Responsible breeding and cat acquisition is a multidimensional concept. In practice, responsibility means keeping promises, respecting laws, rules and values, being reliable and helping others. Both raising a cat and owning a cat must be approached responsibly. But how can someone dreaming of their first furry family member choose a responsible breeder?
Let’s start investigating the issue with the help of artificial intelligence. ChatGPT outlines responsible cat breeding as follows:
“Responsible cat breeding means that the breeder strives to take care of the cats’ well-being at all stages of their life, starting from planning the mating and ending with the cat being handed over to the owner. This includes many important principles:
1. Health and well-being: The breeder should ensure that both parents are healthy and have good genetics. Health should be monitored regularly, and spaying or neutering is recommended if the animal is not being used for breeding.
2. Breed characteristics: A responsible breeder will aim to breed cats that meet the breed standards and are well-suited to family life. At the same time, care should be taken not to overbreed for narrow genetic traits that can lead to hereditary diseases.
3. Ethical: The breeder must be ethical towards both the animals and the customers. The welfare of the animals must not be compromised in breeding, and castration and sterilization are important practices if the individual intended for breeding is not suitable.
4. Socialization and upbringing: Cats should be raised to be well-adjusted socially, meaning they are used to people, sounds and possibly other animals even before moving to a new home. This improves the cats' quality of life and makes it easier for them to adapt to their new environment.
5. Surrender and contracts: Cats are only surrendered responsibly to those who are prepared and committed to providing the animal with a good home. The breeder must offer support and advice to the cat's owners, and contracts are often used, which include agreements on matters related to the animal's care and possible health problems.
Responsible cat breeding is therefore comprehensive care that takes into account the needs of both the animals and the well-being of the owners.”
According to artificial intelligence, responsible cat breeding starts with the planning of the mating and ends with the handover. It is true that after the kitten is handed over, many things are no longer in the breeder’s hands, but I personally see the support after the handover, the cat’s lifetime, as even more important than the instructions given at the time of handover and before. That’s when things become concrete for the new cat owner, and even good preparation does not necessarily help in all situations. Maintaining contact with the kitten homes is also important for the health of the breed, and a responsible breeder is interested in the health of the kitten they have given away as a pet – and is grateful to receive information from the home about the cat’s possible ailments, and often ensures this flow of information through agreements.
A responsible breeder also carefully researches future kitten homes and the kittens' personalities before making the decision to give them up, so that the right home and kitten meet in the best possible way, along with a mutual feeling of the smoothness of the future collaboration.
The breeder of the Finnish Neva Masquerade Cats Association:
- has a FIFÉ-approved breeder name and registers the kittens with FIFÉ
- follows the breeding rules of the Finnish Cat Association
- uses only healthy individuals for breeding, including FeLV, FIV and blood group determination. The kitten buyer should also ask about the heart and kidney tests performed on the parents and familiarize themselves with the pedigree, for example, in the Pawbeds database or the health information displayed in the Finnish Cat Association's MyCat (Omakissa in Finnish).
- provides truthful information about the health information of the kittens, their lineage and the breed to the best of their knowledge
- always hands over the kittens registered (currently an electronic registry book is in use, paper upon request), with identification marks, checked by a veterinarian (certificate!) and vaccinated with a written agreement
In addition, a responsible breeder or owner of a breeding male:
- Can tell (and is happy to tell!) about the breed, the parents of the kittens and knows the breed standard against which he plans combinations
- Has considered his/her own breeding principles and goals
- Only uses good-natured cats for breeding
- Carefully learns the backgrounds of his/her breeding cats, i.e. has studied the pedigrees of the cats and considers combinations in terms of breed diversity, health support and typicality. Does not acquire cats for breeding from suspicious circumstances, even abroad.
- Ensures that the parent cats that were bred have their heart ultrasounds and other health examinations, also at a later age.
- Lets the person dreaming of a kitten get to know his/her home and the cats before making the final decision to give them up
- Only gives his/her cats for breeding use in combinations where the above-mentioned things and his/her own principles are fulfilled
- Takes care of the well-being of the kittens and mother, including cleanliness and high-quality food, and accustoms the kittens to handling and a social environment before surrendering
- Does not let their cats go outside freely or come into contact with cats that go outside freely. Does not surrender the kitten to roam freely
- Ensures that fungal infections or parasites do not spread in the cattery / outside
- Informs the future home about the responsibilities and obligations associated with owning a cat and does not surrender the kitten if it feels that the home cannot cope with them
- Is willing to care for the kittens past the surrender age if a suitable home cannot be found and to help find a new home for their foster cat if the home has to give up the cat
- Ensures that the surrendered kitten does not end up in the wrong hands and becomes a victim of continuous littering in poor conditions. The best way to ensure this is to get to know the future home carefully and sterilize / castrate the kittens. Early spaying and neutering also has many other benefits for the well-being of the cat and the home. For example, kittens recover from surgery faster than adults.
- Tells the realities honestly. No one can promise a cat that will remain healthy for its entire life.
- Carefully considers giving the kitten to an allergic home
An expensive hobby?
Yes, responsible breeding is a very expensive hobby and no litter can be planned on frivolous grounds or with the glimmer of victory in the eyes. The price of a kitten is explained by the costs of breeding tests, possible caesarean sections and other veterinary visits, insurance, high-quality food and litter, and borrowing a breeding male. Expanding the gene pool by acquiring new breeding cats and ensuring that the same individuals do not produce multiple litters also increases costs. It is often thought that playing with kittens is just a nice and relaxing pastime, but the breeder is burdened with great responsibility and worry throughout the kittenhood, which continues even after the delivery. A responsible cat breeder works hard for the breed they love. It is great that since the early days of the Neva Masquerade breed, breeding cats have been tested relatively conscientiously in Finland, and the breed's genetic base has been taken care of through relatively active imports and planning - hopefully this will continue to be the case despite the breed's great popularity and the mild symptoms it has brought.
Good questions to ask a future kitten home from a breeder (and for the breeder to consider):
- Why are you breeding/breeding this breed in particular?
- What do you know about the parents and their backgrounds?
- How do you choose breeding cats and combinations?
- Which member associations do you belong to?
- Can I get to know you and your cats in advance, for example at shows?
- Will I get to get to know the kittens carefully before making a purchase decision?
- Will I get to see the mother cat and other representatives of the breed?
- What would you like to know about the future home?
- What food do you feed the kittens and why?
- How do you socialize the kittens during the first weeks/months? And on the other hand, how do you ensure that the kittens are not stressed out too much by visitors, other pets, noises, etc., and how should socialization be continued in the new home?
- Where can I get help if everything does not go according to plan?
- How much does a kitten cost and what is included in the price?
- Can I come and see the kittens again to get to know them better?
Useful links:
- Finnish Cat Association breeding rules (not available in English in the website, but you can contact https://www.kissaliitto.fi/english)
-Pawpeds database: https://www.pawpeds.com/db/?p=sib
Text and photos: Heli Holma (https://www.nevat.fi/)
The article was originally published in the Finnish Neva Masquerade Cats Association's member publication 1/2025