Non Pedigree Owners

Willowy

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You’re not taking into account other things that the breeders pay for, like the breeding cats, to begin with, the insane amount of food to feed a litter (especially if they don’t feed kibble), vet bills in case something goes wrong with the pregnancy.
Except for testing, and purchase cost of the parents, they don't spend more than a rescuer does :dunno:
Breed implies generations of selective breeding by people. There’s a difference between resembling (or even being related to) landrace cats that a breed was developed from and being that breed
But. . .the farm cats in Maine were already called coon cats, and Japanese bobtailed cats, well, that's self-explanatory. Plus when we lived in Japan ('80s and '90s), the Japanese Bobtail studbooks were still open so some of the military families would pick up a few bobtailed street cats to take back to the States and sell them to breeders as foundation cats. Were they less of a breed then? It's just a philosophical thought: when does a breed become a breed?
Persians that are ethically bred to standard, without excessively exaggerating features are prone to less issues
I'm suspicious of this claim too. Usually if you poke the owners/breeders who make these claims enough, it turns out that several of their animals needed surgery because they couldn't breathe (or similar mitigation of whatever extreme trait they're defending), and they just consider that "part of the breed". I don't necessarily think show standards are always in the best interest of the animals involved.
 

Meowmee

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Except for testing, and purchase cost of the parents, they don't spend more than a rescuer does :dunno:

But. . .the farm cats in Maine were already called coon cats, and Japanese bobtailed cats, well, that's self-explanatory. Plus when we lived in Japan ('80s and '90s), the Japanese Bobtail studbooks were still open so some of the military families would pick up a few bobtailed street cats to take back to the States and sell them to breeders as foundation cats. Were they less of a breed then? It's just a philosophical thought: when does a breed become a breed?

I'm suspicious of this claim too. Usually if you poke the owners/breeders who make these claims enough, it turns out that several of their animals needed surgery because they couldn't breathe (or similar mitigation of whatever extreme trait they're defending), and they just consider that "part of the breed". I don't necessarily think show standards are always in the best interest of the animals involved.
“It's just a philosophical thought: when does a breed become a breed?”

Good question, it may not be possible to answer that except to say when the associations started and started to register them as specific breeds in modern times anyway. I am sure someone made records of it before that though. So in other words when a human said they are a breed etc. The cats don’t seem to care 😹

Siamese cats and other similar breeds were bred very early in Siam/ Thailand, but I think the thai cat / wichien matt is where the siamese started from. I have read accounts that members of the royal family there said that the siamese was actually not their offical preferred breed of the royalty or whatever it may be called, that they had pet cats from all of the breeds there. But I have seen moslty pic of them with sealpoint siamese kitties.
 

JuliWo

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I guess it depends how important that friend is too you. Some of my previous Maine Coons cost me less than others. The kittens at 3 months were always more costly. My current Carmel/White Turkish Van (Jackpot)was twice the price of my Black/White Turkish Van (Miles). Turkish Van's overall command a higher price as they are rarer than Maine Coons.
I meant cats from a pet shelter or simply find on a street. These cats sometimes may look like breaded cats. If I had a nonbreeded cat I somehow realised he has a breed, it'd be a good surprise for me.

I have spent way more on my rescued kitties from outside than on my one pb baby when I got him. They initially need a lot of care mostly due to being dumped outside and living the hard life etc. Not to mention all the work of helping them to recover, and become a house cat again if they were to start with. Also some of my shelter babies needed lots of care and rehabilitation etc. too.
Yeah! This is true! I have three cats, two of them are from a shelter. I feed them similarly and all the spendings are more or less similar. If a cat is from a shelter it does not mean you can treat them worse.
 

Flybynight

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I take with a grain of salt many 'breed' origin stories. Birmans for example, are not found in Burma (Myanmar).
They were created in Paris likely the result of long haired Russian cats mixed with color point cats. They are one of the more heavily inbred breeds. Lovely cats though.
We will never likely know the whole story behind the Ragdoll breed but to say the founding long haired cat didn't contribute is unlikely to be the case.

Most breeds today are so much a mixture of this and that that to use the term pure is slightly ironic.

As for costs, friends I know who have bought kittens from what are termed ethical breeders in the UK, who register their kittens, have all been fed on dry food and cheap food like Whiskas. So I am not sure how much really goes into food. Especially, as the kittens are still on and off nursing when taken even at 12/13 weeks.
Some breeders I am sure feed better quality food but it does not seem the norm.
Friends have bought Birmans, Ragdolls and a Kurilian Bob Tail.
Also keep in mind most breeders quite often keep a kitten from the litter to use for future breeding, so as such part of the cost is for their own kitten (who they normally later sell on when finished breeding).

Personally, I find value in trying to maintain naturally occurring breeds or landraces. Even unusual mutations such as Cornish Rex. But less value in rather gimmicky made up cat breeds such as Ragamuffins or Bengals. But each to their own and as PT Barnum said....
 

Meowmee

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I meant cats from a pet shelter or simply find on a street. These cats sometimes may look like breaded cats. If I had a nonbreeded cat I somehow realised he has a breed, it'd be a good surprise for me.


Yeah! This is true! I have three cats, two of them are from a shelter. I feed them similarly and all the spendings are more or less similar. If a cat is from a shelter it does not mean you can treat them worse.
Yes for sure. I was talking about when you actually take a cat in that immediately needs a lot of medical care and rehab etc. it can easily be equal to or more than the cost of purchasing a pb cat from a breeder. Which I have nothing against, my Quinn is pb siamese, he is the only one in many years of cats although we have had some mixes and we had a pb beagle when I was a child.

For instance Merlin, who I took in 3-4 years ago and tamed him and had to do a quarantine etc. His medical bills alone were over $2000 because he needed sedation at first to vax him, he had just bitten me outside but was touchable, and then months of work for diarrhea, possible ibd and he had c difficile and maybe other parasites. He had to have an ultrasound and numerous medications / tests etc.

Fortunately the doc who did his us at my dvm is fantastic and she was able to do it with no sedation so by that time he was slowly turning into a housecat with lots of tlc/ training etc.

Zena who I just rescued also had to be sedated for everything, neutered etc. and he needed tons of meds, stool / pcr tests because he had hook worm and giardia and was very stressed and aggressive at first. He is still nervous now but he is a talkative little love bug who will blossom in time. It is already $1500 maybe.

I wish I had gotten them both chipped when they were sedated, I wasnt sure if they would be able to adapt to being indoors etc. but I should have done it anyway and had forgotten I had planned to do it with my outdoor kitties now. I think now that they are calmer it may be able to be done without sedation but Zena may still need some type of sedation for the dvm at first. Hopefully just gabapentin.

And those are low estimates of what they cost for med bills, including specialized foods etc. and extras. Plus kitties with runs and contagious have to be carefully quarantined and all poop etc. is thrown out immediately, litter is changed out completely more often. For Zena I used only wee pads and a little litter because he had to be trained again to the box and would not use it at first with only litter. We spent a fortune on wee pads for the rescues who are conatgious because I line the cage with them as well. But some of those extras I might normally get anyway for any kitty. Of course a pb kitty could have immediate such issues too but it may be less likely.
 
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