Buying a kitten

What has to be observed when you intend to buy a kitten ?

First of all, you should carefully check the breeder's home ! From experience we know that there are unfortunately several "black sheep" among breeders who try to sell ill and/or badly groomed animals.

The breeder from whom you want to buy a kitten should know all his animals by name and sex. If he is not able to do so you can expect the animals not to be very human orientated and thus they will not be easy to handle. We cannot recommend buying a kitten when your first impression is that the breeder is only interested in his profit and not in the animals themselves.

Here are some hints:

Do the animals appear to be healthy? That means, do they have clear and clean eyes, are the ears and the nose clean as well ? What about the backside, is it dirty ? Does the animal scratch itself all the time ? Is the animal lively, playing around or only sitting apathetically in a corner ? Does the animal come to the "visitor" or is it afraid and runs away ?

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  Ideally the cats should be brought up in the apartment or house with direct contact to the family and not in a separate annexe or in the cellar.

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  Is the "nursery" clean and bright and well aired ? Is the litter box clean or does it stink ? Is fresh water and sufficient food available or is it already old and dry ?

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  Before signing a contract you should be absolutely sure that the kitten is in a healthy condition. To be on the safe side, you can ask to see the vaccination pass of the parent animals. Have the animals been tested for leucose, if not please insist on this test.

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  Kittens should not be given away before they are 12 weeks old. (Beware of breeders who do this or even give the cats away according to their weight, i.e. when they have reached the weight of a 12- week-old cat although they are only 6 or 8 weeks old !!) By the time they are given away, the kittens should have been wormed and vaccinated twice so that the next vaccination (rabies, respiratory viral diseases, feline infectious enteritis) will only be due in a year's time.

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  A really "good" breeder will always bring the kitten personally to the new owner in order to see that the animal will be kept in suitable surroundings and will be well looked after. Together with the cat the buyer should receive the vaccination pass, the pedigree, a copy of the contract and often some food samples for the first days in the new home.

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  Ask the breeder which food he has given to the animal so far and keep to the same food during the first days or even weeks in order to avoid digestive problems. The same applies to the litter. If possible you should use the same sort of litter which the kitten is already accustomed to, so that the cat will accept the litterbox and will not soil the appartment.