Guide for prospective kitten buyers

How to choose a good cattery

The choice of good and legal cattery is crucial. By choosing good breeder, you not only buy a cat that is a real representative of the chosen breed, you also gain substantive and lifelong support. Be careful in making this determination.

Zmiany w przepisach polskiego prawa z 2012 r. umożliwiły tworzenie nowych stowarzyszeń hodowców,  które nie podlegają pod uznane międzynarodowe organizacje felinologiczne i wydają kotom dokumenty bez realnej wartości. Nie weryfikują pochodzenia kotów, warunków hodowli, ani zasad rozmnażania. „Legalizują” koty bez rodowodów jedynie na podstawie oświadczenia „hodowcy”, że ich kot jest rasowy. Te wyjątkowo liberalne zasady przyciągają osoby, które dobro kotów stawiają na najdalszym miejscu.

Please do not support pseudo-breeders or kitten mills that produce poor quality kittens. Buying from pseudo-breeders encourages them to produce more.

How to recognize a good legal breeder

Check membership and affiliations with recognized cat organizations

Is the chosen cattery registered as a member of Felinology Organization under the patronage World Cat Congress (WCC) (http://www.worldcatcongress.org)

WCC brings together all International Felinology Organizations in the world. Currently there are 9 such organizations: FIFe, WCF, TICA, CFA, ACF, NZCF, CCC, GCCF, SACC (green marked are the most important in Poland).

Legal Polish breeders' clubs operate under the above organizations and comply with their guidelines and regulations that protect the welfare of cats (for example regulations limiting the number of litters of one breeding queen, or the minimum age for releasing kittens to new homes). A list of recognized clubs is provided at the bottom of this article.

Their pedigrees are recognized by feline organizations around the whole world. Membership in these organizations gives you the opportunity to participate in cat shows internationally.

  Check Breeder and Cattery reputation

• Do your research. There are plenty of internet sites about pedigree cats, catteries, cats’ owners sharing their experiences and knowledge about cats and breeders. Search for reviews, see breeders’ activity on social networks (pictures, information). Ask for recommendations. However, be careful in trusting everything you read, as some competing breeders can deliberately distribute lies about others.
• Go to a cat show and talk to the breeders there. Only legal breeders can participate in FIFe, WCF or TICA cat shows, so their presence eliminates verification of their legality.

  Visit the Cattery, meet the Breeder

• You can visit several catteries – but DO NOT do this on the same day to avoid spreading potential viruses or bacteria.
• A good breeder will be happy to show the conditions in which they keep their cats. Of course, visits can be limited or delayed to protect kittens against infections and unnecessary stress, but you should be welcome to visit the cattery to see a kitten (the dishonest breeder may avoid it - remove them from your list).
• Remember that breeding takes place in the breeder's apartment / house. Respect that.
• Does the breeder ask you to sanitize your hands and take your shoes off when you come in with kittens? Is this place clean?
• Listen how a breeder talks about cat, focus on knowledge, breeder’s behavior towards cats.
• Look around the cattery and assess the conditions in which the cats live. If the breeder does not want to let you in and brings you a cat out front of the building, do not buy a cat from them.
• Do not be guided solely by the price of the cat, less expenditure on the start can mean large expenses in the future. Cat treatment is not cheap.

   Ask the following questions

• How many cats live in the cattery? If there are too many cats, remove the cattery from your preferred list. It is often impossible to provide care for many animals at the same time, and challenging to socialize kittens in these situations as well.
• What is the frequency of litters the mother of your prospective kitten has? One female should not be bred more than 3 times in two years, but good breeders usually make it less.
• Jak wyglądają koty? Popatrz czy nie są letargiczne, zaniedbane lub chore.
• Check if the kitten looks healthy. If he sneezes or has watery red eyes, skin problems, dirty anus - be careful - maybe something is wrong.
• Ask for a kitten pedigree . EVERY cat from a legal breeding gets a pedigree, even if born with flaws. If the pedigree is not ready yet, ask to show your parents' pedigrees. A good breeder will not sell kittens without a pedigree. Do not accept any document that has a different name than 'pedigree' and does not have the FPL, WCF or TICA logo. If you were offered a cat with a birth certificate or certificate -> resign.
• Poproś o książkę zdrowia kota. Sprawdź, czy kot został co najmniej 2 razy odrobaczony and zaszczepiony przeciwko: FPV (panleukopenia), FCV (kaliciwirus) i FHV (herpes). Większość lekarzy weterynarii zaleca rozpoczęcie szczepienia w wieku 8/9 tygodni, a następnie dawkę przypominającą po 3/4 tygodniach.
• Check if the chip number is listed in the health book / pedigree. Ask in which database it is registered. Legal catteries are required to chip kittens.
• Zapytaj, jakie testy zdrowotne mają rodzice kotka. Rasy, które są narażone na ryzyko chorób genetycznych, powinny zostać przebadane przed kryciem- listy chorób i wskazanych lub obowiązkowych badań genetycznych są wymienione w Regulaminach hodowlanych legalnych klubów. Sfinksy są podatne na HCM (kardiomiopatia przerostowa). Nie ma na dla tej rasy testu genetycznego, więc odpowiedzialny hodowca wykonuje co roku badania echo serca pod kątem HCM dla swoich kotów hodowlanych. Brak tych badań dla rodziców kocięcia jest poważnym sygnałem ostrzegawczym, ponieważ HCM jest poważną chorobą, a chore koty powinny być wycofane z hodowli. Ponadto, legalne hodowle posiadają testy na choroby zakaźne FIV (koci HIV) i FeLV (białaczka).
• Ask for a selling contract. This is the basis for claims in case of any problems. Ideally, you should receive the contract before buying a kitten. It will enable you to review the document and prepare any questions. The general assumption is that selling contract should protect both a buyer and a breeder (and of course a cat).
• Ask if the cat will be neutered before pickup. Responsible breeders do not pass this stress and cost on to the buyer.

Felinological organizations in Poland:

1. FIFe Fédération Internationale Féline

is represented in Poland by Felis Polonia (FPL)

To FPL on are the following breeders' clubs:

1. WCF World Cat Federation

City Club name

Warszawa            PZF – Polski Związek Felinologiczny

Toruń                     SHK – Stowarzyszenie Hodowców Kotów

Lublin                    IBSCC – International British Shorthair Cat Club

Warszawa            SKR – Stowarzyszenie Koty Rasowe

1. TICA The International Cat Association

City Club name

Warszawa           Klub Kota X-Treme

If the above information did not exhaust the doubts about how to choose a good breeding, I encourage you to read the following sources:

• https://www.koty.pl/sprzedam-koty-rasowe-bez-rodowodu/
• http://www.olfaktoria.pl/2014/01/5-rzeczy-ktore-musisz-zrobic-zanim-kupisz-kota-z-hodowli/
• http://swiatkotow.pl/strefa-wiedzy/artykuly/hodowla/art,259,jak-wybrac-dobrego-hodowce.html
• http://www.kociesprawy.pl/magazyn/poradnik/prawo/jak_bezpiecznie_kupic_kota_rasowego_piotr_stachowicz/jak_bezpiecznie_kupic_kota_rasowego_caly_tekst/
• http://viosna.pl/en/pseudohodowla/
• http://pfa.org.pl/zanim-kupisz-kota/#
• http://www.felispolonia.eu/public/reg_hodowlany_FIFe-2019.pdf
• https://www.pzf.pl/pl/przepisy/regulamin-pzf