I am wanting to buy a Maine Coon kitten. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. If you know of any breeders in that area, please let me know. Thanks so much.:smile:
Susan
sumarru165@msn.com
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I am wanting to buy a Maine Coon kitten. I live in Phoenix, Arizona. If you know of any breeders in that area, please let me know. Thanks so much.:smile:
Susan
sumarru165@msn.com
Maybe you can find a breeder here: FBRL: Maine Coon: Breeders (U.S. States A-C)Quote:
Originally Posted by Susan
The breeders that are members of the FBRL should be nice good breeders.
I live a little to far away to be able to know anyone in *irl* :winkwink:
I hope you find a kitten at a good nice breeder and then of course you have to show us pictures :rofl:
I hope you find a kitten!!!!
Thanks for the input.
I belong to a site where people post pictures of their maine coons & very often they
are from different parts of Americe,typically there hasn't been any this week but today there is a lady from Richmond VA perhaps if you could go onto her site & get contact address she might know of someone in your area,her cats look nice so fingers crossed she would know of a good breeder. She comes under DamnYnkeMaineCoons.
Happy hunting & fingers crossed you soon have a bundle of fluff in your household.
I have the same interest. I am searching for a MC in the USA.
Does anybody know if she got her MC, and where?
I have contact to
Name: Cynthia Rogers
Cattery: Suncoon (CFA, TICA, MCBFA)
Location: Phoenix right now.
http://suncoon.com/
And I am waiting for an answer from
Alabama
Name: Mitzi Guess
Cattery: Congocoons (CFA)
Location: Northeast Corner
http://www.congocoon.com
Can anybody say something about these two breeders? They are listed on the
FBRL: Maine Coon Breeders list, too. Or any general advice? Thanks in advance!
I dont know anything about either breeder but if it were me choosing I would be going to suncoon they seem very responsible with health issues :nod:
Thank you Louie-Louie. Both breeders claim on their site to test all cats. Suncoon would be near enough to visit the cattery in personal though.
I don't know anything about these breeders, but you should try to stick to a breeder that tests for HCM both via the DNA test and by doing echo screenings (as the DNA test catches only the one most common mutation but there are thought to be others) as well as HD, and perhaps SMA and PKD.
Obviously another thing you should consider about breeders is what their cats look like. Personally, I don't go for the Congocoons look (very tall ears and wide muzzles), but you might. The Suncoons cats are more typical looking MCs, and I find them more attractive. You may be able to get some idea of what others think of a breeder's cats by seeing what show rankings they have achieved (though this is somewhat dependent on how much time a breeder wants to spend going to shows). I don't see any rankings given for any of the Congocoons cats, though, which is kind of unusual. I see the two Suncoons males are both listed as Grand Champions (which is good).
A really excellent breeder that isn't as far away from you as Alabama is LAPD: Los Angeles Purr Department Not sure how easy it is to get a kitten from them, though.
Other considerations:
Make certain you are going to get registration papers with the kitten (may not get until after neutered/spayed). In the US these would be from either CFA or TICA.
Cost: most MC breeders are selling kittens in the $600-$800 range, though some better known breeders are more around $1000 or even much higher.
Some breeders are very choosy about who they sell their cats to and will ask lots of questions, not ship them, etc. While this can sometimes seem annoying, consider whether you would want to buy from someone that cared only whether you had the money.
Kittens are probably going to be better socialized if the breeder has a small number of litters each year. If you find a breeder that has lots of kittens all the time, they probably are getting relatively little attention.
Generally a breeder will not let you get a kitten until it is at least 12-13 weeks. I would be very concerned about any breeder that talked about you getting one earlier.
Some breeders have begun neutering/spaying before they let the kittens go. While some people don't go for doing this so young, I can tell you that it is pretty stressful having to go through the spaying of a female at 6-7mos, as they generally look quite poorly for a couple of days. So, there are some advantages to having it done early.
Good luck!
Ship a cat? Are you serious? Do you mean they are put in a box???? Surely not...Quote:
Originally Posted by NCarver
My cats were both "shipped" from a different state. They were taken to the airport in a cat cage - put on a plane and I picked them up at the airport my end. Sarah came over with no problems but Zack had a fiasco of some sort and ended up cutting his mouth and was sick and stressed so a vet trip and some treatment later he was fine. I figured 1 1/2 hours on a plane would be better than 7 to 8 hours in a car. I would have been stuck if he had lost the plot on a long drive.
