Choosing a breeder

ANYONE CAN SAY THEIR CATS ARE HEALTH TESTED

“Health tested” is probably one of the most common things written on breeder websites and social media, but on its own it really doesn’t tell you very much. What matters is what you are actually shown when you ask. If genetic testing has been done, there should be a laboratory report for it. Ideally that report identifies the cat by microchip, gives the date and laboratory and shows the actual results rather than somebody typing “all clear” summaries or sending a screenshot with half of the information missing.

There is nothing unreasonable about asking to see those reports before buying a kitten. If everything has been tested, showing the paperwork should be the easy part.

THE WAY THE TEST WAS DONE MATTERS TOO

There is another part of testing that tends to get forgotten, and that is who actually took the sample.

A home cheek swab can be tested perfectly well by a laboratory. The problem is not necessarily the laboratory result. The problem is that nobody independent has confirmed which cat was swabbed.

That is why veterinary collection is preferable for breeding cats. The vet can scan the microchip first, collect the sample and have the cat’s identity recorded with the result.

It is a small distinction, but quite an important one. A result tells you what was found in the sample. Independent identification tells you which cat the sample came from.

HCM SCREENING

HCM is slightly different because there is no cheek swab or blood test that can tell you whether a Sphynx currently has HCM. This needs an echocardiogram, and for Sphynx breeding cats in the UK the screening recommendations are quite specific about who should be doing it: a veterinary cardiologist.

And the date matters.

Seeing a normal scan from three years ago is obviously better than seeing nothing at all, but it does not tell you what that cat’s heart looks like today. HCM can appear later in life, which is why breeding cats should be screened regularly, ideally every year and before mating rather than after a queen is already pregnant.

It is also worth asking for the actual cardiac report rather than simply accepting “HCM clear”. An echocardiogram looks at considerably more than HCM and considerably more than one wall measurement. We already know from Sphynx research that other abnormalities, including mitral valve dysplasia, can be found during cardiac screening.

So the useful questions are really very ordinary ones: when was the cat last scanned, who scanned it and can you see the report?

GENETIC TESTING

Genetic testing can very quickly turn into a list of acronyms, which is not particularly useful unless the breeder actually understands what those results mean.

For Sphynx in the UK, CMS is one of the important ones. GCCF requires the relevant breeding cats to meet its CMS testing requirements, and the breeder should be able to show the laboratory result rather than simply saying the line is clear.

DBE is another good example of why the report itself matters. If a cat is being advertised specifically as DBE, there should be a DNA result showing which DBE variant was identified. “Blue eyed” and “DBE tested” are not interchangeable descriptions.

The breeder does not need to give you a genetics lecture. But they should be able to tell you what they tested, what came back and what that result means for the mating they have chosen.

FIV AND FeLV

There isn’t really very much to explain here. Both parents should be negative for FIV and FeLV before mating and there should be a report confirming it.

The date is worth looking at, especially when an outside stud has been used. These are infections, so this is obviously different from something like CMS where the genetic result of that cat is not going to change two years later.

There are situations where FIV or FeLV testing needs to be repeated as well, for example after possible recent exposure, because when the test is done can affect what the result tells us.

But when looking for a kitten, the basic question is simply whether both parents have been tested and whether the results can actually be seen.

HEALTH GUARANTEE

A health guarantee needs to mean something on paper, not just sound reassuring on a breeder’s website.

Read exactly what is covered, for how long and what happens if the kitten develops a serious congenital or hereditary condition. Some guarantees sound impressive until you read the small print and realise that almost everything important has been excluded.

Look at what the breeder is actually offering if something goes wrong.

There should also be a reasonable period for the new owner to have the kitten examined by their own vet after collection.

And check the exclusions carefully. A breeder cannot reasonably guarantee that a cat will never become ill, and no health guarantee can promise that a Sphynx will never develop HCM later in life. But there is a big difference between that and a contract written in a way that leaves the breeder responsible for virtually nothing.

Health testing the parents and providing a health guarantee are two different things.

The testing tells you what was done before the kitten was born. The guarantee tells you what happens if something still goes wrong afterwards.

