Questions to breeder: Cattery visitation by future family?

kazy

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Do you let future family visit your kitten before they are placed permanently?

If family is looking for particular personality of cat, but you didn't see that trait in current litter, what would you do? Let family wait until next time?

How would you know each kitten's personality? How soon can you tell what kind of temperament and personality your kittens have? Don't you let client reserve one of your kittens as soon as they are born?

I am considering about getting Russian Blue from local breeder. She doesn't take waiting list and no visitation...
 

goldenkitty45

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While its good to be able to visit, many breeders don't want a lot of germs, etc. coming in the house. They need to be a little cautious. When I was breeding, I met most of my kitten's future family at shows. I talked a lot to them, followed up with phone calls, email, etc. and went with my gut feeling.

My kittens ended up in good homes. Most breeds will have a pretty consistent type of personality for their breed, so its not so much as matching on personality as it is (for me) on color/sex. Rexes are pretty much a consistant personality


I would have a waiting list with the persons info, and their choice (if any) in sex or color. Then after the kittens were born, I'd contact those on the waiting list and let them know if I had what they wanted. If so, I would take an initial deposit on the kitten AFTER their 1st shots. They would not get the kitten till it was 4 months old and I would collect the rest of the price then.
 

gayef

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While I completely understand the reasoning behind the no visitation rule, I also think it is a bit restrictive. So long as the kittens are continuing to nurse (and gaining natural immunity) or have had their first in the series of kitten vaccines, there really shouldn't be a problem - just make sure you wash your hands and take off your shoes upon entering the house.

To be so obsessive about germs is to raise kittens who don't have the required immunity they need to not get sick once in the new home. My philosophy was to expose them to as many people, dogs, vacuum cleaners, etc. as possible in order for them to develop natural immunity to the things they will encounter on a daily basis. I never had any URI's or any other illnesses either.

I just think that as a society, we are becoming too obsessed with germ loads in our homes. Granted, it pays to be clean, but I think we can take it too far.
 

missymotus

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It's often said you should visit the home and if they won't let you they may have something to hide. I know some wait until 8 weeks when the kitten has their first vax.
 

goldenkitty45

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I DID allow owner/family to visit their chosen kitten when it was about 10-12 weeks old and had most of their shots. Anything younger, you may be putting them at risk.

When we picked up Charlie, I would have loved to seen the "cat house" they lived in - a separate house from the main one that had furniture, etc. The stud males had their own bedrooms - not cages. I saw pictures, but not in person as she just had 2 females with litters less then 6 weeks old and didn't want them exposed yet as they didn't have their shots started.

I guess it would depend on the age of the kittens as to when you could visit the breeder's house.
 

kitytize

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Before Kingston came home I was allowed to visit him when he was 10 weeks old. And when I am a breeder I will allow the future owner to visit.
 
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kazy

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It would be nicer for future family to be able to visit and choose from available kittens.
But I guess pure breed cats are so much high in demand and this would never happen.

What happens if buyer and kittens chemistry didn't match?
Is there an occasion where buyer didn't like the kitten breeder reserved for?
 

goldenkitty45

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Not for me - I also sometimes had pictures available. Spooky was such a love and enjoyed petting, etc, that he's the one that showed them what a rex was


Of course my rex babies were all spoiled from day one to have good personalities.

The ONLY returned kitten was due to her being deaf and I didn't know it. The owner had one kitten from another litter and wanted a 2nd one. But when she was found to be deaf and didn't get along with her older rex, she gave him back to me. I rehomed her to a family that had a deaf dalmation in the past and they spoiled the deaf kitten to death. They sent me pics on/off and told me how this kitten just loved all the attention and loved visitors
 

scamperfarms

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we allow visitors to come when the kittens have had their first shots. Its a precaution to keep the kittens safer. If we have newer litters we dont let them back in the nursery area to keep them safe. While i am not terrified of germs I prefer to be safe. I have had a few people not like the rule. But most totally understand.
 

sol

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I not only allow future owners to visit me, I demand it. I will not sell a kitten unless I've met the family (the whole family) and seen them interact with my cats. If they can't come to me I can come to them. If non of the things is a possibility there will be no affair.

I wanna talk to them, get to know them a little in order to see if I have the right kitten for them and if they are the right family for any of my kittens. I wanna see if the children are used to handling cats, if the parents are and how the parents act if the children aren't being careful enough.