Poor Zach! I feel sorry for them having to go through an ordeal like that, but I'm in the UK so we don't have these long distances to deal with. I was very lucky to find a breeder just 20 minutes' drive away, and even that was bad enough when we went to get Larry - he cried all the way home in the car, with me talking to him all the time and giving him my fingers to sniff. Our breeder shows her stud cat, but won't drive for more than 1 hour with him in case he gets too stressed out.
Thank you all for your comments! *hugs*
Yes, to ship a cat means to put him or her in a plane and fly it over. A lot of breeders don`t ship their cats. I prefer breeders who don`t ship their cats. But Alabama is far away and I really love the look of the Congocoons. The breeder of Congocoons did not answer yet. If I end up buying from her, I will try to drive there myself and pick the cat up. Shipping is my last choice...
CCarver that was really totally helpful! Thank you so much!!!
Yes I am concerned with Congocoons a little, too, because they don`t seem to do shows... Suncoons seem to be perfect so far, since I even will be able to visit them. I will check out the link from Los Angeles, too. There would not be a problem to drive to Los Angeles, too. I will take a look, if I like the look of the LA cats. Thank you again! :)
Edit: I was looking at http://lapurrd.com, right now! Thanks for the link! Yes, they are beautiful! I filled out the contact form. I was hoping for some more information at the webpage, but I will ask the breeder in personal then. :) Thank you!
We got one MC kitten that was shipped (via plane). Much more stressful for us waiting and worrying than it apparently was for the kitten. We got the carrier in the car, opened it, and out he popped as if nothing at all unusual had been going on. However, I would generally prefer not to put a kitten through that. There also is an added expense for shipping of course--though driving hundreds of miles isn't going to cost nothing, to say nothing of keeping a young kitten cooped up in a car for hours and hours.
It is true that LAPD does not have much info on their website. You can see on their "champs" page that they have a large number of I.W.S.G.C. (international winner, supreme grand champion) cats. No idea what the asking price of their kitten might be, nor how easy to get one. The woman that bred two of our MCs has gotten cats from LAPD and they now have one of hers. Since she is a very conscientious breeder, I know that LAPD must be very good. Our breeder's site is Maine Coon Cats of Chemicoons of Illinois* - This site requires Java but she is in Chicago now (plus no available kittens any time soon).
One potentially important thing I realize that I forgot to mention is that in the US, most top MC breeders will not sell you a kitten if you intend to allow it outside unsupervised! The sale contracts will spell this out and may even say that you can be made to forfeit ownership if you fail to follow the contract requirements. Certainly any health guarantee will be void if you lie and let the cat outside. So if you are buying a MC that you intend to be an outside cat, you may have a hard time finding a good breeder willing to sell to you.
Thank you NCarver for the information about the breeder. I hope they will write back soon. I don`t care about the cost, as long as I get a healthy wonderful MC. :)
Thanks for telling me about the outdoor-rule. I read it too at many breeder sites. And I am totally fine with that. I don`t want my $1000 cat go outside and stolen by a neighbor or eaten by a coyote anyways. :) My other cats were first allowed to go into my yard when I was with them, but I stopped that as I learned about the rattlesnakes, coyotes and black widows in this area. OO Although there is a big wall around the whole yard at least black widows find their way into it anyways. I don`t need that kind of stress right now. LOL
edit: Wonderful breeder by the way. Thank you! I will contact her, too. :)
Gryfn was 'shipped' too... and he was the first kitten the breeder had shipped.
Even though we're in the same state, it's still a 7-8 hour drive whereas the flight was only 1.5 hours. That's a big difference.
And Gryfn came through fine... not a problem. and settled in really quickly.
Thanky you Srapdragon.
Your reports make me feel better about letting my cat ship to me. :)
Ok I have a question: I am waiting for a week now for the breeders to contact me again. The only! one out of four or so, whom I contacted, that wrote back two days later, didn`t contact me again since then. Although she wanted to talk over the phone with me and we wanted to make a "phone date"... Another breeder stated on her page she would contact back within 48 hours. Now four days later still no mail from her...
So is this normal? And how long shall I wait until I fill out the forms again and /or write them again?
