Hello all breeders,

Can somebody please let me know how does it work in your world when an unsold kitten has been left / kept as a pet at Breeder's house.
I found out that Clive's sister was unsold and stayed with breeders as a pet , but not for rehoming.
This particular breeder has lot of cats , over 20 queens + and no idea how many studs. I am a bit surprised she kept little girl and have not tried to at least rehome her or maybe offer her to me.
I am also a bit worried as Clive's heart genetics isn't perfect and if his sister is affected as well - she would need expensive monitoring and care - which I can afford but breeder would unlikely to follow (my sceptical mind tells me).
Can somebody shed some light on it? Why would they do that ?

If they would offer me the girl right at the start - I would definitely have taken her. Now, 12 months later, its more complicated but i just cant let it go ((

Sorry to reply since I am not a breeder, but thought I would way in. First I am SHOCKED at how many cats the breeder has, breeding or not I don't see how on earth someone could properly care for that many animals. There is just no way! As far as keeping a kitten for a pet. From my point of view I can see that a breeder might get incredibly attached to a kitten, some kittens more than others. I know if I were a breeder I couldn't resist keeping one even if it was not for breeding. I bred dogs a few years ago and I have several puppies through out the few years that I bred them. There was ONE puppy out of the 29(over time of course) that I just could not let go of! It might have been selfish of me to want him for myself but he was the best that I had been able to produce and I loved him!

Did you ever express to the breeder that you were interested in her? Maybe she just couldn't find a home and though the extended time of her being there they developed a bond!

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Ahh ok I see what you are saying! Does the cat indeed have special needs or is it unknown? If you are interested in the cat and think that she might rehome her, check in with her and see. Go visit her and see how she is. I would assume she is used to other cats and your two might take to her well! I see how it bothers you! I had the chance to get BB's brother a while back(when BB was still a kitten) and I beat myself up about it all the time! I still have pics of the little guy on my phone. As it turned out her had severe reactions to vaccines(unknown which one) and the lady that bought him brought him back! He broke my heart and I really wanted him so I still think about him! When was the last time you were in touch with your breeder?

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We have an almost 50/50 split of pets and breeding cats. Some retired breeding cats aren't suitable to live in a household so they stay here with us. Stud cats need company when they don't have females so we have some pet cats for them to live with - some are retired breeders, 2 are rescues. We have kept 2 kittens without any intention of breeding and show them as neuters. It is great fun and we always have cats to show so can support the fancy when queens are calling, studs are working and/or we have no kittens to show. We enjoy showing one of our moggies as well - and so does he. To us, they are all pets first and breeders second.

There is also the health aspect. Quite a few of our retired breeding cats could be rehomed but, due to their influence in our programme, we keep them so they can be screened every year to help us build a bigger picture of health in our lines. We also have cats with poor hearts and we could not just pass on the problem to someone else. We know the cats inside and out, we will be able to spot any slight changes in their behaviour immediately and get them seen to. Plus the stress of changing home could be enough to advance their condition so it just isn't worth considering.

We have bought 2 fairly young girls who were never going to be good for breeding so we let them go live their lives as pets. We have had a few who are not suited to a communal living environment so they, too, are retired early and rehomed. If they are happy in their surroundings here with us then we see no need to rehome - we get attached to them all and they get attached to each other. They all have a story, we remember their births or the day of anticipation when they arrived. They have their own quirks and personalities and the loss of one (either from age, illness or rehoming) takes a while to get over.

We had a Pixie Bob who used to greet us by jumping from a height on to our shoulders each morning. She started being picked on after she was neutered and she just wasn't as happy and confident as she had been. So she went to a friend and is adored, but it gave our hearts a pang every morning for months when we would open the door and brace ourselves for a cat that wasn't there to jump on us anymore.

So we do it because we love cats, we love showing and sometimes we have to .

Steven

I know of some large scale breeders in the UK that have people that come in to help with the breeding cats. This may be true of this breeder, I wouldn't know without knowing who they are.

It may be that the breeder had a special bond with this kitten during it growing up and could not part with it. It could also be that it does have a genetic problem and so the breeder is keeping it rather than send the kitten to new owners. It may be that the breeder has insurance for her breeding cats which covers kittens and will continue to cover the kitten, even if a problem is detected, so long as cover is not broken. I have this kind of insurance with my breeding girls.

Some large scale breeders view their breeding cats like part of a business and so rehome them when they retire quite easily without too much attachment issues (on their behalf not the cats). They still love cats as pets but breeding cats can make very poor pets whilst entire. So, the breeder may well have fallen in love with a kitten that never found a home and was not great enough to breed from... So they decided they needed a pet cat.

Cannot really judge or come to any conclusions without the missing knowledge.

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Lollo

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Lollo

[/quote] Thanks Steven for clarifying this.
So it looks like pet cats do have some purposes at the breeder's establishment.
I was just worried she maybe locked away from everyone on her own there since she is not being used in the programme.
here is a tricky question for you as experienced breeder : do you think, being over 12 months old, she be happier to stay where she is or being rehomed with other 2 cats who are the same age?[/quote]

Quite the opposite is true I would imagine. It is entire cats that need to be confined - because they spray, because hormonal cats fight, because males mate females, females can 'mate' other females and start WW3! etc etc The pet cats get to wander about and be a part of the home all the time.

The question isn't that tricky for me. If she is happy where she is then the stress of moving and being confronted with 2 established cats would be a major negative for her. If she is locked up in a cage in a basement (which I doubt) then she would undoubtedly be happier anywhere else than where she is. It comes down to the individual cats and if they are happy or not. Cats can be very happy in a large cattery with multiple levels, scratchers, toys etc - more so than they would be in a house proud home where they would be confined to one room so as not cause too much destruction, shedding or odour.

Steven