Gus at around 5 months of age
Gus is very devoted and likes to be within a few feet of you at all times. For a cat who hates to be picked up or sit on your lap and meows his discontent, he never runs away when you put him down and is at your feet waiting to have his ears scratched.
He comes when called, comes to greet all new people, and runs to the door when the bell rings. He likes anyone who gives him a little attention.
Most of all, he loves to play fetch – a snake a mouse or a sock. I can throw a toy up or down a flight of stairs and he runs to retrieve. He brings the toy back and waits to get a little pat and is off and ready to retrieve it again.
As for Health: I would be concerned about buying from a breeder who recommended using a killed rabies vaccine. The second breeder I purchased from said not to and I probably will follow her instructions. The downside of using a killed vaccine is their association with injection site cancers.
The first breeder I bought from said not to and he was dead in app one week due to a disease called Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). I believe my first cat was a descendent of a cat who had multiple siblings die of FIPS and he survived.
A decade has gone by and his descendants even remote are still dying after receiving Purevax live vaccine. I tried without success to have the breeder listed with the BBB and Cat Fanciers’ Association as selling a sick animal.
My vet thought ill as well but with very treatable common kitten issues like worms. There are about a dozen breeders in the United States so one breeder having 3 FIP cases in a couple of years is rather suspect and could single handedly ruin the genetic pool.
I don’t know if there is a problem with live vaccines or breeding stock, but I purposely chose Chartreux because of reports of it being a hardy cat.
I would be wary of purchasing a cat with any vaccine warnings unless there is a published report somewhere that implicates the live vaccine as the culprit.
At this point in time, I have not found any vet or FIP researcher that say there is a link.
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| Jan 12, 2012 | Thanks NEW Thank you for taking the time to pass on your valuable experience. This sort of post is very useful to cat caretakers and the cat world generally. |
Would you mind sharing the name of the breeder who sold sick kittens? I’m about to get a Chartreux from a breeder that does recommend killed rabies vaccines because of several deaths of kittens from other breeders. I want to make sure I’m not making a mistake.
Thanks!
Hi, thanks for visiting and asking. I own the site. I think the comment you are referring was made a long time ago – years go perhaps – consequently you are unlikely to receive a response. Good luck in any event.
I refer to Feline Infectious Peritonitis as FIPS in a number of places. The correct abbreviation is FIP. There is a Yahoo group that you can join, if you are a breeder or have lost a cat to FIP, that provides a lot of information on the disease. I don’t have any research to back up my view, but I think you have to be very vigilant when it comes to degree of inbreeding and the number of awards a cattery receives. There’s a delicate balance between form and function.
With regard to Cat Fanciers Association (CFA) and chartreux cat breeders, be warned that membership in the association should not be taken as any kind of recommendation. I am still very angry. In addition, I used to think that a cat breeder who was a researcher, a lawyer, an MD, or a PhD. in some way meant their professional training would enhance their skills as a cat breeder. In both cases where I purchased sick cats, the breeders had advanced professional degrees. Rather than enhance their cat breeding lines, their arrogance and certainty in being right seemed to blind them to their shortcomings.