I would contact each again. Especially this time of year, though, people might be away for a week. Sometimes they just get busy too. I have had breeders contact me right away and I have had some that have never responded. Frankly, I always called if a phone number was provided, as my experience with most "regular people" is that they are not good about reading and responding to email.
Ok thank you NCarver! I just didn`t want to annoy them or something. Some breeders I found only want you to contact them via their forms. I will contact them again via mail today. But I will call the others tomorrow, when the weekend is over. :)
Thanks for asking Candes. Yes the temperament is something that is really very important to me. If one kitten approaches me and is the cutest thing ever I stop caring about her or his color in a second LOL
So far, I am in contact with two breeders right now.
One I will visit tomorrow. She is in Albuquerque. Only 4h drive from here. She does not do show anymore and doesnt breed much anymore, I will see, if she would be for me.
The other is in Phoenix and does many shows etc. She awaits a new litter in September. Lets cross fingers that the colors I want are in it. She sounds very nice so far. I still need to call her though. She is pretty busy as it seems.
Good luck tomorrow, must be exciting for you !
Thank you both!
Yes it was really exciting! But also very different from what I had expected. I am doing a lot of thinking right now...
Most of her cats were very shy, only most of the studs and two girls tried to approach me. One girl was hissing at me, hiding and tried to scratch me -seriously not only as a warning. This cat was ready for a fight OO. One boy was very greasy, I mean from head to toe. And she couldnt find any of the pedigrees.
I was interested in one girl who was really sweet and purred at me all the time as a mother for my first MC. But the breeder couldnt show me her pedigree. And one male didnt want to be touched by me but was coming to the cage and was interested. These two would be a wonderful combi for the colors I am interested in. She recently renovated her house, so that might be the reason why she couldnt find the pedigrees... But why were the cats so shy? That isnt really typical for a MC, is it? It also seemed like she is breeding them every time when they are in heat... But that is something I could have misunderstood... And she told me this year she had tree litters in one month/week?. Two at one day even. Two MC litters and one litter from the dogs she is also breeding.
She told me she doesnt test all the cats for the diseases of the breed and she doesnt test the kittens. She doesnt write a health garantee, although she does garantee to take the kitten back if she or he is ill due to a genetic defect within the first year.
She told me she will send me the pedigrees and pictures of the former litter from the boy and the girl I was interested in. I have an odd feeling. What do you guys think about this? She didnt send anything yet.
She was a very nice older woman. I personally really liked her, but there are a lot of question marks left here. She is certified though. And she did show, but she doesnt do that anymore. She knew about genetics and heidi ho and stuff that was good. She does not have a breeding goal or something though.
Maybe my picture of a breeder is wrong. I thought they have a specific goal and especially the breeders of MCs try to breed for temper, too.
I dont know what to think yet. I decided to wait, if she sends the pedigrees and pictures and then I will think about it again.
So tell me what do you all think?
I also still need to call the other breeder from Phoenix. She is actively showing her cats and seems to be very nice. She awaits a litter in September, too. I will try to call her tomorrow. Maybe I will reach her this time.
Whoa! Alarm bells ringing here. The cats should be approachable and 'couldn't find the pedigrees' sounds very suspicious. She's supposed to be a certified breeder of pedigree cats. Doesn't sound good.
If your not happy walk away now or you could be in for alot of heartbreak :sad2:
I have to agree - I don't think that sounds like a good situation to get a kitten from.
All of my cats are typical MCs - very approachable and friendly even with people they have only just met. All of our kittens carry the same traits and are very friendly, in fact we often refuse to sell to homes where people are out at work in case the kittens don't get the attention they are used to.
I would keep away from this breeder and speak to the other one in Phoenix - it will be well worth the wait if you can get the perfect kitten
Louise
Thank you guys. Yes, I agree. My biggest concern was the temper of the cats... She found some pedigrees, though. But not these from the two cats. She didnt send anything yet.