If I don't have the right kitten for the family they can wait for another if they want to but since I usually don't have more than one litter a year (more like one litter every second year) I always recommend them to visit other breeders too. There's no guarantee the right kitten will ever be born in my cattery.

I think the personalities shine through quite fast. As soon as the kittens start moving around you start to see if they're shy or daring, if they're very playful or maybe a bit calmer etc.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by gayef

While I completely understand the reasoning behind the no visitation rule, I also think it is a bit restrictive. So long as the kittens are continuing to nurse (and gaining natural immunity) or have had their first in the series of kitten vaccines, there really shouldn't be a problem - just make sure you wash your hands and take off your shoes upon entering the house.

To be so obsessive about germs is to raise kittens who don't have the required immunity they need to not get sick once in the new home. My philosophy was to expose them to as many people, dogs, vacuum cleaners, etc. as possible in order for them to develop natural immunity to the things they will encounter on a daily basis. I never had any URI's or any other illnesses either.

I just think that as a society, we are becoming too obsessed with germ loads in our homes. Granted, it pays to be clean, but I think we can take it too far.
I have to say I'm in complete agreement with you Gaye. I work with a girl that is phobic about germs/bacteria - she has more health problems than I've ever had at my old age. Babies (human and animal) get antibodies from their mom's milk.

If I had chosen to buy a kitten from a breeder and the breeder approved of me, I would want to be able to visit and see that kitten in the weeks before I was able to take it home with me if I lived anywhere near enough to do so.

As for pictures of the breeder's facility, things can be made to look good in pictures that aren't necessarily so good in actual real life. I wouldn't trust pictures alone for information.
 

shambles

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Originally Posted by Kazy

What happens if buyer and kittens chemistry didn't match?

Is there an occasion where buyer didn't like the kitten breeder reserved for?
I would never accept a kitten without spending some time getting to know it in the breeders home. It is very important to see how the kitten acts in a familiar environment, and to see exactly how it was socialized for the first 4 months of it's life.
I went to meet my kitten when she was 8 weeks old. Her breeder actually did choose a kitten for me, she was a very sweet kitten and gorgeous, but I just knew she wasn't the right match for me. She was perfectly lovely, but I wanted a kitten with a big personality. I would've been so disapointed had this breeder tried to send me off with this kitten without my having any say! That same day I met my little Ruin, she was 8 weeks old - highly demanding, playful, and very very interested in me. PERFECT MATCH!
Now my point is, a breeder may choose a perfectly lovely kitten for you, but if your idea of the perfect personality and the breeders are different then it won't be a match.
If this breeder isn't willing to allow you to visit her home or to choose your kitten, I would keep looking.
 

marsch21

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Not only do we allow visitations we encourage it. We set up an area in our house away from the cattery and let the kittens loose. It is important to us for the potental customer to see and hold the kittens. It is a bit hard to assess the buyer without seeing them with the kittens. Also, we want them to pick the right kitty for them.

We start taking appointments when the kittens are 9 weeks. By then they are vaccinated and time has past to allow the antibodies to build up.
 

goldenkitty45

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She had told us if the kittens had been older, she would have taken us to see the cattery. Her husband is a vet, so they can be trusted. She has wonderful cats - its evident that Charlie had a lot of spoiling as a baby for those first 3 months before we got him
 

ferriscat

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Since I don't even have any pregnant queens, I'm still debating how to go about cattery visits. Right now, I've got a kitten inquiry form on my cattery website so that I can screen new owners. I've also got a room in the house set up to serve as the kittening room, and depending on who is living in it, I may or may not let potential buyers see it. If we have any kittens that have not had their first round of shots, it's a no go.
Our stud is a very ornery fellow and expresses his love with typical purring Turkish Love Bites. He won't break your skin, but it is a little startling to say the least
I think his former family let him think that biting was okay
I don't think I'd want any kitten buyers to meet him because I just don't want them to get the wrong idea.
 

tick-tag

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Originally Posted by Kazy

Do you let future family visit your kitten before they are placed permanently?
Of course, I do. They can visit whenever they want as long as it's not every day ;-) I am not afraid of germs from petbuyers, they rarely have any bad disseases at home. I allow visit from when the kittens are 4 weeks old, but at that age, I ask the buyers to put on clean cloth, when they leave home, leave their shoes in the hall and wash their hands before I take them to the babies. The reason I don't allow visits before they are 4 weeks is that I don't want the new mom to be stressed. If she is very laid back, I might allow it, but only rarely.

