bit of help/advice please?

[Elvisisboss]

Hi everyone.

a bit of advice please? i am looking to get a Birman cat (bit of nice news for me for once this year)
i have found a Birman kitten, spoke to the lady, both parents are heathly & Reg with the Gccf etc can be seen with paper work, sister / daughter can be seen etc.

But what is slightly worrying me is the mum had a kitten, only one and it died of a cleft palate, she got pregnant right after-without the ladys knowledge and had 2 kittens soon after, the lady didnt know about this till they were born.

they wouldnt/couldnt suckle and had a cold, so have been hand reared, there 4 weeks now, doing very well im told etc.

What is worrying me is all of it really! i got my cat i have now at 5 weeks, i was only 14 didnt know about ages and obviously that is Way to young to get a kitten, he suckled from my ear lobe! and he has allergies to Everything a bad digestive system and need to be on laxatives & have injections all of his life, not a nice thing to experience for him and turned out to be the most expensive free cat ever!

i realy like this cat But i do not want another extremly ill cat, i hope i dont sound mean, but my poor cat has had more operations than i can even remember, more injections and tests than all the hot dinners in the world and its awful to see something you love go through that!

what im worried about is the fact the mum had a kitten who died of a cleft palate and then the new kittens wouldnt / couldnt suckle. i know how important a mums milk is, i know you cant garentee health of anything, but im just quite wary and not sure what to do now?

many thanks

[yola]

Hi - and welcome. We have some very knowledgable breeders and rescuers here who I'm sure will offer much factual advice.

But I would, like you, be worried about all this. It could be that the new kittens have no defects and that Mum just couldn't feed them because she conceived too soon after loosing the previous kitten. Also, I don't think hand-rearing necessarily compromises a kitten's health or immune system and unfortunately for numerous reasons hand-rearing can be the only recourse to helping the kittens survive.

So whilst you're wise to be wary there may be nothing to worry about. BUT gut instinct says something's not right with this breeder's scenario.

[angieh]

I would agree with Yola.

If you are in doubt - wait. Find another Birman breeder and buy a kitten that you are sure is 100% healthy. Sounds as if you have had enough experience of a sick cat to know what heartache (and cost) you could be in for. That may sound harsh, and I don't mean to be. You obviously have doubts yourself and I would listen to them in this instance.

[Elvisisboss]

thanks for your replys, i will i will keep searching, i mean there prob graet healthy cats, but after havign a couple of days to mull it over you start thinking dont you?

[Elvisisboss]

hmm very weird her husband called me yesterday to tell me they have having another litter of birman crosses in 5 weeks.

but she told me she lowered the price as they were desperate to sell the kittens as they were moving?! HMMMMM

then she texted me today saying the kittens had died?

i hope she has that birman spayed as all of her kittens keep dying and are unhealthy and she gets pregnant right away after, maybe she did know about it? all very odd

[yola]

If she is a GCCF registered breeder I would definitely report her . . . I'd also be tempted to report her to the RSPCA because this sounds ever so dodgy.

Sadly there are people out there who consider this kind of behaviour acceptable - to most of us it's as basic as animal abuse Both in terms of the cat which is being bred from as well as the kittens who are obviously very unwell and uncared for be be dying so very soon

I would suggest you do not help these people by buying a kitten off them. Infact, depending on whether you want to take on another sickly kitten I would tell them that you'll take the kitten from them at no charge and they should consider themselves lucky!!

[Elvisisboss]

hiya, no will def not take a kitten from them! already said now! (gettin a siamese yah!)

just odd just texting me rendom texts telling me they died? the ads are still up though?

she is Gccf she said i can reg them if i want to or she never bothers?

i know where she lives - the county and her first name thats it!

[angieh]

Think you're wise to avoid her and her poor cat and unhealthy kittens.

But you're getting a Siamese? How absolutely wonderful - do keep us posted. Any idea when?

[Elvisisboss]

hiya going to get her on 10th august! choci point one! big blue eyes! very excited!!

i was either getting a siamese. birman or ragdoll, and siamese jsut pipped them at the post!

[Elvisisboss]

hiay i found her advert up again, so i emailed her from another email and apprently all kittens are healthy & now ready to go...?! but the kittens from the last litter died & she told me these had died, now they are healthy & ready to go?? very odd!!!