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ADVICE ON BUYING A KITTEN TO BREED FROM

Do you want to buy a breeding cat?

Do think about this carefully as breeders do not usually make money! Cat breeding is done for love and can be extremely expensive. If you have thought carefully about it, and have decided to go ahead, then you should ensure that you start off with a good healthy queen from a reliable, experienced breeder who will give you support and advice. It is often wise to begin by buying and showing a neuter so that you can get to know more about the breed first.

When buying a breeding cat, make sure that the seller knows your intentions and ask if there will be any restrictions. Breeders selling to a novice will usually be full of helpful advice; do try to get to know the breeder before buying as your future relationship may be very important to you.

In order to ensure a successful future for the Norwegian Forest Cat it is vitally important that all new breeders learn as much as possible about the breed, and select only the best kittens to breed on from. Now that we have a good number of breeders working with the NFC it is our collective responsibility to understand the faults that our breeding cats have, and to strive to eliminate these in the kittens that we sell as breeding and show cats.

Defects
The preface to the GCCF Standard of Points booklet lists a series of congenital defects that are undesirable in any cat that is to be shown or used for breeding. In a show cat the presence of these faults can lead to a judge withholding awards. For example, it is vital to check kittens thoroughly for tail faults and umbilical hernias before selling them as breeding or show cats.

Tail faults are sometimes detectable from birth, but often the smaller faults only manifest themselves at a later stage of development. With the breeder’s permission, gently run your fingers gently along the kitten’s tail and feel for any lumps or deviations.

An umbilical hernia is a gap in the muscle of the abdomen that causes the underlying tissue to partially poke through in the area of the umbilical cord, giving the impression of a protruding belly button. These hernias occur with varying degrees of severity. Experience has shown that breeding from females (and males) who had almost undetectable hernias as kittens leads to much worse problems in the next generation. Since these hernias seem to be heritable it is extremely important for breeders to act responsibly, by placing all kittens about which they have any doubt on the Inactive Register.

The NFC is generally a very healthy breed but we must all work together to ensure it stays that way.

Standard of Points

The Standard of Points (SOP) is your guide to what an NFC should look like. The scale of points gives you a feel for the weighting given to different attributes, and the list of faults describes the faults to which you should pay most attention. FIFe and TICA standards are very similar to the GCCF one on our website.

What happens if you buy a kitten and then it becomes sick immediately, and the breeder refuses to help?

You are welcome to contact any of the NFCC committee for advice. However if there is real cause for complaint you need to write to the registering body. Be careful to take notes of exactly what happened and when, and get your vet’s advice and support. The only way to stop bad breeders is to report them but unfortunately the Club is powerless to act – it is the GCCF, TICA and FIFe who can help you (depending on where that particular breeder registers their cats). Nonetheless we would like to follow what is going on, so please copy us with the complaint.

Remember, though, that complaints are few and far between and most breeders are caring and responsible individuals who give up a great deal of time, money and energy in order to produce the best possible cats.

This advice is given, without prejudice, to assist you in the purchase of a kitten. It in no way represents direct criticism or defamation of any person or persons.