement the average turn over was three months. You were a veteran at five months.

One night there was only three of us manning the front. I took an order than went to the cash register to ring them out before I made the pizza. This horrible man watched that then called me into the back. I didn't know if I was about to be fired. But I wasn't. In fact, he had one other move besides firing people. He yelled.

In the back he absolutely lost his mind screaming at me for being on the cash register. I'm talking veins popping, spit flying, red with rage, this man just started bellowing nonsensically about where I should be and how I was just such a failure. It was truly like his brain had shut off, nothing he was saying even made sense. I stood there in the face of this tirade for a minute and then set a record for being the first person to ever cut him short by bursting into tears.

He instantly stopped yelling and it was like Jekyll and Hyde. He was remorseful and consoling, deeply embarrassed by my display of emotion. All my male coworkers just took the abuse but faced with my weeping he about faced and instantly backed off. I went outside to cry and when I came back in he pretended it had never happened.

That was the state of things. The investors knew they desperately needed to keep this man out of the stores, but they couldn't just give him the boot. They needed to move him aside and fill his position with someone. The store manager was this lovely woman who had hired me on the spot at my interview. The entire staff adored her. She was the best fit to get this roided out investor out of the stores for good.

Her replacement was this man called Anthony. He was instantly loathed by the entire staff. Condescending, critical, and lazy he started off his reign by letting go a core lead who "back talked." He spent a whole morning berating the opening crew because the closing crew (who had sold 100 more pizzas than we were even supposed to have on hand) had forgotten to windex the doors. He left the entire crew to close without him while he flirted with a girl who wasn't his pregnant girlfriend. He hired his roommate to replace the lead he fired and even that guy hated his guts.

Our antipathy toward him made him paranoid and resentful and one by one he started finding excuses to fire the whole staff, certain that if he could clean house he'd be able to do the job. My time came, and he sat me down with his boss, my former manager. She cried as he announced I wasn't personable enough and used too many pepperonis.

I looked at her, the woman who had trained me on how many pepperoni to use, but she said nothing. What could she say? He was the boss now and had determined I was going to be let go regardless. Too many in this case was seven. Seven pepperonis on a personal pizza. The correct number was five according to him, which is one pepperoni per slice, and one in the middle.

I sat there for a moment, taking it in. I smiled at my old manager, obviously miserable. I looked back at him and said, "You're a terrible manager, you're doing the worst imaginable job." I outlined some of the things he'd done so she could hear them, then I stood up and left. I made it to the back room before I started crying.

I found out later through a bus boy that he replaced the whole staff with college kids who had such limited availability that the store couldn't run, then quit three months later leaving the whole place in shambles. Most of the old staff returned, but I'd moved onto the sex shop already and was enjoying a job with significantly less risk of being fired on a whim.

However I do have to disclose on job applications if I've ever been fired. I always says yes and list the reason as, "Excessive use of pepperoni." It has never failed to get a laugh from my interviewer.

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