I'm going to soon start my search for a breeder and I just need to know what I should be looking out for. What should all of the kittens of had, also do the parents get health tested like in dogs or is that breed dependent too?

Do I really need a breeder who shows their cats? I'm not going to show mine, too expensive on top of dog showing so this would be pet only!

I've yet to decide on breed, have it down to a few which helps! :-)

Oh, you need to post your breeds!!!What have you got it down to?

Health testing depends on the breed -some need it, others do not, and what varies obviously. What you should expect from all breeders is kitten at least 13 weeks old with both vaccinations done, pets would be registered as non active (same as endorsed but harder to lift), beware a lot of breeder neuter kittens before sold -personally I hate it, but that's to do with it being done, not with problems afterwards. Don't buy from a breeder who has reared the kittens outside in a cattery, only indoors.

Showing -look for somebody who either shows or at least has done in the past, because it's much the same as in dogs. If they don't show, why do they breed at all? Chances are it's only for the money. The breeders who don't show also tend to sell the kittens too early, not have done any health testing etc -it almost always goes hand in hand. The not selling before 13 weeks is something the breeder could end up getting in a lot of trouble for if reported to the GCCF.

Why not get a cat or kitten from a rescue? Millions of cats are pts every year in shelters because there aren't enough homes to go round.

Becasue the OP wants a well bred cat of a certain breed that has been raised with care and has had the best possible start

I've always had moggies which bar one have been farm cats, they've all been lovely but noticed the best was the one bred in a family home in the town..

I've currently narrowed it down to the following, but won't rule out any suggestions.
Maine Coon
Norweigan Forest
Ragdoll and
Birman

I do like the longer coated breeds, the Selkirk has been mentioned and I'm reading up on those too now :-)

How about a red British Shorthair male ;-)

He is just adorable, however I can't take on a kitten just yet I'm afraid x

> I've always had moggies which bar one have been farm cats, they've all been lovely but noticed the best was the one bred in a family home in the town

what makes the real difference with cats is the early socialisation in sensible family envirament and staying with mum & littermates till a later age then the normal sling them out at 7 or 8 weeks idea that accidental moggy litters tend to suffer. leaving home early is very bad for kittens

Hi Sue!

(I've facebooked you too) But I've grown up with Maine coons and 'Scoggies' (Scogkatt -Norwegian forest cats!) Fabulous breeds.
   But I have to say having been lucky to be allowed to have 2 of ChristineW's Quizzicurl Selkirks I'm a complete convert! Look on my FB pics you'll see them when they were younger (in the Ninja's in cute suits album!) Best characters and tempraments I've ever come across and when I brought them home they hit the ground running they were so well socialised at Christines. ( I mean come on, Storm - sworn enemy to all things fluffy, is totally in love with them and them with him!)

I've currently narrowed it down to the following, but won't rule out any suggestions.
Maine Coon
Norweigan Forest
Ragdoll and
Birman

I do like the longer coated breeds, the Selkirk has been mentioned and I'm reading up on those too now :-)

Maine Coons and Ragdolls should be DNA tested for HCM. PKD has certainly occured in Birmans (and Persians were allowed as outcrosses at at least one point so it stands to reason, as it wad first known in Persians) but I don't think breeders regularly test for it. Selkirks should only be bred from PKD negative parents but here you have the unique situation that only negative cats can be on the active register (and hence can be bred from) -wish it was like that for others too.

Oh HG I had a sneak peek of some Selkirks via CW's website.  There is just a smidgen of 'dragged through a hedge backwards' about some of those cats!  Very appealing though

...and then there is a pic of Storm squidged into a red chair with his 'footstool feline'      ...now that's very cute too

Sue

I'm waiting for my second Maine Coon kitten from a good breeder on the isle of wight. Message me on Fb and i will pass you her details if want.

Jill

Oh HG I had a sneak peek of some Selkirks via CW's website.  There is just a smidgen of 'dragged through a hedge backwards' about some of those cats!  Very appealing though

...and then there is a pic of Storm squidged into a red chair with his 'footstool feline'      ...now that's very cute too

LOL, I looked too, I had heard of them but never knew what they looked like, very very cute, what's their nature like ?.

It's a Mainecoon boy I have.  I love the temprement of the Mainecoons.  It's always been moggies we have had before and he is our first pedigree cat but I think I would always have a mainecoon now.  And the coat isn't hard to keep either.  Mine just gets a brush about once a week.  Only thing is, he's a mean killer.

What ever I decide the cat has to be robust enough to want to be outside, not to live, but I don't want a cat which lives its life inside the whole time.

