Please define "Backyard Breeder"

[snosrap5]

I know now I shouldn't have bought my pups from BYB, but is there no way to stop people from doing this? Is not buying animals from them the only way to stop it from happening?

Mine are both spayed. When I think about 15 puppies, I wonder will all the new owners be as responsible. With Kisses they never even asked if I was going to have her spay. I remember with Scoobie the lady asked if I would get her spay because she didn't want any competition. She said she was burned that way in the past.

I'm just curious because there are ALOT of what seem to be puppy and kitten mills in this area. We even have someone who sells 4 different breeds of dogs. They claim to always have puppies.

 

[hissy]

BYB used to mean Bring Your Own Booze. Now, it is synonymous with backyard breeders. There have been times when I have taken a litter of kittens in to be spayed. These kittens have been sequestered from the rest of my group from the first day they arrive here, only exposed to each other, and more than once the females are found to be pregnant at the spay. I ask for the spay to continue. To not do so, would move me into the realm of BYB- which is irresponsible reproduction for personal, selfish, or monetary gain.

Do I love kittens? Oh yes, every single one of them. But if you love kittens and you love puppies, call a local shelter and foster them. This way, you might have some back-up if in the middle of the night your kitten starts to fade and you don't know how to stop it. Or if it is so infested with fleas that the life is being literally sucked right out of of the poor thing. You don't have money for a vet, but if you foster with the right group, that money is provided for you.

Like Tania, I have held both healthy, and ill and even dying kittens in my heart. Every time I read the claim on many ads "we breed for quality, not quantity" I groan inwardly. True breeders, that are responsible for clean lines and healthy cats with not a lot of genetic flaws do not have to make that claim. Their kittens and their cats speak for themselves. Just because someone has a registered animal, does not give them in my opinion the right to breed that animal. Only after time and research and looking into the lines- should breeding even be a thought.

Yes, accidents happen, and another litter of kitten brought into the world means that more accidents are liable to happen, because to many times, the kittens are adopted out without being neutered first, and not everyone who adopts a kitten is a responsible pet owner.

It is estimated that over 60 million feral cats exist in the United States today. These unwanted, unloved and hardly touched by human hands cats wouldn't exist if not for US. For the human who kicked an intact cat out of the house to "roam" or got upset because his female peed in his recliner. These cats meet up and mate and deliver litters unto a problem that already exists- overpopulation of cats.

So why knowingly add to the problem? Why create more strays and ferals, that will have to struggle to survive and tragically many will die. Why bring into the world kittens of unknown lines just because you want to have kittens in your home? It makes truly no sense to anyone on the front lines of actually caring of cats and their welfare.

And by the way, our new "registered" German Shepherd puppy? This "breeder" is not a true breeder. The traits in this dog are no where near the traits of a true shepherd. She has already caught and killed over six songbirds! Leaps up in midair, catches them in her jaw and kills them instantly.

This line should have never been created, yet, the woman calls herself a qualified breeder. Even bird dogs do not kill birds, they seek them out and wait for their master to do the killing then fetch them back.

Stepping off my soapbox now-this is a subject I feel passionate about.

 

[gayef]

Originally Posted by snosrap5

I know now I shouldn't have bought my pups from BYB, but is there no way to stop people from doing this? Is not buying animals from them the only way to stop it from happening?

Unfortunately, yes, it is the only way. People who hold such a reckless disregard for their animals only do it for the money. They are not interested in having healthy, happy, outstanding examples of that specific breed. They are only interested in the money these kittens will bring. If we stop buying the animals they produce and give them the money, then we can hope they will lose interest in breeding.

Mine are both spayed. When I think about 15 puppies, I wonder will all the new owners be as responsible.

We can hope that all the other pups went to people as responsible and loving as you.

I'm just curious because there are ALOT of what seem to be puppy and kitten mills in this area. We even have someone who sells 4 different breeds of dogs. They claim to always have puppies.

That is a very sad shame. I just wish that more people would understand what it is that they are so carelessly fooling around with.

 

[semiferal]

A lot of people have no idea what a BYB or puppy/kitten mill is, so therefore they don't know that it is bad to get a pet from one.

I work at a pet supply store and I take every opportunity to explain to people what to look for in a good breeder and what characteristics are "red flags". Of course, I always tell people to try shelters and rescues first, but I know that someone who is looking for a specific purebred puppy may not be able to find one in a shelter or rescue so I at least want them to have the necessary information so they don't unknowingly perpetuate puppy mill cruelty.

 

[nebula11]

Emmet is actually a 7th generation BYBreeding.......This one family has had a whole family line run through thier house......Emmets great great great great great great great grandmother was the families first cat......

How freekin sick is that...Thank god he doesnt have deformities and medical problems....ecspecially since all this breeding remained within one family line...Though I am begining to wonder if his urethra obstructions may be a result of this imbreeding.....

Then their was this girl whose aunt was a definite backyard breeder...or more like the poster child of BYB...except she never gave any of the kittens away.....I remember one time this brother and sister cats....just reached thier sexual maturity..and the sister was pregnant....She had a real rough labor and almost died.....it was an 8 cat litter...3 died outright, 4 of them had hernias, 1 died about a year later and the last one was blind......Then to top it all off, during the poor cats very next heat, the 7 year old daughter entertained her friends by getting the brother and sister to mate.......

And what is so completly mindbinding is that they felt that spaying/neutering was inhumane....yet bringing sick, deformed, sickly cats into the world isnt humane.....Plus never mind their house constantly smelled like cat spray....I never liked going over there, I always waitied in the car.....

