Why do Pedigree Kittens Cost so Much? - Best Pets 4 Home
Why do Pedigree Kittens Cost so Much?
2-day old baby Wychwood MelusinePedigree breeders are often asked why their kittens cost so much, by well-meaning members of the public who do not always understand the costs involved in ethical animal care. The cost of a pedigree kitten is not justified just because they are so cute!
For more information about us and our cats, please take the time to read our Library articles, under the tab at the top of our website.
At Wychwood Russian Blue Cats, we aim to be honest with the public as well as ethical towards the care and welfare of our cats, and with this in mind, we would like to share a few of our costs in producing our kittens. In our particular case, because we are the only breeders in the UK of our specific type of Russian Blue, we must travel abroad to adopt our breeding cats. Good quality breeding queens and studs, from the best European or American lines, can cost between £3500 to £4000 each, before the cost of the import flight, or travel to bring them home. A breeding male, considered to be the “corner-stone” to any good breeding programme, must have every quality that the breeder seeks to impart to their kittens, and he should be of top show quality. He will be expected to meet his breed standard exactly, be of robustly healthy lines, have a wonderfully cuddly personality, and generally be a darling Romeo to his little harem and to people as well.
We breed to meet the standard of the Cat Fanciers of America (CFA) more than that of The International Cat Association (TICA), and we are the only British breeders who deliberately breed towards meeting these completely different standards of Russian Blue cat. UK based Russian Blue breeders whether they import their lines or not, tend to breed to meet the General Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) breed standard or to meet the standard of FIFe, and their adults will look completely different to our adults, as a result of different blood-lines and breeding goals. For further information, see our article about different types of Russian Blue Cats.
Wychwood is committed to the welfare, health and development of the Russian Blue breed. Although we have our own studs, we will continue to incur the expense of travelling abroad with our queens for matings to unrelated studs, and we will continue to import breeding and show-quality kittens into our breeding programme, to ensure healthy genetic diversity. We make a commitment to retire our mums and dads whilst they are still young enough to enjoy the leisurely pet lives that should be theirs after they have been neutered. Our breeding programme is constantly in development, because we work within the international Russian Blue community, towards the benefit of the Russian Blue breed. This means ongoing costs to import wonderful new breeding cats and kittens into our little feline family.
Another cost that pet adopters often overlook, is that of showing our cats. Most pet owners say that they prefer a cat that is “not a show quality cat”, but this is because they do not understand how important a cattery show really is. For more information about shows, read this article HERE.
All of the items below are factored into the cost of a kitten:
The Parents
Please Note
- * The purchase cost of the Stud cat – around £4000 before travel
- * The cost of stud fees to maintain healthy genetic diversity -£1000-£1500 before travel
- * Pet Passport -£97
- * The cost of travel, fuel, hotels etc associated with importing new breeding cats and mating visits -£1000-£2000
- * Medical treatment for Studs and Queens for anything beyond their role as pets -an emergency caesarean or spay is around £1500
- * Premium food to promote good health in pregnant queens and studs -£56 per month
- * Various home hygiene products associated with having breeding cats -£50 per month
- * Occasional replacement of furniture and furnishings -the cost of a new sofa, etc.
- * Insurance for each breeding adult is around £55 per month, and this only covers £500 towards an emergency spay, meaning that we need to cover the excess ourselves.
- * Premium kitten food to give them all the required nutrients for growing healthy bones, teeth and muscles: -£42 per month
- * Kitten friendly litter -£52 per month
- * Vaccinations, micro-chips and neutering operations -£100 per kitten
- * Various unforeseeable vet bills -anything between £45 and £1000 per kitten, per accident or problem. Kittens are only insured to their new homes for their first four weeks, not to their breeders, who must foot the bill of any accidents or problems that might arise.
- * An extra cost for the buyer rather than us, is the individual ownership registration document, which we fill in and deliver to you with your kitten. This is separate from the fee we have to pay to register the litter’s pedigree. This individual registration needs to be emailed to CFA by the owners, along with the $15 Paypal transaction reference, so that the CFA document in your name will be sent to your home, rather than the breeder’s home, where it would inevitably fall prey to hunting kittens!!
- * Wychwood reserves the right to cancel any adoption at any time, without prior notice, at our discretion, and for any reason. Our decision, which will be based on our care for the welfare of our cat or kitten, is final. We reserve the right to retain the kitten’s deposit to cover the cost of our time and/or travel to your home and/or vet fees.
- We breed Russian Blue cats because they are rare and beautiful creature, without which the world would be a less poetic place. It is our pleasure to bring these lovely felines into our lives and to share them with you, but we always remain aware of our responsibility to care, nurture and provide for them, so that the breed can thrive and continue to grace the lives they share with us. At Wychwood Russian Blue Cats, we are dedicated to the future of these delightful cats, and we strive for excellence in our care, so that our babies have the finest characters and pedigrees, selected over several years, to ensure they are true to the standard they represent, which is one of beauty and grace, combined with exceptional health, even by moggy standards.