WAITING LISTS EXIST FOR A REASON

Not finding a kitten immediately is quite normal. A breeder may have a mating planned and nothing available for months. The mating may not work, the queen may have two kittens rather than five, or everybody waiting for a female may discover that the entire litter is male.

There is quite a lot here that nobody can plan.

Health testing also needs doing before the mating in the first place, and obviously a queen should not simply move from one litter into another because there are more people waiting.

What would make anyone ask more questions is the opposite situation, where there always seem to be kittens. Not one litter that happens to be available, but kittens of different ages appearing throughout the year.

That may have a perfectly reasonable explanation if it is a larger cattery with several breeding females. But then that is useful information too. How many breeding cats are there? How many litters are being produced each year? Who is looking after them?

The answers matter more than whether there happens to be a kitten available today.

SCREENING THE BUYER

It can feel slightly strange when somebody you have only just contacted starts asking about your house, your other animals, your working hours or what you intend to feed the kitten. But there is a reason for it.

A Sphynx going into a home with several other cats is a different placement from one going to live alone. A kitten going to somebody who works away from home for twelve hours a day is a different situation again. The breeder knows the individual kittens as well, and one may suit a particular home much better than another.

There is no particular questionnaire that makes somebody a good breeder and asking twenty questions proves nothing by itself.

It is the complete lack of interest that would be more concerning.

If the breeder knows your name and which kitten you want, but nothing about where that kitten is actually going to live, then it is difficult to see how any decision about suitability has been made.

The conversation should go in both directions. You want to know where the kitten came from. The breeder should want to know where it is going.

CAUTIOUS WITH PAYMENT PLANS

A kitten is not a television or a sofa, and offering one on finance or instalments should be treated with caution.

There is a difference between saving for a kitten before buying one and taking the kitten home because the purchase price can be divided into smaller payments.

The purchase price is only the beginning. A Sphynx still needs good food, insurance, vaccinations and routine veterinary care, and sooner or later there may be an unexpected veterinary bill as well. Those costs do not arrive conveniently spread across twelve monthly payments.

If the initial cost of the kitten is already unaffordable without finance, it is reasonable to ask yourself what happens when a £1,000 or £2,000 veterinary bill appears unexpectedly.

This is also where impulse buying becomes a concern. Making an expensive animal immediately affordable removes one of the natural pauses between wanting a kitten and actually being financially ready to own one.

A breeder is supposed to be deciding whether somebody is in a position to care for that kitten for the rest of its life, not finding ways to make the sale easier.

For that reason, breeders actively advertising kittens on finance or instalment plans are something to be very cautious about.

Saving for a kitten and buying one when you are ready is one thing. Buying a living animal on credit because you cannot currently afford to buy it is another.

READ THE CONTRACT BEFORE YOU PAY

Contracts can look very reassuring until you actually read one. Some are quite short and cover everything that really matters. Others are pages and pages of rules about what the new owner can and cannot do, but become surprisingly vague when it comes to what the breeder will do if something goes wrong.

Ask for the contract before paying the deposit.

There should be time to read the health guarantee properly and see what it actually covers rather than discovering the conditions when the kitten is ready to leave. The same applies to registration, neutering if relevant, microchip transfer and any restrictions attached to the sale.

It is also worth checking what happens if the owner cannot keep the cat later on. Some breeders require the cat to come back to them, others ask to be contacted first or want to be involved in finding another home. There is no reason for any of this to be discovered after the kitten has already been bought.

The contract does not need to be enormous. It does need to make sense from both sides.

REGISTRATION ALONE DOESN’T TELL YOU EVERYTHING

Registration is probably one of the easiest things to misunderstand when looking for a pedigree kitten.

If a kitten is registered with GCCF, TICA or FIFe, that does tell you something useful. There is a registered pedigree behind that kitten and the breeder is using that organisation’s registration system and is subject to its relevant rules.

But it does not necessarily mean anybody from the registry has ever walked into that breeder’s home.

That is a separate thing.

There are breeders registering litters who have never had a cattery inspection because ordinary pedigree registration does not automatically involve one. Then there are breeders who have gone through an additional scheme where the cattery itself has been assessed.

Both can quite legitimately describe themselves as registered breeders, which is why the phrase on its own does not answer very much.

