Kitten$$$$

[dowie]

My friend bought a British Blue (Shorthair) kitten a couple of years ago for £550 and according to him it's honestly it's the best money he has ever spent in his life. It is true though, I've had a number of cats in my life and his one is the best ever... by a long shot.

You don't say why though? Is there something specific about their behaviour that differs significantly from a regular cat etc..?

Pedigree cats are quite expensive. I'd love an F1/F2 Savanah cat but I'll never have pockets that deep.

Me too, they look really cool. I can see the appeal of some cats - especially the exoitc types like that, bred with a non-domestic.

For dogs though I'd be tempted to just get any medium or large sized "mutt" from a shelter.

 

[Vince]

I have two that I paid for from a breeder, they are 6 now and cost about £300 each. Worth every penny... Then I have my rescue and she was going to be put down due to "issues" and needing surgery but had been at the vets in a tiny cage for several weeks. I had to at least try and give her a chance at life and a home as she was only approx 6 months old so agreed with the vet that we would go half each and give her a chance. Anyway she ended up costing me in excess of 1k (for all the work she needed) but again, she is adorable and I would do it again in a heartbeat. She is living the life now and has a brother and sister to play with as well as her own bedroom in the house... Im not even joking its daisys room and everyone knows it. She also recovered well from the work and i took her 8 weeks after agreeing the deal with the vet.

For me it was all about circumstance, i tried to rescue but the people who came around wernt impressed that I backed onto a railway and we were denied, funny really as my 3 wonder around the railway no issues and im yet to have a squished cat.

 

[unwashed potato!]

I find something deeply unpleasant about a £3k family fashion pet from an amateur breeder.

indeed. i will keep searching for the sensible priced options. i have no issue paying, but £100 already stops making sense to me. not a fan of helping encourage breeding for the sake of making $$$

 

[doodah]

House transfer/donated for our first, village friends for our next two and a farmer who wanted to get rid of a litre for our current. A few hundred isn't too bad (cat) but I know of two different people who each paid £3k for a bloody puppy .

 

[LiE]

not a fan of helping encourage breeding for the sake of making $$$

Then surely pop to your local shelter, seeing the poor animals who are destined to be killed soon is a big incentive to adopt.

 

[Hades]

A few hundred isn't too bad (cat) but I know of two different people who each paid £3k for a bloody puppy .

Highly priced animals are often highly bred pedigrees which come with long term health problems with vets bills as they get older (pug nosed dogs with breathing difficulties, some dog breeds with hip problems, etc). It's a bit like buying a car; get an exotic supercar and the purchase price is huge. But so is the ongoing maintenance and servicing. Buy an every day Honda and it's cheap as chips to run

 

[Street]

For me it was all about circumstance, i tried to rescue but the people who came around wernt impressed that I backed onto a railway and we were denied, funny really as my 3 wonder around the railway no issues and im yet to have a squished cat.

I know of a couple people that were made to jump through so many hoops by rescue centres that they gave up and paid for a Gumtree kitten as it was less hassle.

 

[dowie]

In the grand scheme of things the up front costs (whether £50 to a shelter or £500 to a breeder) are pretty minor - total cost of owning a cat over say 15 years could easily come in at like £15k-£20k... Your choice of food (and or whether you bulk by) could make more difference overall than the up front cost of buying the thing.

 

[secretspy]

My family has never paid for a cat or a dog other than donations to shelters. Please consider a rescue/shelter pet rather than a pedigree/farmed pet.

Agreed

I also know of someone who got a cat to breed for money and ended up losing almost the entire litter plus the mum. I bit my tongue but quite a few of us were livid with how selfish they were for doing that.
Ironically they lost money in all the vets bills trying to save the mum and the 1 remaining kitten.

I know of a couple people that were made to jump through so many hoops by rescue centres that they gave up and paid for a Gumtree kitten as it was less hassle.

I have to admit I did do similar. I was going to the nearest RSPCA centre to me (almost an hour's drive each way) every weekend to enquire if a cat i was interested in was available. At the time RSPCA wouldn't let you reserve an animal and the cat wasn't well so obviously wouldn't release him. I had to stop on route on the last visit as I wasn't well and then I waited for my mum to get out of the car instead of running ahead to the reception area. An elderly couple got there just before me and I missed out by a matter of a few minutes. I had just lost my dad and stood there looking at the cat crying behind this couple

There were then 2 kittens which my mum suggested adopting but the same thing happened again
They were sick and didn't know how long they would need to be in there and I wasn't allowed to reserve them. I visited every weekend and checked every day online. Eventually someone suggested I look on gumtree so I did. I felt awful for it but I wasn't in a good headspace at the time. I only intended to get one kitten but when I got there I saw the state they were in and the way the woman had been treating them so I paid for the remaining two (£50 each, she wanted £70) and got out of there (she'd had 3 left when I called and if all 3 were there I would have left with all of them)

I love my two to bits. They are still effected by the way they were treated but definitely an improvement from how they were.

 

[Johno please?]

There are soo many dogs and cats in shelters needing homes. people breeding them take the absolute ****, but the people buying them only have themselves to blame so whatever.

Yup, its a pretty shameful "business" and I wouldn't trust anyone who makes their living this way.

Got our 4 yr old cat from a shelter.

 

[Luckystrike123]

My moggies cost £10 each.

You must have fancy tastes for a kitty to cost that much.