Out of freekin control I tell ya

 

[bengalbabe]

I know some people who let thier cats breed thinking they will get money for them. They are just a bunch of mixes. The cats give birth in the garage and wander all over the neighborhood. I asked them if I could have one of the kittens because my daughter was practically crying from seeing it because it was so skinny under the fur. They said NO!!!
Some people make no sense at all.....they let the cats breed and breed and breed and won't take care of the cats/kittens but won't even give away the kittens!

 

[bengalbabe]

Originally Posted by semiferal

A lot of people have no idea what a BYB or puppy/kitten mill is, so therefore they don't know that it is bad to get a pet from one.

I work at a pet supply store and I take every opportunity to explain to people what to look for in a good breeder and what characteristics are "red flags". Of course, I always tell people to try shelters and rescues first, but I know that someone who is looking for a specific purebred puppy may not be able to find one in a shelter or rescue so I at least want them to have the necessary information so they don't unknowingly perpetuate puppy mill cruelty.

This is true. Before I started breeding bengals I didn't know about puppy/kittens mills and brokers. I didn't understand that it was bad to buy a puppy from a pet shop. Now im sickened when I see people doing these things because I understand why.

 

[hissy]

I knew of a family with dozens of feral cats, they allowed them to breed all the time, in their quest for a white kitty.

When a white kitty is born, she was taken from her mom and brought into the house and raised as a house cat. The others, were left strictly up to their own devices to fight, to mate, to die- it truly was sickening.

 

[bengalbabe]

Originally Posted by hissy

I knew of a family with dozens of feral cats, they allowed them to breed all the time, in their quest for a white kitty.

When a white kitty is born, she was taken from her mom and brought into the house and raised as a house cat. The others, were left strictly up to their own devices to fight, to mate, to die- it truly was sickening.

not only sickning but stupid! Why didn't they just go to the pound and adopt a white kitten??!!!??

 

[hissy]

I have no clue- the daughter only liked white kittens, so there you go-

 

[wellingtoncats]

Mary Anne,

That is so sad!

 

[opilot]

Yeah well. These are the same people who think its not "right" or "natural" to practice birth control.

I have seen similar things - my friend with the tom... Yeah, it was CLEAR it was not going to be a stud or show cat from about month 3 on. Dad wasn't gonna let his teen age daughter show. So... did they fix? No!! They just let it out to roam!!!

Pure stupidity. They would have saved themselves a big vet bill for the removal of the broken fang, if they'd have just fixed Tigar
before letting him roam...I think nowadays if they had cats/dogs they would fix them - they've been educated by me

Once my eyes were opened to the pet store animal trade, I never
got a cat there again. In fact, I've bought only one cat home from the pet store. That was Diablo, and only because he
was a black kitten on Halloween and I felt terrible about it.

He was 5 1/2 wks per vet when I got him - he'd been there since he was 4 1/2 or 5 wks old!! Crikes. That's so irresponsible!

He was tiny but scrappy and VERY hungry. He grew into a big guy - 16 lbs of complete love cat. But I always wondered if the litter of himalyanas (sp!!) he was with, were his litter mates (the pet store people said they came in one lot - if so, he was definitely product of BYB...because those were
definitely himmies).

Curiously enough, people have mistaken him for "pure breed" of some black - Havana (sp!) or bombay being their point of reference... He does have some real siamese looking ears, and a big wedge head, its true. And a real
one people cat personality, LOL!!

anyway - I will never understand how people can be so cruel and
thoughtless about breeding animals. I guess it says alot about their
own lives and value systems...

My motto - always check how people treat their pets - then you
know if you want to be with them or not, LOL!

 

[menagerie mama]

People...

 

[joecool]

My own neighbors have an unneutered tom that they have had for two years, since kittenhood.

Now get this. He is strictly outdoor.

 

[gayef]

Originally Posted by joecool

My own neighbors have an unneutered tom that they have had for two years, since kittenhood.

Now get this. He is strictly outdoor.

So, do you think it would be correct to consider this neighbor a backyard breeder?

 

[joecool]

Yes, i suppose they could be labeled as such.

They refuse to allow anyone to suggest anything be done with their animals. They insist that they will get to it eventually. They have been saying that they will do so for over a year. Come to think of it, it may be two years as the cat is now three.

 

[gayef]

Accurately, no, those neighbors are NOT backyard breeders. Accurately, they are irresponsible pet owners. There is a difference.

 

[joecool]

I think you are right. They aren't backyard breeders, because they never see the kittens.

 

[hissy]

Wesley, the only thing you can do is try and get these people to understand (without browbeating them) that neutering this cat is in their best interest. Call the local animal shelter and ask the girl if they issue low-cost spay or neuter certificates? Some of them do. Jan-March here is a low cost spay and neuter push in most of the clinics, if it is the same where you live, they can take advantage of that.

 

[bab-ush-niik]

So many of these stories are so sad. Here's an accidental breeding with a happy ending.

A abandoned/stray cat decided to start living in my parents' garage. It was eating their cats' food, so they got a trap from the SPCA. At 4:30, the cat was caught, and my dad drove it down to the humane society. She was very aggressive, so we assume she was put to sleep. The SPCA closes at 5:00. At 5:30, my mom is sitting in the room next to the garage and hears babies mewing. And both of our females are spayed...

My parents searched the garage and yard and found 4 babies. All were undernourished, one died very soon. They felt bad, having taken their mother away, so they brought them inside. They even did 2 am feedings until the babies were weaned.

The three babies were socialized and given good homes. They've been fixed and had their shots. They were all adopted as "outdoor cats", but apparently they were so sweet that they've all taken over their homes.

And since they've all been fixed, they won't be making more accidents.