Questions to ask breeder....

[sims2fan]

You have gotten some really good advice here!

I have put some links in your other thread for oriental breeders and I can ask my mentor for some recomendations if you want

GK pet insurance is a standard with good breeders.
They have to be registered with the GCCF, vacinated, 6 weeks insurance and most times you will get a comprehensive kitten pack. Some breeders will make you sign a contract for indoor only.

 

[urbantigers]

Originally Posted by Epona

Aaargh it's the cute kitten faces, and I'm going to be seeing cute kitten faces with great big enormous ears, and the great big enormous ears are always my downfall (which is why my cat is called Radar cos it was his great big enormous ears that made me have to bring him home

)

When I walked into the breeder's home and saw 4 little bundles of fluff curled up together on the sofa my heart just melted and I don't know whether I would have been able to say no if the breeder hadn't been a good breeder. I was lucky in that they were (and were recommended by another breeder I had previously chatted to at a cat show and who bred the mother) but I'm not sure I could have said no to Mosi under any circumstances! Be prepared to harden your heart and try to let your head make the decision - or at least play a part!

re the insurance - bit off topic but I don't know whether you've made a large claim yet - some insurance companies make a selling point of saying they will pay the vet direct but it's totally down to the vet whether they will accept payments from the insurance company and many don't. My vets used to but they had to change that as they often ended up not getting paid or having to chase up people for the excess. I have to pay everything up front and then claim it back - it might be worth checking that out if you haven't already just so that you're not faced with an unexpected bill should you have an emergency vet visit!

 

[sims2fan]

Wow so you have to pay (using the previous example) 4,000 pounds (sorry American laptop) upfront before they did anything? Or would they operate and then ask you for the money? I have never paid but I'm with "the good one" (what vets say when I name company) but *knock on wood* have never needed to claim before.

 

[urbantigers]

Yes - I have to pay the whole lot up front! I've only ever had one large bill though (nearly £2000) and was able to put it on my credit card. Knowing I can claim it back makes it easier to borrow too - I have a couple of people I could ask if it came to that. I'm with petplan and when I first joined my vets practice they had lots of petplan leaflets in the sugery but they told me when I registered that until very recently they used to deal with the company themselves but they no longer did. I don't think it was anything to do with petplan or any other company as much as customers who would hand in a claim form then disappear and never pay their bit or claims that weren't successful or took a while to resolve. They are a specialist referral vets though so probably deal with more customers they've not know previously, larger amounts of money and more complicated cases. I know a lot of vets will let you claim first then pay if the amount is large or if they know you well and I've never really tested that out at my vets. I get annoyed with insurance companies that claim to pay the vet direct because I think it gives people a false impression that that is what will happen when in reality it's solely down to the vet as to whether they will deal with the claim in that way. It's worth making sure you know the score before the situation arises.

 

[anakat]

Are you back yet?

Waiting to hear what you saw.

 

[epona]

Just got back! (It was a bit of a trek, been out all day!) Saw a wonderful litter of kittens, lively, healthy, a little shy at first but inquisitive, happy to be held and cuddled, mostly wanting to run around and cause chaos! Adult cats lovely too, very friendly towards us, breeder knowledgable and very happy to talk about showing and her experience with the breed, good pedigree with lots of champions and grand champions in their lineage

We have reserved a little blue boy

I think the next month is going to go very slowly! We have to come up with a name over the next few days so that our choice of name can go on his papers. He was the one who cuddled me for a while before going back to scaling the cat tree and harrassing his aunties, but they were all really cute little bouncy bundles! I will ask the breeder if she can e-mail me some photos of him

 

[anakat]

Congratulations

Can't wait to see the photos.

 

[goldenkitty45]

Awww. Can't wait for pictures. I think I missed what breed you were looking at

 

[siameseohio]

Congratulations!

How exciting getting a new kitty baby!!

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

I think I missed what breed you were looking at

I was thinking the same thing. Did you mention the breed? I guess I could go back and read your old post, but I really don't remember it being mentioned.

 

[tiffanyjbt]

Yay! I'm very happy for you!

I think it was orientals and siamese?

Tons of fun ahead!

 

[siameseohio]

Originally Posted by tiffanyjbt

I think it was orientals and siamese?

Oh yea. I remember now. Thanks. They say the mind is one of the first things to go.

 

[silentnate]

Hmmm... Can't decide between Picasso and Buxton but Epona's mind seems to be made up

 

[anakat]

I like Buxton ( The blue cat from the Magic Roundabout film)

 

[urbantigers]

Congratulations!

Can't wait to see pics. He sounds adorable. The 3 weeks I had to wait between seeing Mosi and bringing him home were the longest 3 weeks of my life!

 

[sims2fan]

Congrats! I am sure you will have a wonderful kitty and a great friend for Radar

 

[glamourpuss]

Epona, i'm pleased for you that everything went well with the visit to the breeder. Is it a blue siamese or oriental kitten? I love both breeds, they are adorable!

Re names. If i was to name a male kitten right now, i would choose Maximus ( I got the Gladiator extended edition for Christmas you see, it's one of my favourite movies!) Anyway i bet you can't wait for him to come home. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the little guy!

 

[epona]

Originally Posted by Anakat

I like Buxton ( The blue cat from the Magic Roundabout film)

YAY! I had the LP soundtrack of the film when I was a kid, it was one of my favourites (I'm blue... I'm beautiful... I'm best... mwahahaha)

Originally Posted by GlamourPuss

Epona, i'm pleased for you that everything went well with the visit to the breeder. Is it a blue siamese or oriental kitten? I love both breeds, they are adorable!

Re names. If i was to name a male kitten right now, i would choose Maximus ( I got the Gladiator extended edition for Christmas you see, it's one of my favourite movies!) Anyway i bet you can't wait for him to come home. Looking forward to seeing pictures of the little guy!

Sorry for not being clear! Blue oriental kitten

Maximus is a great name but I can't use it, as that was the name of my little grey budgie who tragically passed away in the summer

 

[glamourpuss]

Oh so sorry to hear about your little budgie!

It's horrible when birds die, you realise how delicate and fragile they are.

I'm sure you'll think of a great name for your kitten. Is it the registered name you're choosing as well as the pet name? It's even more difficult if you have to think of both!

 

[epona]

Originally Posted by GlamourPuss

Oh so sorry to hear about your little budgie!

It's horrible when birds die, you realise how delicate and fragile they are.

I'm sure you'll think of a great name for your kitten. Is it the registered name you're choosing as well as the pet name? It's even more difficult if you have to think of both!

Thank you, it was horrible, came home and found him broken on the floor of his cage, probably from a rodent attack, he was in a lot of pain and I am still very upset about it

Yes I am picking the name to go on his registration papers. I didn't realise how difficult it would be to pick a name for a pet that I am not already interacting with regularly - I have met him and picked him out, but he won't be here til the end of the month!

I think we are going with Buxton though, unless we change our minds within the next couple of days