TAKE CARE BEFORE BUYING KITTENS ONLINE
OK, let’s start by stating the obvious … Awwwwwwwwwwww!
Now we have your attention, we can move on. Are you thinking of buying a kitten?
If so, you’ll probably have noticed how hard they are to come by these days.
And those that are available tend to appear online at eye-boggling prices. A quick survey on Gumtree this morning showed prices ranging from £250 to £1,300. For a non-pedigree kitten, the average was £472.
These are prices hitherto almost unheard of.
The problem with this feline inflation is it can attract the wrong kind of people into breeding cats – people who are more interested in money than moggies, and who will cheerfully cut corners with serious implications for a kitten’s health and mental/social well-being.
The other problem is that unless you’re actually in a room with a kitten, and have time to assess not only it but its mother and the seller and the conditions in which it was brought up, you’re really in no position to judge what you’re getting.
But kittens on the ground are hard to find, so if you are thinking of buying one online, never pay over a deposit to a stranger (you may well lose it), and always follow the guidance provided in the useful RSPCA document here.
What you want to end up with is something like this … Awwwwww!
Not something like this … Eeeeek!
The terrifying creature above appears in the window of Duncan & Reid at Tanfield. Yours for £36 and already possessed of all the injections it will ever need.
[Ginger kitten: Wikipedia Commons.]
