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About our kittens
We vaccinate our kittens at 9 weeks and 12 weeks, but even then we ask people to come in clothing that hasn't been in contact with other cats since washing, because not everything can be prevented by vaccinations and we do our very best to make sure we are selling healthy kittens. We vaccinate for calici, herpes, parvovirus and leukemia. At both vaccinations the kittens have health checks done by the vet. (If you are taking your kitten to shows, or putting them in a cattery, we suggest you get them vaccinated for Bordatella. We have spoken to our vet about getting them done before they leave us but he considers this to be stressing their system with too many vaccines at once, so this would be better done once they've gone to their new homes.) Please note - WE ONLY SELL KITTENS TO HOMES WHERE THEY WILL ALWAYS BE KEPT AS INDOOR ONLY CATS. We love our cats and kittens very much and wouldn't want them to be at risk of road accidents, theft, etc. Cats lead very happy lives as indoor cats, providing they are given enough attention, and if everyone is out all day, then we suggest a companion cat should be around for them to play with. The average lifespan of an indoor cat is 15-19 years. The average age of a cat allowed out to roam is 3-5 years. But if you are looking for a cat to let out, if you let me know, then I can put you in touch with breeders who are happy for their kittens/cats to be let outside. We don’t allow any kitten to go to a home unless it is agreed they will be neutered by the age of six months old (unless purchased for breeding). Because all of our cats are sold as indoor only cats, this isn’t for the reason of preventing unwanted pregnancies. The reason is that neutered cats make far better pets! We want our cats to have healthy happy lives and their owners to be delighted with them! Unneutered females are at risk of pyometra and breast cancer and these are both life threatening problems. Unneutered males are at risk of testicular or prostrate cancer and hernias, which again are life threatening. But an unneutered cat, male or female, is highly likely to spray – urinate on furniture, floors, curtains, or anywhere else and this is why it’s important to neuter before the age of 6 months. Before they begin this habit. Also, they may become aggressive and unhappy through frustration. Neutered cats are the soppiest friendliest, affectionate fun loving cats, but cats, especially males, left entire can become aggressive to each other and to people because their hormones are raging and this distracts them from being affectionate to their owners and companion cats. It’s just not worth it. Also, it can be really difficult to keep weight on an unneutered male cat. This is the biggest problem that breeders have. Because the hormones are always raging and they often aren’t contented unless they have constant supplies of girls to mate, it can be real struggle to keep their weight or condition. They are also more playful and better companions. If neutering was simply done to remove risks of pregnancy, vasectomies would be carried out rather than removal of the testes. But it’s the removal of the testes that takes away the male hormone and that is what makes a male a much better pet if neutered. If an unneutered cat did get out accidentally (and they would be desperately trying to get out at any opportunity because they were entire) they would go looking for a mate and there would be a huge risk of picking up all sorts of infections such as Aids which is a killer as well as Leukemia (although they are vaccinated against Leukemia, this is only 80% protective so there is still a risk of contracting it, which is another reason we say cats should be kept indoors). There is no vaccination for Feline Aids. Neutering is a very simple operation for a male. I’ve watched the vet do it, and it takes only moments and when they come round from the anaesthetic it’s as though all they’ve had is a vaccination. Even though it's a bigger operation for a female, our girls have still come home bright and ready to play (despite the vet saying they should rest for a few hours! He didn't tell us how to MAKE them rest!:-)))). Our cats haven't seemed to give the neutering a second thought. If a male and female kitten are going to the same home together, at the same time, our vet has agreed to neuter the boy before he goes to his new home unless the new owner has a vet who will guarantee to neuter at least the boy before 16 weeks of age. We often find that vets are unwilling to neuter kittens under the age of 6 months (although this is gradually changing now and more and more vets are willing to neuter from 14 weeks old) so to avoid any risk at all of an unwanted pregnancy occurring we would in that case get the boy neutered before leaving us. There are cases of girls starting to call at the age of 5 months old, and I have heard of boys being able to father kittens at that age, albeit rare. We would generally suggest that neutering is done between 16 and 24 weeks of age, but as mentioned, this will depend on your vet. We are often asked for breeding kittens, and are happy to consider this but we should be aware of this from the first enquiry if possible, and this also applies if a kitten was wanted for showing. This gives us the opportunity to choose the best kitten for the purpose. Unless previously discussed, all our kittens are registered with the GCCF on the NON ACTIVE register - this means they cannot be bred from. Our kittens are born in our bedroom, where they stay for the first three to four weeks, and as soon as they get to the stage of trying to climb out of the kitten pen and up the valance we move them (for their own protection in case they got into the bed in the night and we squashed them!) to the kitten room at night and the lounge during the day. They are then gradually introduced to the rest of the household so that by about 9 weeks they are fully integrated as part of our household and mixing with our other cats, having the run of our home. They are very well socialised. We put photos of the kittens up weekly on our site, from the day they are born, and do a kitten diary, so that people can watch their kittens develop. Many owners particularly enjoy this and use the photos to make an album of their kitten while they are waiting for the time to come to take him/her home. The kittens are covered for six weeks insurance with Petplan and registered with the GCCF, and we give information on diet and 'taking your kitten home' and assure kitten owners that we are here for the life of the cat, to help in any way we can, and to very gratefully receive photos/updates on the cats as they grow up and get older. We very much encourage people to feel free to contact us and ask anything at all at any time, before or after they have kittens from us. If the kitten/cat needed rehoming at any time we would ask owners to contact us so we could give as much help as possible. Because in the past we have been really messed about by time wasters, holding kittens for people while turning away good homes, only to find that people changed their mind for various reasons, we will now only reserve a kitten when a deposit has been received. Chris
and Derek,
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