So rather than treating “registered” as a final stamp of approval, look at what actually sits behind it. Which registry are the cats registered with? Has the cattery ever been inspected? Is the breeder part of an additional accreditation programme?

BREEDING LICENCES IN THE UK

The rules are not identical across England, Wales and Scotland, so there is no single “UK breeder licence” that applies in exactly the same way everywhere.

England

In England there is no fixed number of litters that automatically decides whether somebody needs a licence. The question is whether animals are being sold as pets in the course of a business.

The £1,000 HMRC trading income allowance is one of the indicators used in the official guidance, but earning more than £1,000 does not automatically make somebody a business. The overall activity matters as well.

This is also where the term “hobby breeder” is often misunderstood. A genuine hobby breeder typically breeds on a small scale and irregularly, primarily for their own interest, showing or continuation of their lines, with surplus kittens being sold. Regularly planning litters and producing kittens primarily for sale is a different type of activity, regardless of what somebody chooses to call it.

Wales

Wales has its own licensing rules and should be checked separately from England.

There are also restrictions around commercial third-party sales of puppies and kittens, which means licensed sellers cannot simply buy young animals from somebody else and sell them on as though they had bred them.

Scotland

Scotland is much clearer when it comes to numbers. A person breeding three or more litters of kittens within any twelve-month period needs a breeding licence.

Calling yourself a hobby breeder does not change that threshold.

The licence is issued by the local council and the premises are subject to inspection and licensing conditions.

CHECK THE LICENCE

If a breeder is licensed, the licence details should not be difficult to find. Licensing rules require details to be displayed on relevant websites and advertisements, including online advertising and social media where kittens are being offered for sale.

The licence can also be checked with the council that issued it.

So if somebody says they are licensed, there is no need to take that on trust. Ask for the licence number and check it.

VOLUNTARY BREEDER ACCREDITATION

Not every breeder will need a council licence, particularly someone producing only occasional litters. There are, however, voluntary schemes that go further than ordinary pedigree registration.

GCCF has the Approved Breeder Scheme. The cattery is visited by a GCCF-trained assessor, who looks at how the cats are housed and cared for, as well as the breeder’s records and documentation. The inspection takes place every three years, while Approved Breeder status and membership are renewed annually.

TICA does this differently. Its Outstanding Cattery programme requires an inspection by a licensed veterinarian. The vet looks at the cattery itself, how the cats are housed and cared for, hygiene and general welfare, as well as veterinary and vaccination records and other documentation. The inspection is repeated annually to maintain the certification.

Neither scheme means that nothing can ever go wrong in a cattery, but both involve something ordinary registration does not: somebody independent has actually looked at how the cattery operates.

And both can be checked rather than simply taken on trust.

GCCF Approved Breeders — https://www.gccfcats.org/getting-a-cat/finding/breeder-scheme-map/

TICA Outstanding Catteries — https://tica.org/outstanding-catteries/

ASK TO SEE HOW THE CATS ACTUALLY LIVE

Stud males are often kept separately and there is nothing unusual about that. An entire male obviously cannot have unrestricted access to breeding females, and spraying can make keeping him with the whole group difficult. Some live with neutered cats for company, others have their own part of the house.

The important question is what “kept separately” actually means.

A stud having his own room or area, with daylight, warmth, space, beds, climbing places, enrichment and regular contact with people is very different from a cat spending his life alone in a garage, shed or windowless utility room under artificial light.

Human contact matters here as well. Going into the room to put down food, change the water and clean the litter tray is not the same as the cat actually being part of everyday life.

If a stud cannot live with the main group, there are other ways of making sure he is not simply isolated. He may be able to live with neutered cats, spend part of the day with people or have an area of the home where normal interaction happens. The exact arrangement will differ between catteries. What matters is that separation does not become permanent social isolation.

The same needs to be considered with queens.

A pregnant queen may want more privacy as the birth gets closer, and having a quiet room or nesting area available is completely normal. That is very different from keeping a pregnant cat confined to a cage for weeks because it is convenient to manage her there.

She still needs to walk around, stretch, choose where she wants to rest and have normal interaction. A nesting box should be somewhere she can choose to use, not the only space available to her.