I want my kittens to be safe, but I also don't want fragile kittens, that will get sick immidiately when they move to a new home and encounters new germs. If my breeding program is supplying my with kittens that are weak, I want to know, so I can do something differently.

Untill now, I have never had a single bad experience with the way I do things. None of my kittens have gotten sick from having visitors and none of my kittens get sick, when they move into their new home. I have been breeding since 2001 and until now none of the cats I have bred, have gotten sick and died - they are all still alive, so I think that they are pretty strong.

Originally Posted by Kazy

If family is looking for particular personality of cat, but you didn't see that trait in current litter, what would you do? Let family wait until next time?
I tell the family, we discuss it and maybe the trait isn't that important after all. If it is, They can wait for another litter or I will refer them to another breeder.

Originally Posted by Kazy

How would you know each kitten's personality? How soon can you tell what kind of temperament and personality your kittens have? Don't you let client reserve one of your kittens as soon as they are born?
It shows when they are pretty young. Actually even newborns clearly have different personalities. Sometimes it changes a bit when they get older, but you can tell pretty soon. No, my kittenbuyers can't reserve a kitten as soon as it's born. I want to see how it developes and I want to be sure that it's the right kitten for them. Besides from that, I will never breed I litter, where I'm not planning to keep something myself, and I don't sell any of the pets befor I'm sure, whitch one I'm keeping myself.
 

yosemite

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Originally Posted by Tick-Tag

Of course, I do. They can visit whenever they want as long as it's not every day ;-) I am not afraid of germs from petbuyers, they rarely have any bad disseases at home. I allow visit from when the kittens are 4 weeks old, but at that age, I ask the buyers to put on clean cloth, when they leave home, leave their shoes in the hall and wash their hands before I take them to the babies. The reason I don't allow visits before they are 4 weeks is that I don't want the new mom to be stressed. If she is very laid back, I might allow it, but only rarely.

I want my kittens to be safe, but I also don't want fragile kittens, that will get sick immidiately when they move to a new home and encounters new germs. If my breeding program is supplying my with kittens that are weak, I want to know, so I can do something differently.

Untill now, I have never had a single bad experience with the way I do things. None of my kittens have gotten sick from having visitors and none of my kittens get sick, when they move into their new home. I have been breeding since 2001 and until now none of the cats I have bred, have gotten sick and died - they are all still alive, so I think that they are pretty strong.



I tell the family, we discuss it and maybe the trait isn't that important after all. If it is, They can wait for another litter or I will refer them to another breeder.



It shows when they are pretty young. Actually even newborns clearly have different personalities. Sometimes it changes a bit when they get older, but you can tell pretty soon. No, my kittenbuyers can't reserve a kitten as soon as it's born. I want to see how it developes and I want to be sure that it's the right kitten for them. Besides from that, I will never breed I litter, where I'm not planning to keep something myself, and I don't sell any of the pets befor I'm sure, whitch one I'm keeping myself.
You sound like the kind of breeder I would want to buy from. I also believe that cats choose us rather than we choose the cat or at least I believe that works better.

My hubby and daughter love Abby's (as do I, of course) so perhaps one day we will be blessed to have one in our lives.
 

bengalbabe

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I encourage buyers to come as soon as they want am I am available. If I have nothing for them yet, they can see the ones I have there at the time and interact with them so they can see how social all of my kittens usually are. I even let people peak at the newborns if they like. I allow deposits on newborns but I usually don't price them till they are 5 weeks old and I have the option to cancel the sale should the kitten turn out to be one that I would like to keep for my own program.
Some people live too far to visit the cat first anyway.

I have some waterless hand wash in the kitten room, but that's really the only precaution I take. I don't make people take off shoes. I figure my family brings in just as many germs as visitors. I keep the environment as clean as possible but I don't live in a hospital and don't want to!

Many people forget that animals (and people) have immune systems. I think most vaccines are overrated and don't work very well or cause disease (except panulukopenia and rabies) but that's a whole nother topic. If they get a cold, it's no big deal, they will fight it off. If they don't fight it off, that's not a kitten i'd want to charge money for anyway!
 
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