I would WANT any potential breeders to ask me difficult questions as those are the questions that would make me feel confident that I was buying from a reputable breeder. One who loves and cares deeply for their kittens.

Again, I would feel that any breeder who would ask for an early neuter shows once again the care they take with their kitten. This makes me feel confident in the breeder.

The MORE breeders ask of me the MORE I feel confident in them. It's pretty obvious to me. I WANT them to care about their kittens that makes me feel confident that they are a caring breeder that I can trust. If I came across a breeder who appeared uninterested I would avoid them completely!

How much a kitten costs would really be at the bottom of my list. That doesn't mean I am an easy target for being ripped off. I think it's pretty easy to know a reputable breeder for a back yard breeder from talking for a few minutes with them over the telephone.

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Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie

A quick Google search shows your username as an established cattery and the whole situation is throwing red flags to me! The cattery name is registered with TICA so it's just a little weird. You sound like you have researched and know what to look for so I'm a little confused. You never mentioned you were looking at her for breeding/showing and you clear frustration with ESN made it look/sound exactly like a BYB looking for the cheap way out. Sorry if I offended you but that's EXACTLY how it came across to me. Breeders that breed the RIGHT way I have nothing but respect for. I TRULY hope that is what your intentions are!

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Pet quality kittens are generally priced a lot lower than show/breeder quality. Usually £300-600 here in the UK for pet and £1000-2000 for show/breeder I have researched. I paid £1500 for my Toby as a pet but he was going to be sold as a breeder and the breeder says he is good enough to be shown. I paid for the quality of his coat and type even though he is only going to be kept as a pet. So it really does depend. I don't think that the price you were quoted is unreasonable at all as the kitten has an outstanding pattern and sometimes that is what you will pay for. Notice that many 'pet quality' kittens have duller, watered-down coat markings.