Shocked at the price of kittens!

MrsE_2

I paid £350.00 for Charlie.

But he's a colourpoint exotic & colourpoints aren't common.

ETA & this is his first mummy

http://www.assolutaexotics.co.uk/

Torry_Quine

I have always got my cats from CPL and have never paid for them.

bananachip

My first choice when looking for a cat was the CPL but after a phone call they said I couldn't have one because I live on a busy road and they do not home cats to be housecats.

I got my kitten through word of mouth, a friend of a friend's cat had kittens and we got one for free, she refused any money but I took a case of cat food for the mum cat when she was feeding the kittens and gave the owner a gift to say thankyou.

My kitten is now a happy and very spoiled adult cat who is mainly indoor but also goes into my cat proofed garden so he is safe from the road.

I would be happy to pay a rescue centre the money for a cat as I know the money is going to a good cause but when I see the adverts charging for kittens I think the owners are just trying to make a quick buck. Getting an animal for free does not mean the owner does not care or take their responsibilities seriously nor does paying a reasonably small sum put the bad owners off.

Torry_Quine

bananachip wrote: »

My first choice when looking for a cat was the CPL but after a phone call they said I couldn't have one because I live on a busy road and they do not home cats to be housecats.

That surprises me as My cats from the CPL have always been house cats and that has never been a problem.

Josky

seafarers_wife wrote: »

we paid £100 for our moggy as we couldnt find a kitten anywhere for love nor money. we asked the vet and friends to keep an ear out but even the rescue centres round here didnt want to know and didnt return phonecalls or emails.

saying that i would never ever buy a kitten again like that, as the woman we bought our cat off is an irresponsable bleep. she lied to us about the age of our first cat and it died after 2 days, and she lied about the age of the next one, she told us our first cat was 7 weeks old, it was under 5 weeks we found out after it had died (found it out by comaring size to the next cat), she told us it was eating solids, we should have actually been up every few hours through the night feeding it so the poor thing died through god only knows what. and she wanted to see if was dead so we werent pulling a fast one when we called to say it had died! she did give it back to us to bury though after we had provided it had died!

This sounds so much like me with our first kitten. I had never had kittens before - only adopted adults - but I really wanted a grey tabby, so I advertised online. A lady contacted me saying that she had an 8-week old boy ready to go. I went to pick him up, and the house was literally swarming with cats and kittens (I think it was an old farmhouse), which should have started alarm bells ringing - I think they had something like 13 adult cats?? Having never had a kitten before I didn't think to question his size; it's only when we got him home and some more knowledgeable people got a look at him that we were advised that he was more likely to be around 5 weeks old. I was mortified and felt so bad for our little guy! Luckily he was mostly-weaned and we didn't have a problem with him eating. He was smothered in fleas, and was too small to be treated with spot-ons, so we had to use a spray for kittens and lightly bathe him every couple of days so that the fleas could be combed out (even now he loves water and being combed). Despite all of this he is still with us over 2 years later, and is a wonderful cat. We still have some evidence of his traumatic youth; he occasionally soils in the house (I think he wasn't fully litter trained) and is very nervous of new situations; however I would not trade him for the world. I paid £100 for him (I live in Surrey - everything is expensive here).

Our second kitten also came from a Freead a year later, and could not be more different. He was clearly well-loved by his owner, although he is also a moggie from an unknown pairing; he was socialised, confident, well-handled, full weaned and litter-trained, accustomed to household noises, good-natured...all-in-all, without a doubt the perfect kitten. I paid the same price for him, and gladly would do so again as he is just wonderful.

Would I buy another kitten from a Freead? Possibly, now that I know what to look out for. Sadly I am not considered by rescues (well, the RSPCA) due to my working hours, so this is the only way I would be able to have a kitten. I do agree that there are a lot of unscrupulous "breeders" that advertise on Freeads, so discretion is a must. I personally would not buy from a petshop; you cannot see the environment that the kitten was raised in, what stimulus it has been exposed to etc.

bethie

I got both of my cats from local shelters (different ones).

First one is a tiny local shelter and I donated £50 quid and they were really surprised and really pleased with that amount.


Second cat was from the RSPCA and I think I donated £60. (And, she is an indoor cat, I work long hours, and I have a dog!)



I'm not necessarily paying for the animal per say, but for all the care and food and what not they would have had over the past months, and to help other kitties which may come along and may be stuck there for longer.


I'll spend way more than £60 quid on them over their lifetime, so it really doesn't mean much to help out a variety of animals in need.

edit : neither of mine were kittens either. the boy was fully grown, but didn't have his vaccine papers, so we just did them again, but the girl had all her papers, so came vacc'd, wormed, and spayed.

merlin68

I got a cat of gumtree paid £20 for her. Took her to get spayed and turned out that she was pregnant. Was really angry as ended up with 4 kitties to rehome. The mother cat dissapperead just after i did get her spayed and never came back.

paidinchickens

our cat has just had four kittens. The plan was to keep one and sell three to cover the costs of vet bills for mummy and injections for the kitten, worming etc.....however I am being ganged up on to keep all four!!! I am weak:o

To worm the kittens alone is £30 flea treatment £30 snip for mummy £48 routine check up for kittens before they go £17. So maybe people are charging more to cover costs.

Fire_Fox

Torry_Quine wrote: »

That surprises me as My cats from the CPL have always been house cats and that has never been a problem.

Each branch of CP is largely autonomous; apparently HQ get involved in the running of branches only if there are major problems. Plus some volunteers take it upon themselves to decide the rules - my local branch of the RSPCA told me via e-mail they did not agree with indoor cats even tho I had specified deaf, FIV etc. I found out via their Facebook page eighteen months later this was a complete lie! :eek: It also depends what people ask for (eg. healthy solo indoor kitten or aging lapcat) and even on the exact area - there are whole estates/ streets some rescues will not touch due to the poor reputation for animal welfare.

The policy on indoor cats is inextricably linked to the 'no kill' policy as what do they do with deaf, partially sighted, one legged or FIV cats who cannot be allowed to roam free? No kill policies are generally applicable to healthy animals; is a disability or carrier status unhealthy?

Miroslav

17 years ago I had a home visit from CPL and they never got back in touch, so I got my 5 cats privately and they've all had good lives. Only 2 left now sadly, but had some great years with my clan. None of them cost me a penny but I would pay in the future if looking for a new friend or two.

In January I applied to do some voluntary work for the same branch of the CPL that never got back to me in 1994. After giving my name and address via email for an application pock, I never heard a thing. I have no criminal record so I couldn't have been checked for that and had a bad response and I doubt they would have done so early in the process. I think some people in these places take it upon themselves to make themselves important and play god if you like. I understand the need to be careful as to where cats go, but maybe my area of town has a bad reputation or something.