Agree with "ANNONYMOUS" that "Cat Breeding" in the Developed country's is more of a hobby since few professional breeders might be able to turn a profit as the costs for cat maintenance is tremendous. I personally have had the experience of breeding my "traditional persian cat" matahari in 2009 and was totally occupied in caring for the 6 kittens post delivery, a laborious job requiring 24 hrs watch.In India, cats are not registered nor are there cat shows , hence cats are priced randomly by private "Pet shop owners", depending on the market conditions.I the first born male kitten matata and the rest were taken by the "Pet shop owner" whose male stud i used for breeding. 2 of the kittens were given to him free as per the normal breeding terma and 3 were purchased by him for only Rs 4000(US $ 88)Each.I myself paid Rs 14,000(US $ 320 approx) for purchasing matahari as a kitten from this same pet shop owner!"Breeding" of cats, unless by "Professional pet shop owners" is not a profitable business.Thankfully i have video-taped the complete development and care of the kittens at my house and the same are on "you Tube" for future hobbyist cat breeders.I was intent on breeding a new type of " Traditional Mumbai persian Cat", accustomed to hot , humid climates , hence my venture into breeding my queen feline.

Most cat breeders stay in the negative financially, and are simply hobby breeders. It takes a great deal of money for medical care for the parents yearly check ups, vaccines, etc..., then top quality foods, vitamins, litter, etc....An average weekly trip to Petco is $150 - $200 take this times 52 weeks, then medical and supplies. Got the picture - there is no way a person can be living off the money from a few litters of kittens a year. Anyone believing otherwise has no common sense.

I'm sad to hear about people paying 1500$ for a cat with health problems b/c it's cute and a "hot" item. People, there are so many cats available at shelters and they are going to die b/c you want a trendy cat. C'mon, don't let greedy people such as breeders take your money and make a living animal into a commodity!

Mary I have the same emails you have but mom did not get me to do this. I stepped in on my own accordance.

Just to show you how far this breeder will go..The below comment is made, not by a customer, but by the breeder's son, I have emails to prove it, who even posts his name here...

Slander
by: M Albert Walker

I have obtained all the emails in this entire situation of this woman slandering the Somali breeder. There are several emails that were forwarded to me, which included from the time of the kitten, Nikki being reserved, adopted and healthy, prior to showing the kitten, and then, the pet buyer wanting breeder rights just after a show. It is very clear that this woman is trying to destroy a small hobby breeder simply due to the fact that she wanted to jump into breeding a kitten she bought as a pet, but received free show alter rights. In the emails, the pet buyer would say one thing in an email, and then totally contradict herself in the next email out of anger towards the breeder that simply did not want to give breeding rights for several good reasons. Personally, I have been to this breeders house, which I must say is cat heaven. I am in the process of adopting a wonderful kitten from this breeder. If I had not inquired about this post with the breeder, and received the correct facts in black and white, my wife and I would not be adopting a wonderful kitten needed in our family. I am saving these emails and have received permission to share them with anyone that has an inquiring mind. Something needs to be done about people who write incorrect information on this site. You may contact me at moses_wlkr@yahoo.com and I will be glad to forward all the emails. In the mean time, the breeder is making arrangements to legally take care of this woman making the post. In my profession, I can confirm that the breeder does have a strong case against this pet buyer. Shame on this pet buyer for her evil actions towards a very caring and ethical breeder. Respectfully, M Albert Walker in Texas

{this is an edited response - edited by Michael @ PoC}

This is my response to Rose Marie Zizzo's comment about my cattery. I disagree strongly with her comments. There are two sides to every story. She bought three kittens from me, all healthy. She never tells about the other two which had no problems. In my opinion she is/was a breeder purchasing kittens as pets then demanding breeding rights with out ever having paid for the kitten, (it was her way of getting nice cats without paying). In my opinion, she failed to honor her contractual agreement with me for a replacement (never bothered to provide necropsy results and refused to allow me to talk to her vet, thus never proving the cat was actually dead, or that I was at fault since she had so many other cats). She has been pestering me on the internet for 9 years.

I think you are cowardly in not disclosing your name and possibly defamatory in saying what you have said without any supporting information. This sort of comment is typical of people like you who lack the moral courage to do the right thing. Pathetic comes to mind.

People should praise and criticise. Criticism should be fair, polite, balanced and supported by factual evidence please.

I'm glad you were fortunate enough to have had a good experience with them. UK Savannah breeders and many in the US have not been so fortunate.

