I breed Tonkinese. I had a lady emailing me for months leading up to my litter last year. She was desperate for a Tonkinese and loved my website and the kittens in my previous litter so wanted to wait for the next litter. I had offered for her to come and visit the adult cats in the meantime to make sure a Tonkinese was for her but she struggled with transport as she didn't drive so was reliant on her neighbour and I was 20 miles away so a bit far for just a social visit.
So, kittens born and I let her know. I told the people waiting for kittens that they could be viewed from 6 weeks old. So they were waiting until then. She could only get transport towards the end of that week after a few other viewings. She was 2nd on the list of people asking for kittens but 1, 3 and 4 on the list came before her so had expressed a preference. We were keeping 1 and ere was 1 going as a breeder. She did not mind about sex or colour and had read the kitten diary so had no preference at all, she would have whatever was available she said.
I knew a bit about her. She had a 2 year old Korat who was a little bored. She was an elderly lady but was very able. She had a terminally ill husband and really wanted a companion cat as her Korat did not like to sit on her lap at all. Tonkinese are very social cats and love cuddles. I frequently have 2 or 3 on my lap (more if we have kittens).
So, she arrived with her neighbour and stood in the room talking very loud. I asked if she wanted to sit down but she seemed not to hear me
the neighbour did though. The lady stood there talking to the kittens and wanting to know why they were running around and not stopping so she could see them properly, they were nearly 7 weeks and very active kittens. I explained that they were just playing. Did she want to sit down and they might come to see her, still no reaction. She asked which ones were still available and I showed her the two that were. She wanted to hold one so I picked one up for her and she kept holding it out to see, which made them squirm. Her neighbour now had two asleep in her lap. After about 20 mins she finally sat down. She wanted to hold them again but they wouldn't stay with her. Mostly because of the way she was holding them. They kept climbing onto her shoulder and running away. She was concerned about how much they were playing as she doesn't have the time to spend with her Korat playing, she gets tired before the cat does. She was concerned that the kittens didn't like her because they wouldn't let her hold them. She kept holding them out in front of her asking them why they didn't like her??
She was completely batty. She said, well I'll just have whichever you think will be best for me (I was thinking, none of them!). I managed to get her to go home and think about it. I then had the task of formulating an email to say that she wasn't suitable for one. I think an adult cat would have been a much better choice, but a kitten was just not suitable. I emailed her but followed it up with a call. She cried down the phone as she was so worried about being alone when her husband died and thought a cat would help but her Korat didn't like her. I found her several older cats that would be suitable for her but I don't know what she did in the end.
I did have to warn a couple of breeders that she might have been after kittens. Because I felt she was so unsuitable for kittens. She did say that she had the opportunity to have a Tonkinese kitten the year before from a breeder that offered to drive 60miles to bring her the kitten to see. But she felt that there must be something wrong with the cat for the breeder to offer to do that as, apparently, breeders are not to be trusted. She said that to me in my home and her neighbour was trying to shut her up?
Most visitors are great though.
Enquiries are sometimes a bit amusing though. I did get one reply back after I sent information on cost and what it covers. They asked why I do not leave neutering up to the discretion on the buyer. They were going to start breeding if they felt like it but were going to see how she progressed over the next 12 months. I said that they would not be registered on the 'active' register and that was fine because they had no plans to register the kittens
needless to say they did not get a kitten and their contact information was sent to all breeders on the Tonk breed sites.