After the kittens are born, some restriction is obviously necessary at first. Newborn kittens need a safe, warm area and nobody is suggesting that they should be wandering around the house.

But they do not stay newborn for very long.

As they grow, the space available to them needs to grow with them. They start walking, running, climbing, playing and investigating what is around them. A pen can still be useful for safety, particularly when they cannot be supervised, but it should not become the entire environment they are raised in.

A blanket on the floor, a litter tray beside a water bowl and a few toys do not provide everything a developing kitten needs simply because the area looks clean.

They need things to climb, different surfaces and objects to investigate, room to play properly and regular handling and interaction with people. They also need exposure to ordinary household life so that moving into a home later is not the first time they have encountered normal sounds, movement and activity around them.

This is why seeing the cattery matters.

If the stud is kept somewhere separate, ask to see where he lives. If a pregnant queen is confined, ask why and how much time she spends outside that space. If kittens are raised in pens, ask when they come out and what the rest of their environment looks like.

There can be perfectly sensible reasons for separating cats or using pens at particular stages.

The question is not whether a breeder uses them. It is what life looks like for the cat once the door is closed

LUCY’S LAW

Lucy’s Law has applied in England since 2020 and stopped commercial third-party sales of puppies and kittens under six months old.

The law was named after Lucy, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel who had been used for breeding on a puppy farm in Wales. She spent years in extremely poor conditions, repeatedly producing puppies, before being rescued in 2013. By then she was in very poor health. Her story became part of the campaign to stop puppies and kittens being sold through third-party dealers, where buyers often had no way of seeing how or where the animals had actually been bred.

In practice, a licensed commercial seller cannot buy a young kitten from somebody else and then sell it on. The person selling the kitten commercially should be the person who bred it.

Wales and Scotland have their own legislation covering third-party sales, so technically Lucy’s Law is not one UK-wide law, even though the name is often used that way.

For somebody buying a kitten the legal terminology probably matters less than knowing where that kitten actually came from. If it is being sold as breeder-bred, the mother should be there and the kitten should be seen with her at the place where it was raised

REHOMING KITTENS

Sphynx kittens should not be leaving at eight or ten weeks old.

With pedigree kittens, 13–14 weeks has traditionally been a much more normal minimum, and plenty of breeders keep them longer. 16 or 17 weeks is not unusual, particularly where kittens are neutered before they leave.

There is actually quite a lot happening during those extra weeks. Vaccinations can be completed, the kitten has more time with its mother and littermates and there is more time for socialisation. It also gives the breeder longer to see how that particular kitten is developing rather than making decisions when it is still very young.

Neutering should be done before rehoming, recovery needs to happen before the move as well. Sending a kitten home immediately after surgery just adds a completely unnecessary change of environment while it is recovering.

By collection, the kitten should be healthy, fully vaccinated for its age, microchipped, neutered, vet checked, litter trained and scratch post trained .

There is really no advantage to rushing this.

The kitten is going to spend years with you, so another two or three weeks with the breeder at the beginning is not a long time.

RETIRING BREEDING CATS

Retired breeding cats are a slightly different situation because the information that matters is current information.

This is particularly important with HCM.

A Sphynx may have had a completely normal cardiac scan at two years old and develop HCM later. So when an adult breeding cat is being rehomed, showing the new owner a scan from several years ago is not particularly helpful as evidence of what the heart looks like now.

A current echocardiogram by a veterinary cardiologist should be done before the cat leaves.

The cat should also be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, microchipped and vet checked. Basically, it should leave the breeder properly prepared for its new home rather than the new owner being handed a list of things that now need doing.

Insurance is worth sorting before collection too. With an adult cat there is simply a greater chance that something will be found sooner than with a young kitten, and once a condition has been diagnosed it may be excluded from a new policy.

Then there is the home itself.

Some breeding cats have spent years living with several other cats and will hate suddenly being alone. Another may have been kept separately and actually do much better as the only cat. Some are confident with strangers, some are not.

Being retired does not make any of that less important.

A breeder who has lived with that cat for years should know enough about it to choose a home that actually suits it, rather than treating rehoming as making space for the next breeding cat.

CONTRACTS AND GUIDANCE

The contract is one thing. Knowing what to do with the kitten once it gets home is another.