I have obtained all the emails in this entire situation of this woman slandering the Somali breeder. There are several emails that were forwarded to me, which included from the time of the kitten, Nikki being reserved, adopted and healthy, prior to showing the kitten, and then, the pet buyer wanting breeder rights just after a show. It is very clear that this woman is trying to destroy a small hobby breeder simply due to the fact that she wanted to jump into breeding a kitten she bought as a pet, but received free show alter rights. In the emails, the pet buyer would say one thing in an email, and then totally contradict herself in the next email out of anger towards the breeder that simply did not want to give breeding rights for several good reasons. Personally, I have been to this breeders house, which I must say is cat heaven. I am in the process of adopting a wonderful kitten from this breeder. If I had not inquired about this post with the breeder, and received the correct facts in black and white, my wife and I would not be adopting a wonderful kitten needed in our family. I am saving these emails and have received permission to share them with anyone that has an inquiring mind. Something needs to be done about people who write incorrect information on this site. You may contact me at moses_wlkr@yahoo.com and I will be glad to forward all the emails. In the mean time, the breeder is making arrangements to legally take care of this woman making the post. In my profession, I can confirm that the breeder does have a strong case against this pet buyer. Shame on this pet buyer for her evil actions towards a very caring and ethical breeder. Respectfully, M Albert Walker in Texas

Here's the link to my not so pleasant Somali kitten experience:

Somali Kittens

There are two blogs, the link to the second one can be found on that page

Thanks so much for providing this outlet:)

I have written two blogs on the subject in order to help others not go through what I went through. Here is the link:

http://mlluv.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/somali-kittens-dont-buy-in-louisiana-my-review/

When you are finished reading the first one the link to the next one will be on the page....

Thank you so much for providing this outlet....

{this is an edited comment - edited by Michael @ PoC}

I has a bad experience with Annie Westlake of Sugar-Kisses Cattery Persian Kitten Catteries. I purchased a kitten from this cat breeder. I paid $1,300.00 for a kitten that did not live to be one year old. I had her a few short months. She died of FIP.

I never even knew what FIP was and never ever had a cat or kitten die of FIP. I never had any kind of illness or health issues with any pet I ever had. Sugar Kisses & Persian Kitten Catteries would not give me back my money or give me a replacement kitten. I unsuccessfully sued for the return of my money. I was ill and was unable to attend court at the appeal. I would recommend that people do not buy a cat from this breeder based on my experience.

Please read here http://sicb.info/DONE.pdf

I decided to use a cat breeder in Toledo, Ohio. The kitten died 6 months later from FIP. Although the breeder refunded the purchase price, she refused to admit she was at fault. I did not give my little kitten this awful disease. It was her lack of understanding in the breeding process. I spent over $1500 in vet bills trying to save my little kitten. She died a horrible death because this breeder was careless and reckless. You need to be careful with breeders, and I will never do this again. I wish there were other ways to make her take responsibilty and stop selling sick kittens to other unsuspecting people. Just be aware and check out the breeder throughly. I was too naive.

Thanks for putting in the link VG.

info about conjunctivitis at PoC

I have 2 siamese from 2 different breeders. The first siamese (he's on another POC page) is a Thai cat named Blue. When I picked him up from the breeder I was supposed to get a Traditional Siamese but ended up with a classic. He had conjunctivitis in 1 eye and I had to get him treated. I also noticed that he had very bad breath, not typical bad cat breath, but VERY bad breath.

Other than that, the kitten was healthy, playful and a big handful. I got him when he was too young and he had play aggression issues from not being with his mother and siblings long enough. I took Blue to the vet and treated his conjunctivitis with eye drops and it cleared up but he still had bad breath.

A few months later I adopted Moon, and she was from a different breeder but had a very bad URI when I got her and conjunctivitis as well.

I have had both Blue and Moon on eye drops and antibiotics since June. Blue is finally all cleared up and his oral bacterial infection is gone, but Moon keeps having reoccuring eye problems. I currently have her on eye meds, Clavamox and L-Lysine which I put in both of their food 2x per day.

I spent over $600 for each kitten and have spent over $400 in medications. Moon is still having eye problems and I'm about to talk to the vet about it possibly being chlamydia and having it treated with tetracycline because I read that kitty chlamydia will keep coming back UNLESS it's treated with tetracycline.

If I had to do it all over again I probably wouldn't use a breeder again. My kittes are beautiful, but whereas my 2nd kitten has all of her papers, my first kitten Blue does not have his. The breeder says that "she cannot find the paperwork" which I find totally unacceptable.

I was new to the whole breeding experience but I can tell you, there are just as many beautiful siamese on petfinder for a fraction of the cost.

Me? Breeders? Never again.

I agree that buyers need to know the illnesses and breeding problems (inbreeding) and ask questions. We also need to be prepared to walk away even if we have travelled miles to get to the breeder. Also buying at a distance can be problematic unless the breeder has a first class reputation. Visiting the breeder's facility must be a useful way of gauging how good a breeder is. Questions can flow from a visit too.