As for killing things, well I see that as part of most cats nature, we've had live rats as present before amongst other things, lol

And the coat isn't hard to keep either.  Mine just gets a brush about once a week.

That depends on the cat though -coat quality varies. Our neutered MC male Ringo (10 tomorrow) isn't bad on his back, but on his stomach, trousers, ruff etc he has a MUCH fuller and longer coat than that of my Persians, so he needs a LOT of grooming -all of it with him on his back! It's incredibly long, his fur on his stomach and his ruff nearly hits the floor when he walks.  I always say it's like he's been put together upside down with such a full coat on his underside. His breeder says hers generally are like this. We showed him last month and he got a lot of comments about how nice his coat was. Our 15 year old female neuter MC Carmen has much less coat but hers mats very easily on both top and bottom. They're the only Maine Coons we have, but it must be like with my Persians -type of coat is genetic. I have Persians that needs 30 seconds of grooming once a week if that, and others that need 10 minutes a day. Plus of course all neutered animals get a fuller and thicker coat. So I'd never get any breed with long coat and assume it needed very little grooming -always be prepared to spend time on it.

What ever I decide the cat has to be robust enough to want to be outside, not to live, but I don't want a cat which lives its life inside the whole time.

You'll find it virtually impossible to find any good pedigree breeder sell you a cat that will be allowed outside unless you have a secure run...

When we got our mainecoon, he was allready a year old.  I waited about a month before I let him out and at first he stayed round the garden and came back in the house when we went in.  Now, he has a cat flap and comes and goes as he likes.  Most pedigree breeders won't like you letting him out.  You have a chance of getting them stolen which worried me at first as Axel is so friendly but after watching him outside, I realised that he isn't so friendly to strangers. 

Goldmali, my boy is also neutered and has a pretty thick coat too but he grooms himself A LOT.  He has always be OK with about once a week and I wonder if it's becuase he does a lot of his grooming?  Anyway, I should have said every cat is different.  I just love the mainecoons.

After loosing 2 maine coons young because they were allowed to wander and cars got them both, my current maine coon,  and his soon to be wee brother, are not allowed out. 

Yes and it is always a risk but the risk is reduced by living away from roads where you have through traffic :-)

Yes and it is always a risk but the risk is reduced by living away from roads where you have through traffic :-)

It's not just theft and being hit by cars that stops breeders from selling kittens that will be allowed to go out, it's also the fact they can catch fatal diseases from other cats -ones that cannot be protected against in any other way than staying away from infected cats. Infected cats which may look healthy for a couple of years, so won't be seen as an obvious risk. Just like we as dog breeders make personal decisions on who to sell to or not (like the other thread -some will sell to people with young children, others will not), us cat breeders do the same -and the majority will not sell to homes that will let the cat go out, for all the above reasons. The fact the cats have been bred indoors for generations means they are quite happy to stay in, it's not like they suffer from it. They are not moggies. We have a fully enclosed run for our cats and in nice weather they all queue up to be let out into it, this time of year nobody asks to be let out.

Thanks Marianne, was going to ask, someone beat me to it!!

Best I get an outside set up sorted in my next place then :-)

Sorry, I missed this.

If you like British Shorthairs temperament - basically placid, easy going teddy bears - add a little bit of mischief into the mix and you have a Selkirk.  The breed comes in short & long coats, although the longhairs are more semi-long rather than Persian length.   You get variants (Straighthairs), Heterozygous (Like Hope, Larissa, Nemo & Cobweb) and then homozygous (Carries the curly gene from both parent), they look a bit more 'gremlin' like but in a breeding programme are invaluable (As long as they are of semi decent type) as they can only produce curly kittens!

For show, the cats are shampooed and rinsed through, towelled and then left to dry naturally, a bit like people with curly hair, moisture puts the curl back in the coat.   Hope is my star & she knows it!  ;-)

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Selkirks should only be bred from PKD negative parents but here you have the unique situation that only negative cats can be on the active register (and hence can be bred from) -wish it was like that for others too.

Marianne has added a valuable point, no Selkirk Rex that is going to be bred from cannot be on the active register (Used for breeding) unless evidence of PKD negative status is included with the GCCF registration.  When I imported Larissa from the Netherlands I had to send proof that her sire & dam were PKD negative, I also included copies of their HCM certificates to as this has crept into the breed in some countries.  Nemo, my next import, is from PKD & HCM negative tested ancestors.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">Yes and it is always a risk but the risk is reduced by living away from roads where you have through traffic <img alt=":-)" src="/images/default/sml_pos.png" class="sml" />

I have a friend who lives out in the middle of the Cambridgeshire Fens up a dirt track on an old farm and she has lost both her cats to passing cars outside her home.  :-(

Yes passing traffic is a problem even with infrequent traffic but if you are the bottom on a lane where there is no through traffic then that is when the risk can be reduced.

