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minimum adopting age (governing body rules)

post #1 of 15
6/28/10 at 3:23pm
Thread Starter 
Just wondering if the governing bodies in the US (or Canada since I know Sohni is Canadian) have rules about the age kittens can be adopted out.

Both associations I belong to have 12 weeks in the code of ethics, other states it's 10 weeks. Breeders can be de-registered if found to be adopting kittens out before that time, it's a good way of spotting the BYB's too since they let them go at 6-8 weeks.

Would be nice if the shelters here would raise it to at least 10 weeks too, instead of the current 8 weeks.
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post #2 of 15
6/28/10 at 4:30pm
There are no laws in the US at the present time... Many shelters here adopt out 6 week olds..
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post #3 of 15
6/28/10 at 5:06pm
I always stress a minimum age of 10-12 weeks old and the reasons why. If the shelters are adopting out 6 week old kittens, then when are they spayed/neutered - thought the minimum age was 8 weeks and 2 lbs to be neutered/spayed.

So if the shelters are adopting out 6 week old kittens, then none of them would be sterilized!
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post #4 of 15
6/28/10 at 5:34pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
There are no laws in the US at the present time...
Governing bodies....TICA, CFA etc., nothing to do with laws but rather the code of ethics registered breeders abide by (which is why I posted in the breeders section)
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post #5 of 15
6/29/10 at 9:42am
CFA does not have any rules that prohibit the sale and transfer of a kitten at any age. However, they do have procedures that are in place to address breeders who sell sick animals as well as Cattery Standards. Kittens under the age of 4 months are also not allowed in the show hall as they have not received all of their necessary vaccinations.
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post #6 of 15
6/29/10 at 9:56am
I don't think there is one in ACFA either. Its one of those "unwritten" rules that is just used as a guideline.
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post #7 of 15
6/29/10 at 10:06am
Don't know why I wasn't allowed to edit. . . wanted to give a more complete response.

CFA is a registry and not really a governing body. They register cats and their pedigrees and cattery names, but they don't register catteries. There is no code of ethics for members because there are no individual members. CFA itself is made up of member clubs, not individuals or catteries. Clubs do have codes of ethics for their members. The code of ethics for the breed club I am in requires that kittens not leave before 12 weeks of age, preferably at age 14-16 weeks. Breed councils also may have a code of ethics.

So, in short, CFA does not have a code of ethics for its breeder members because its members are clubs, but clubs and breed councils do have a code of ethics for their members.
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post #8 of 15
6/29/10 at 10:38am
This thread actually made me curious about what the law says in Sweden about that. My friend has dogs and she told me the law is 8 weeks for puppies, so I figured there must be a law for cats! And there is: 12 weeks is the youngest age a cat can be sold at here. Unfortunately I also found many cases where this law has been ignored... Sigh. Why don't people take proper care of their animals??
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post #9 of 15
6/29/10 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45 View Post
So if the shelters are adopting out 6 week old kittens, then none of them would be sterilized!
Some shelters can't afford to alter before adoption. I personally think that no cat should be allowed out of a shelter unaltered, but I suppose that it's better than killing them. Those that do alter before adoption don't really worry about the exact age of the kitten, as long as it weighs enough (and some will do kittens under 2 pounds), it gets altered. They can't afford to keep 6-week-old kittens around for 2 weeks, so it's either adopt them out or kill them. Sigh. If people would just spay their cats this wouldn't be a problem.

Some states do have laws stating that nobody can transfer ownership of a kitten/puppy before 8 weeks. But it's not strictly enforced, and shelters frequently don't know how old kittens really are.
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post #10 of 15
6/29/10 at 4:18pm
The shelter where I volunteer will adopt kittens out as young as 6 weeks, but only if they're orphaned and we've been bottle feeding them. If they're still with their mother I think it's closer to 10 weeks.

They can't be spayed/neutered that early, but we make an appointment at a local vet for them. The spay fee is included in the adoption fee. There's no guarantee that people will follow through, but they don't get a refund of the fee if they miss the appointment for any reason.
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post #11 of 15
6/29/10 at 4:23pm
I'm not aware of any code of ethics or guidelines that TICA has or recommends that stipulates at what age a kitten should be re-homed.
Bengal breeders are all over the map on this. 8 weeks to 16 weeks seems to be the spread.
My opinion is and has been that anything less than 12 weeks old is too young in almost all circumstances. Our minimum has always been 12 weeks, provided all kitten Vax's have been administered and the kitten is at least 2.5 to 3 pounds and healthy.
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post #12 of 15
7/10/10 at 11:45am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sharky View Post
There are no laws in the US at the present time... Many shelters here adopt out 6 week olds..
If a kitten is not with the mother and littermates at the shelter I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing... Being alone in a cage at a shelter (where they also are at risk for catching URIs or other diseases) is not necessarily better than being adopted in a home.
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post #13 of 15
7/11/10 at 1:03pm
In the Netherlands by law cats should not be seperated from their mother (or littermates if there is no mother anymore) before the age of 7 weeks.

For pedigreed cats the registering associations use the rule that the kitten must be at least 1 kilogram and thirteen weeks old.

All the prominent cat behaviourists here recommend that under ideal circumstances (kittens growing up in a safe environment with a social mother) kittens should be kept with mom until at least 16 weeks old. More and more catteries are starting to do that.
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post #14 of 15
7/11/10 at 4:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trollnystan View Post
This thread actually made me curious about what the law says in Sweden about that. My friend has dogs and she told me the law is 8 weeks for puppies, so I figured there must be a law for cats! And there is: 12 weeks is the youngest age a cat can be sold at here. Unfortunately I also found many cases where this law has been ignored... Sigh. Why don't people take proper care of their animals??
Wow, I hope we get that soon here in Finland too, it's currently 8 weeks for cats which is way too early IMO. My own opinion is 12-16 weeks, depending on the kitten.
FIFé has a rule of minimum age of 12 weeks. And one of the clubs I'm member of (under Fifé) has an extra rule abought weight too, the kitten must weight at least 1kg (approx. 2.2 lbs).
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post #15 of 15
7/13/10 at 1:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by trollnystan View Post
This thread actually made me curious about what the law says in Sweden about that. My friend has dogs and she told me the law is 8 weeks for puppies, so I figured there must be a law for cats! And there is: 12 weeks is the youngest age a cat can be sold at here. Unfortunately I also found many cases where this law has been ignored... Sigh. Why don't people take proper care of their animals??
Yep, you're not allowed to separate kittens from their mother or siblings before the age of 12 weeks. Since this is a relatively new law it probably isn't known to all Swedes yet so we that do know of it simply have to inform, inform and inform.
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