One problem for buyers is that it can be difficult to ask poignant and direct questions at a time when the mood is one of amicability and friendliness. It might be hard to inject into that scenario tough business questions.

I personally feel that purchasing a good quality cat from a breeder is partly luck and partly the honesty of the breeder. In Mumbai we don't have "pedigree cats" that are sold with certificates, unlike "Pedigree dogs" and most cats are sold by 'pet shops". Some pet shops are "cat mills", breeding all type of cats without a thought to "pedigree lineage" or fatalities of excessive "inbreeding". My queen cat "matahari' which is a "traditional Persian" was purchased from a pet shop and has developed into a beautiful Queen cat, having delivered 6 kittens on being mated externally. Her kitten "Matata" who is now 1 1/2 year old is a picture of cat fitness and playfullnesss. I feel, its also the upbringing and "food supplement" of a cat that makes the difference between a healthy specimen and a perinislly sick cat.
Sad to read that almost 4000 US $'s were lost on the purchase of a deformed pedigree cat, clear case study that "Pedigree Cat"usiness is a huge industry, although unregulated.

Three years ago I decided to purchase a show prospect Bengal. I decided on a breeder who was out of state, and she suggested I purchase a kitten that she was offering for sale, however she was not the breeder. The breeder was someone who she sold a cat to and now he was a new breeder of sorts.
When I picked up the kitten at the airport I noticed she was very small, she was never photographed next to other kittens so I could not have known she was so small.
Soon I noticed that she was always underfoot, she just didn't seem to be able to move fast enough. I stepped on her front paw, and it was obvious I had not hurt her, I did not put weight on her foot. I mentioned the fact that I had stepped on her paw when I asked the breeder why she didn't seem to be able to move out of the way of danger.
The next day I took her to the vet to check her foot, and there was no problem with the paw I had stepped on. There was however a problem with her hind paw, she had a Luxating Patella. I had the vet do surgery on her leg, and when I went to pick her up the vet said I have bad news....she has the same problem in the other rear leg. She died at 16 weeks old during the second surgery.
I now had almost $4000.00 invested in this kitten, and she was gone. The breeder said this was my fault since I had stepped on her front paw, and did not replace her. I later learned that she was the product of a father/daughter breeding, so she was inbreed by an inexperienced breeder. This breeder is out of business now, perhaps I was not the only one.
Last year I decided to purchase another breed, a Norwegian Forest Cat. By sheer luck I contacted ForestKatz.com When I recieved Faith from them, she had been bathed, groomed, nails trimed, and was in the best of health. Her outgoing personality tells me she had lots of attention from careing breeders. By sheer luck I found a really great breeder. Most breeder grill the purchaser about what their family is like, will they keep the cat inside, and of course no declawing, but what about the buyer who is out of state? They have only the breeders word, and some breeders are simply in it for the money.
We really need to be careful, and ask the right questions, and hope we get the right answers.

Hi Michael,

I hope this turns out to be a very useful forum.

I found my purebred Maine coon Tootsie, on petfinder.com, so I didn't end up going to a breeder, though I was starting to investigate breeders.

At that time, I had read about various genetic diseases in Maine coons, here at POC. But, the information really didn't sink in in a practical way, because I'd never thought before about getting a purebred cat, and I rather naively assumed that all breeders would want to do the best by their cats, period.

No, as I've since learned. I've gotten to know some MC breeders I respect, here and in Europe, and one way or the other they've indicated that bad MC breeders are not a rarity, perhaps in the majority.

But, before getting to "know" these good breeders, I'd done a lot research on various MC diseases, the various tests, inbreeding problems, and so forth. So I was able to ask very informed questions, and good breeders in my experience are always willing to discuss these problems in a friendly and helpful fashion, because they worry immensely about these problems themselves.

So, my strongest piece of advice to someone looking to get a MC or other purebred cat is to educate yourself (plenty of info here at POC), arm yourself with that info, and question breeders closely. Any breeder who is a good breeder and a decent person who really cares about the cats won't mind questions, and the more knowledge you have, the better the questions you can ask.

I was extremely lucky- the chances of finding a purebred MC on petfinder are about one in a gazillion, I now realize. And, Tootsie is a poly MC- she had been acquired by a local breeder for the sake of "genetic diversity"- MC polys aren't accepted in cat shows as bona fide MCs, they're in the minority (by far)of MCs, and I assume aren't terribly inbred. So, I was lucky on that account also.

As I said above, I had at first assumed all breeders would want the best for their cats. Very naive. So, if I hadn't found Tootsie, and had instead gone to a breeder (in my previously naive state of mind), who knows how I would have fared.

I would like to praise A1 Savannahs. Not only are they superb and generous hosts, they are highly professional cat breeders, with a very thoughtful and intelligent approach to the work.

They are arguably the world's best and almost certainly the most high profile.