A breeder should provide proper care information, particularly with a breed like the Sphynx where there are a few things that may be completely new to somebody who has only owned coated cats before.

That should cover what the kitten is currently eating, how often it is fed, what litter it knows, bathing and skin care, ears, nails and temperature. If that particular kitten has its own routine or there is something the breeder already knows about it, that should be passed on too.

Changing homes is already a big enough change without changing the food, litter and entire routine on the same day.

GCCF also advises buyers to ask for detailed information about the kitten’s feeding, grooming, toileting and normal routine, and notes that many breeders provide a diet sheet.

A new owner should leave knowing how that kitten has actually been cared for, not just carrying a folder of paperwork.

PET, SHOW OR BREEDING

Not every kitten in a litter is going to be suitable for the same purpose.

For a pet home, health and temperament matter far more than whether one ear could be positioned slightly better or whether the kitten will ever win a show.

A show prospect is different. It needs to meet the breed standard, but temperament matters here too. Shows involve travelling, noise, unfamiliar people and being handled by judges, and not every perfectly nice kitten is going to enjoy that.

A breeding cat needs another level of consideration again.

It should be as healthy as possible, properly health tested when old enough and come from a pedigree where the breeder actually knows what is behind it. Inbreeding coefficient, genetic diversity, temperament and family health history all matter when that cat may eventually produce another generation.

Colour or eye colour alone is not a breeding programme. And there is nothing wrong with looking at a beautiful kitten and deciding that its best future is simply being somebody’s pet.

IF SOMETHING FEELS WRONG

Sometimes there is no single dramatic red flag.

It may just be that the answers do not quite match, a health report that was supposed to be sent never arrives, the breeder will show some cats but not others, or there is suddenly pressure to pay a deposit because somebody else apparently wants the kitten.

That is enough reason to slow down.

Nobody needs to prove that a breeder is doing something wrong before deciding not to buy from them.

There will be another kitten.

It is much easier to walk away before paying a deposit than to discover a few weeks later that the questions that felt uncomfortable at the beginning actually mattered.

And asking to see health reports, registration documents or where the cats live is not being difficult.

You are being asked to trust somebody with a decision that may affect the next fifteen years of your life. It is reasonable to check what you are being told.

ADOPTING FROM A RESCUE

Sphynx cats do end up in rescue, and sometimes very little is known about where they originally came from.

The rescue will usually be able to tell you what veterinary care has been done since the cat arrived, but do not assume that specialist health screening is included. An adult Sphynx may have been vaccinated, neutered and generally vet checked without ever having had an echocardiogram.

That is worth asking about.

If there is no recent cardiac scan, arranging one with a veterinary cardiologist after adoption is sensible. HCM does not always produce obvious symptoms, and a cat looking perfectly healthy does not tell us what is happening inside the heart.

Finding something on a scan is not a reason to regret adopting the cat. It means knowing about it and being able to manage it properly.

Ask about behaviour as well, particularly if there are already other animals at home. A rescue may have information about how the cat behaves with other cats, dogs or children, whether it copes with being alone and whether there are any behaviours the new owner needs to understand.

Sometimes that history will be incomplete. That is simply part of adopting an animal whose previous life may not be fully known.

CONSIDER AN OLDER CAT

Kittens usually get chosen first at shelters, but an adult Sphynx can actually be easier to match to the right home.

With an older cat, much of the temperament is already there. You can see whether it wants to be permanently attached to a person, whether it enjoys other cats, whether it is confident around dogs or whether it would rather live somewhere quiet.

There is less guessing involved.

And adult does not mean old. A four or five-year-old cat may still have many years ahead of it, while even a genuinely senior cat can be exactly right for somebody who does not particularly want the chaos that comes with a kitten.

Older cats can also form very strong relationships with new people. They do not need to have been there from 16 weeks old for that bond to happen.

And sometimes this is particularly noticeable with cats that have not had an easy life before. Once they feel safe, have somebody who cares for them and realise that this is now their home, the relationship that develops can be incredibly close. People often describe it as gratitude. Whether a cat experiences it in quite the same way we do is impossible to know, but the trust and affection behind it are very real.