Hi Everyone,
I am new to these boards and I want to throw something out there and ask everyone's opinon.
I am interested in getting a ragdoll in the fall. I contacted a breeder in my area and wanted to visit. She wrote back and said she no longer has visitors to her cattery due to time constraints and health of her cats. This has raised a red flag for me. Apparently she is a reptuable breeder and I read some feedback on her and even my vet gave me her name.
What does everyone think? I am not interested in buying a kitty if I can't see where she came from.
Thanks for the feedback!
mslittlebear
I think maybe the breeder misunderstood your reasons for wanting to visit. If you explain that you are really interested in having one her kittens and she has some available then I'm sure she would let you go and choose a kitten. Maybe she thinks you just want to go for a nosey, like people who go to look around houses that are for sale but who have no intention of buying a house
. I don't see how any breeder can think that they can sell all of their kittens without having people come to pick out a kitten or collect it.
I know things are done differently in different countries but, if your breeder is local would you normally choose a kitten from photographs and not actually meet it or the breeder until the day you collect your kitten?
Most respected Breeders don't allow "open house" due to their natural instinct and knowledge in preserving and maintaining the health of the cats and kittens within their Catteries. Good Breeders will allow visitations once a kitten has been reserved by a client and
ONLY after all the apropriate kitten vaccinations have been administered. Really good Breeders also have kitten waiting lists.The majority of their kitten sales are generated from prior purchasers.The reputation of ANY Breeder (Good or Bad) is spread by "word of mouth". You can also consider yourself somewhat of a respectable and often reputable Breeder when your Cattery advertising costs become minimalistic in nature and you don't have to advertise as often or in some cases they don't need to advertise at all.If you like the Breeder and heard good things about them from multiple sources then reserve a kitten for the Fall. I would avoid the Ragdoll Variants such as Solids, Minks and BEW's
Curt Gehm
Liebling Cats
My problem with requiring a deposit before meeting the kittens is the feel that you are locked in. What if after you have paid and visited, you get a bad feeling about the cattery or maybe do not like something about the parents (or any reason really) and change your mind about the breeder? In most cases deposits are non-refundable, and the person either feels obligated to get a kitten from a place they do not want to, or the person says never mind and then loses $$ only to continue their search for a breeder elsewhere.
I would be happy to pay a deposit to a breeder if we decided there is a kitten that is a great match for me, and I have met that kitten to confirm everything I have been told first.
I don't take deposits until the buyer has visited and is happy with their choice. If they can't visit for some reason then I send photos by email and follow-up woth phone calls so that I can get a feel for them and they can make a decision but if for some reason when they saw the kitten, even if it was when they came to collect, they changed their mind and decided the kitten wasn't the one for them I would refund the deposit. It's far more important to me that my kittens go the right home than it is to sell them, hence the high numbers still here
(07-08-2010 02:22 PM)Solo Wrote: [ -> ]My problem with requiring a deposit before meeting the kittens is the feel that you are locked in. What if after you have paid and visited, you get a bad feeling about the cattery or maybe do not like something about the parents (or any reason really) and change your mind about the breeder? In most cases deposits are non-refundable, and the person either feels obligated to get a kitten from a place they do not want to, or the person says never mind and then loses $$ only to continue their search for a breeder elsewhere.
I would be happy to pay a deposit to a breeder if we decided there is a kitten that is a great match for me, and I have met that kitten to confirm everything I have been told first.
In my experiences, all Breeders require a minimum deposit be paid to reserve a particular kitten.Maybe to avoid any feelings of being locked or trapped into any situation with a Breeder Clients should completely educate themselves about the Breeder? Anyone can do that by interacting with the Breeders directly then asking for references and by asking further questions on Breeder Chat Boards.
As a former Breeder, I never offered multiple choice kittens and only produced new litters after the previous litter/s were fully reserved, weaned and gone to their forever homes.It was never my goal to mass produce kittens for someones pending approval or to create a Pet Shop type atmosphere for my Cattery.I have never heard of ANY reputable or ethical Breeder refusing to return a Clients reservation deposit since the welfare of our cats are first and formost.
Curt Gehm
Liebling Cats
A couple of things to address here. First of all although I encourage visits with my kittens, I ask that they do not visit another cattery on the same day, must remove shoes, sanitize hands, etc. It is just as likely I could bring in something as a visitor and I am very careful with the health of my babies.
Curt's statement that he hasn't heard of a reputable or ethical breeder refusing to return a deposit tells me he's a little out of touch as it seems to me MOST breeders are now taking non-refundable deposits. I take deposits once the kittens are born but with the full understanding my deposits are refundable because I would not want one of my babies going to a home that wasn't absolutely thrilled with their baby, not to mention that everyone's life is subject to change at any time, and I wouldn't consider keeping someone's money for nothing.
I was sorry to read on another thread that mslittlebear is not happy with the forum and said she wouldn't be back.
(07-09-2010 05:45 PM)Edie Wrote: [ -> ]Curt's statement that he hasn't heard of a reputable or ethical breeder refusing to return a deposit tells me he's a little out of touch as it seems to me MOST breeders are now taking non-refundable deposits. I take deposits once the kittens are born but with the full understanding my deposits are refundable because I would not want one of my babies going to a home that wasn't absolutely thrilled with their baby, not to mention that everyone's life is subject to change at any time, and I wouldn't consider keeping someone's money for nothing.
Quote:I have never heard of ANY reputable or ethical Breeder refusing to return a Clients reservation deposit since the welfare of our cats are first and formost.
Curt
Well, I am in a opposite situation, lol!
I'm from Portugal and I had contact many breeders and all (yes... all!
) said that I could go to their homes to know their kittens! There was even a breeder that didn't have kittens and invited me to go there to know her adult ragdolls (I said that I never had contact with ragdolls, but I showed that I did my research on the breed)!
But... they all are far away, so I decided I would go only when I knew I wanted a cat from that specific breeder!!! But after talk with many breeders, to see many photos, to ask many questions... I decided for a ragdoll from North of Spain (I'm from South of Portugal), so I'm not going just visit anyway, because is too expensive... I will go only when it is to bring him!
I hope that mslittlebear returns...