 

[DEL 707]

I bought 2 Maine **** kittens about 13 years ago. 1 was £275, the other was £50, the runt of the litter.
Sadly, we're down to 1 cat now.

If I ever decide to get cats again, I think I'd definately go for rescues. So many cats need a good home.

I'd be lying if I wasn't tempted to get more cats now, but Bandit's an old man and he doesn't need that hassle in his life.

 

[FoxEye]

Double this.

Buying from a breeder is just fuelling a problem of animal exploitation e.g. breeding animals to sell for profit.

So should all pedigree breeds just die out then?

I would never try to dissuade someone from adopting from a shelter, but if you get an animal that's been abused you may never be able to earn their trust. Could have a lifetime of behavioural issues to contend with.

And assuming that all breeders are backyard breeders who abuse animals for profit is mistaken.

Just to let you know, I tried to buy an Ozzy Mist from a breeder a little ways up country. She vetted me and in the end turned me down. Said I didn't meet her expectations for an owner (didn't have my own home). Her cats were her life, and she wasn't going to let me have one at any cost.

Yes there are backyard breeders. There are **** in any walk of life. There are plenty of good breeders tho who care for their animals.

 

[LiE]

So should all pedigree breeds just die out then?

It’s a really good question and I don’t know the answer. I need to give it some deeper thought.

What I do know is that breeding and selling animals for profit is seeing animals as a product or commodity which I don’t agree with. The industry fuels the millions of pets in shelters, being euthanised by the truck load.

 

[dowie]

So should all pedigree breeds just die out then?

Well it isn't like they're individual species, they're just a subset of a species artificially created by humans via selective breeding. I don't oppose them in general tbh... if people want a type of cat or dog then why not?

I could however see an argument for ending some breeds or trying to change some behaviours among breeders - like when it is damaging for the dog for example - Pugs and similar dogs prone to breathing issues, German Shepherds bred with the silly sloping back prone to issues etc.. Those things ought to be changed/modified and not encouraged.

Also I don't see much point in say carrying on breeding fighting dogs - pit bulls/bull terriers (technically I guess pitbulls are illegal anyway but ill defined) - I'm not advocating taking away people's dogs but rather just neutering them I just think that general type shouldn't exist anymore in part because of a subset of owners and in part because of the disproportionate jaw strength and amount of damage they can do if/when they attack... any dog can attack and some breeds are more aggressive than others but an aggressive small dog that can't do any damage isn't really as big a deal.

 

[Psycho Sonny]

All you need to do is make it illegal to sell a cat or dog for more than £500, you also need to be licensed which comes out of your pocket a d subject to regular inspections.

I've had to report a backyard breeder. He was breeding extremely aggressive rottweilers. Thankfully they have been taken off him.

He saw them only as money. He only ever swore at them and kept them in cages in his back garden. Cages with no roofs or shelter.

Also chip every puppy and then have a register for the owners. If a chipped puppy ends up in a shelter the last registered owner should be liable for their costs.

 

[FoxEye]

Well it isn't like they're individual species, they're just a subset of a species artificially created by humans via selective breeding. I don't oppose them in general tbh... if people want a type of cat or dog then why not?

I could however see an argument for ending some breeds or trying to change some behaviours among breeders - like when it is damaging for the dog for example - Pugs and similar dogs prone to breathing issues, German Shepherds bred with the silly sloping back prone to issues etc.. Those things ought to be changed/modified and not encouraged.

Also I don't see much point in say carrying on breeding fighting dogs - pit bulls/bull terriers (technically I guess pitbulls are illegal anyway but ill defined) - I'm not advocating taking away people's dogs but rather just neutering them I just think that general type shouldn't exist anymore in part because of a subset of owners and in part because of the disproportionate jaw strength and amount of damage they can do if/when they attack... any dog can attack and some breeds are more aggressive than others but an aggressive small dog that can't do any damage isn't really as big a deal.

Yeah I won't disagree with some of that.

Sphinx cats or dogs with really short legs, or any breed notorious for health issues. Really short noses, breathing difficulties, etc. There are some breeds which simply exist to perpetuate what you might otherwise regard as a disability.

But more generally, humans have been breeding animals, and in doing so manipulating their characteristics, since time immemorial. I don't think there's any desire to stop it, except on grounds of animal welfare or breeding dangerous animals, etc.

There's nothing inherently wrong with having registered animal breeds, and indeed many breeders have made extensive efforts to outcross their breeds to improve the general health of the breed.

I'm fine with really extensive controls on breeding, mandatory registration and any measure designed to protect animal welfare. Absolutely in favour of measures to ensure or improve animal welfare. And also efforts to cut out the clowns (who exist in every industry ever conceived).

But I wouldn't say animal breeding is inherently "wrong" as some have come close to suggesting in this thread.

 

[potatolord]

My last cat was a feral tom. He attacked one of the guys in the sorting office where the ex worked, and would have been put down if she hadn't brought him home.

He was enormous, covered in scars, only had one ear and was extremely violent when we got him. He turned out to be quite jolly after a month or so of regular feeding.

I saw him once dragging a large ham over our fence. He'd stolen it from next door.

You have to love a cat like that. He had style.

 

[dowie]

I saw him once dragging a large ham over our fence. He'd stolen it from next door.

That's brilliant!

 

[GW1970]

This is gruffy my partners adopted Scottish fold who is happily terrorising Kazakhstan at the moment whilst we sort out getting him back to the UK