Ttcats Cattery Maine Coons Terri & Mike Toulze (510) 677-5935 or (510)461-4082 East Bay Area, CA
Ttcats Cattery Maine Coons Terri & Mike Toulze (510) 677-5935 or (510)461-4082 East Bay Area, CA

What is the differences between an ethical breeder, a backyard breeder, a mill, and how to avoid being scammed

Q: How do you tell an ETHICAL breeder from a BYB (backyard breeder), kitten mill, or a scammer?

 

A: A "ETHICAL" breeder shows their cats to ensure they are breeding to the standard. ETHICAL breeders do ALL testing (DNA, HIPS, repeat ECHOCARDIOGRAMS yearly). They will have vet health checks done with EACH and EVERY litter they produce. They will NOT release a kitten before 12 weeks (13-16 weeks preferably), A ETHICAL breeder only sells their kittens on contract and are ALWAYS willing to take their kitten/cat back and offers a health guarantee and stands behind that guarantee and will offer you a lifetime of support. A ETHICAL breeder does NOT keep their cats in cages, sheds, outside, but makes them apart of their family. 

 

A "BYB" doesn't show. Will even give excuses that, "I don't need anyone or judge to tell me how good my cats are" or "There's no shows in my area", or "the show world is so political, clicky" the list of excuses is endless. Bottom line is they don't show because that would dip into there profits. A BYB tells you they do ALL testing, but only shows you DNA and will tell you there cats don't carry HCM and the line is healthy, but it is the echocardiogram that tells you EXACTLY the measurements, if there is a defect. A BYB doesn't do vet health checks, fecal checks. A BYB will release the kittens before 12 weeks because they aren't nursing, they are ready to go. (Keeping them longer cuts into there profits for feeding, litter, liability). A BYB charges more for colors, toes, Male vs Female. Really? I wasn't aware it cost more to feed a color, or to feed extra toes or the sex of the cat is more costly to feed. Again, they raise prices because "SHADED" or "SMOKES" or "POLYDACTYL" is popular, so because each and every buyer is willing to pay for those HIGH costly cats (Which the breeder is taking advantage of you with) YOU are the problem with why YOU are paying so much more for the kitten. A BYB willl NEVER stand behind you if there is a problem with your kitten and won't take them back!

 

A "MILL" is no different than a BYB, but they produce more litters. How many litters a year does this cattery produce? ( Most ETHICAL catteries produce between 2-6 litters per year). How many queens does this cattery have? ( Most ETHICAL breeders have between 2-7 females & 2 maybe 3 males). How often do they breed there females? yeah, yeah, yeah I know a pregnant uterus is a happy uterus right? Most ETHICAL breeders breed there females only 1x a year. 

 

A "SCAMMER" when posting photos the pictures are always on different backgrounds for kittens in the same litter because they have stolen breeders photos from there facebook pages or websites that wasn't watermarked. They CANNOT do a  FACETIME video call with you because they don't even have the kitten they are offering you. They sell kittens much cheaper than a ETHICAL breeder. Scammers sell them between $800-$1800 when the average cost is $2500-$3500 and again anything more or less you are supporting a BYB, MILL, or SCAMMER. Scammers prefer to text/email and not talk on the phone. Scammers accept gift cards.

 

 

Print | Sitemap
Content/Copyright 2014. All rights are reserved by Ttcats