I am not in a hurry at all, so I will keep looking. Lets cross fingers for the breeder in Phoenix. :)
I agree that this does not sound like a great breeder from what you have described, but I will also comment on temperament as I don't totally agree with some comments. It is my impression that most young kittens are usually very open to people if properly socialized by the breeder. Certainly three of the four we have gotten just immediately walked up to us and became our cats. However, one of our two males was different. Somebody that had gotten several other MCs from the breeder had him and was going to return him to the breeder as he was "too shy" and so forth. She was keeping her cats in a large kennel building (a house really) where she also raised poodles. When we went to visit, all the other cats came up to see us, but he went to hide (he was then around 16 weeks). We brought him home anyway to see what would happen and he would not come out of the carrier in the car and even did not come out once we got home. After a little while we actually had to pull him out of the carrier. This did not look at all good! However, my daughter started trying to play with him and over the course of half an hour or so he just completely changed and became a totally normal kitten. He is now a very wonderful cat, but he does remain our most sensitive cat and is easily spooked by noises. I have talked with the breeder who has his sister, and he says that she is similar. In part I think it is because he has exceptional hearing, as he hears another cat coming long before anyone else does. In terms of adult MCs being shy around unfamiliar people or not, I have to say that cats vary. Two of our four will often go right up to unfamiliar people that come over, but the other two will not and are likely to go off and hide. Different MCs have different temperaments and you should not expect all to be immediately friendly with strangers. On the other hand, I have never seen MCs behave in an aggressive fashion with strangers. It is one thing to be wary of somebody you don't know, but quite another to be aggressive. I would be concerned that the breeder is too busy to properly socialize her cats with humans.
You are right. Every cat is different. I just did not expect outgrown MCs to act shy or even that aggressive. I could oversee that maybe though, because I was just interested in the one cat that was very sweet in character. But the breeder still did not send me the predigrees nor did she send me pictures of the former litter. So I guess I can cross her of my list.
OMG it is Friday again already. I need to call the breeder from Phoenix finally. OO
:smile: I finally was able to reach Cindy, the other breeder from Phoenix. She was really nice and sound all wonderful to me! :nod:One litter is due every second, maybe there is one little show quality boy in it for me. I will try to visit her as soon as possible. To see her cattery. So far she sounds so much better than the breeder I recently visited (who -by the way- still did not send a pedigree or something).
I am excited!!!:rofl:
That sounds a lot better, hope this one works out for you! Good luck!
Thank you Howlinbob!
I am going to visit her in October. I have a good feeling that I will end up buying a kitten from her.
I will let you guys know!
Hi!
I thought I would add to this thread....
We gout our Tiki from Reigning Cats Cattery but I also corresponded with Maine Coons in Maryland and they were very nice.
We love our kitty, she is wonderful and the stock looks good to me.
Beth:koolkat:
With both my puppy and kittens I had a very hard time getting any breeder to respond. I found an excellent MC breeder by going to a large cat show and talking to many breeders, including her, doing a lot of research, and staying in contact for years via email. Before I went to the show the breeders were not interested in talking. I think they get tired of all sorts of clueless persons calling them for years.
It was even worse trying to find a Newfoundland puppy breeder. Ended up getting my pup from Belgium, and I'm in Oregon USA. He is my service dog so flew in the planes with the breeder to me.
When I started out I assumed there would be good breeders right near me in Portland but I was quite mistaken -- it takes a while to get to know the scene.
After I got my puppy I joined a local Newfoundland club which has been very helpful. Don't know if there are cat clubs?
Forums like this are really good sources of tips & info & experience.
Thank you Beth. The breeders look nice. Maryland is a bit far away from here, though. I wanted to visit a breeder in Phoenix two weeks ago, but became very ill unfortunately. I think, I will visit her next year. Suncoons Maine Coons sounds very good so far. But I will look at all breeders again, if Suncoons turns out to be not the right breeder for us.
@Cascadians: Thank you! Yeah I was thinking of attending a show, too. Seems to be a good idea to get in touch with good breeders. I am even thinking about buying a show quality kitten and show him myself, too.
I will keep you updated on this and thank you all again for giving me so much good advice and tips! I really appreciate it!
Update after so long. Still searching. I am not having good luck with breeders as it seems. But I am not giving up yet. :)
Bless you,hope you will be successful soon,your babe will be so loved having searched for so long & not deciding to give up on it,there will be a special one for you somewhere...x
We have two Maine Coons from Congocoons. One is 2 and the other 1 1/2 years old. Mitzi shipped each or them to us via the Westchester County airport in New York. Each time they were on the plane about 4 hours. She only ships when the weather is optimal. We opted for shipping since driving them would have taken 18 hours.