My mum had a theory about cats and roads, she always maintained that a cat was actually safer on a busy road as they were less likely to cross it as it was so busy, rather than on a quiet road where there was only an occasional car that could take the cat unaware, hmmm, not convinced.

Are Selkirks quite happy being indoors only ?. We currently have a very old crotchety mog, who hates outside, when she's no longer with us I would like to have another cat (or two) but was put off because of the road, I really hadn't considered that a cat would be content inside all the time, but obviously that's not the case.

My neighbour has two norwegian forests both indoor cats and has built a beautifull run across the whole of the back of his house just like you would a conservatory. One of my  non indoor cats sit on the run and plays with them through the wire
Tricky one about having indoor cats I have had both pedigree and moggies cats and have had no problems with breeders either. So I guess it depends on your breeder 

>My mum had a theory about cats and roads, she always maintained that a cat was actually safer on a busy road as they were less likely to cross it as it was so busy

My friend had a similar theory when she lived on a very busy main arterial route.  She was sure that her cat never ventured across the road and only stayed around the back of the house and neighbouring cemetary....until we were sitting in the front room one day and saw the cat in question dodging across the road between a bus and a lorry!!  That she lived as long as she did (and died of natural causes at a ripe old age) is a miracle.

My moggie was born and raised in a city, with a busy main road just outside which she always avoided. She would stick to the side streets and often accompanied me on walks with my dog (whom she adored). She was about as streetwise to traffic as it's possible to get.  I had a rule that she had to be indoors every night, which she was happy to obey (no cat flap) as this is statistically the worst time for road accidents. And also, I loved having her on my bed, and to fall asleep to her purr.

We then moved to a semi-rural location, and almost a year later was hit by a car and killed - at 3.30pm in a quiet residential road in broad daylight.

> xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">My friend had a similar theory when she lived on a very busy main arterial route.  She was sure that her cat never ventured across the road and only stayed around the back of the house and neighbouring cemetary....until we were sitting in the front room one day and saw the cat in question dodging across the road between a bus and a lorry!!  That she lived as long as she did (and died of natural causes at a ripe old age) is a miracle.

My Topsy (Moggie) lived near a main road and was allowed out, she was hit by a car which pushed some of her organs up through her diaphragm, she died 4 days later after getting over the shock & an op at the vets. 

In one of the villages in this area, there are a family who keep buying NFC and letting them out, they live on one of the villages main roads.    So far, one has been killed on the road and the next 2 have disappeared, they are now on numbers 4 & 5 and are still intent on letting the cats out.  :-(   

Keeping cats solely indoors is gaining momentum, working at  a cattery, I hear of a growing number of cats (Pedigree & moggie) who are kept indoors and their first taste of 'outside' is within the confines of the cattery runs.  My cats get out to my garden only, if it is windy, rain or cold....they won't put a paw past the threshold!

Poor Topsy :( 

My Mum always had cats when we were growing up..all moggies and mostly waifs and strays.  All were allowed outdoors when they wanted.  At least 2 that we know of were killed on the road (a very small village where no roads would be considered busy).  Several more disappeared without trace (suspected to be victims of pigeon fanciers...although our immediate neighbour had a large pigeon loft and had no issue with the cats as they kept rats and mice at bay and never bothered the pigeons).  Others died/were PTS due to disease or illness and only one (out of about 20 cats in total over the years) was PTS due to 'old age' at 17.

I'll never be able to have cats due to my allergies but if I could, I'd keep the as house cats.  OH's sister took in 3 feral kittens from their uncle's farm and kept them as house cats with strictly supervised access to the garden in good weather  The 2 that she still has are about 11 years old now and perfectly happy with their lot.  The 3rd went to live with OH's parents several years ago where he was housed in a stable with access to outdoors when he wanted (OH's mother will not allow any animal in the house).  He adapted to this life very well and turned out to be a good mouser.  He had to be PTS earlier this year due to FIV, though :(

We had a lovely brown tabby & white semi longhair male hanging about the cattery which Jenny caught and we discovered he was entire too.   CP took him in, neutered him and he was found to have FIV, to look at him you'd never know as he was so 'healthy' looking but he was rehomed as a house cat ONLY.