Thread: Buying a kitten unseen

Just to expand on the issues many US buyers might face...the closest MC breeders that we have been able to find are two hours from us. I certainly would do four hours of driving to go see a kitten prior to purchase/decision. However, from what I have heard from various sources, from looking at their websites, and from talking with some of them at shows, I would not feel comfortable purchasing from most of these breeders. The next closest set of breeders are 4-6 hours away. So we could be talking about 12 hours of driving and a couple of hundred dollars on gas and hotel to go see a kitten.

Another issue is that the best breeders generally have the lowest availability of kittens. Were you to limit yourself to one or two reasonably close good quality breeders, it might be a year or even more before you could get a male or a cat with a particular color. This is often not acceptable. In fall of 2009 we decided we needed to get a male MC kitten for our male Remy because the girl that had played with him no longer would due to his size. This pretty much meant finding a male in a short period of time--no waiting 6mos or a year. I think it is great that we have so much more choice in breeders being able to search the entire country, and I feel it is worth giving up the ability to visit the breeder and kitten in person.

Debbie asks if it is worth getting a kitten sight unseen from a non-reputable breeder. I would say getting a kitten from a non-reputable breeder is always a big risk--whether you go see the kitten or not. There is really only so much you are going to find out by a brief visit and by seeing a very young kitten. In particular I don't feel you can judge their eventual look too well. What about personality? I would think that is probably the best reason to go visit, and yet I am skeptical that will tell you a lot. As kittens, ours have all been much more similar than different, but they all have very distinctive personalities as adults. Will you see the true personalities in an hour? What if some are sleepy while you are there? I think the breeders see differences being around them for weeks, so I would frankly rely more on their assessment than one I did quickly.