Why are kittens so expensive now?

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(Before I get flamed I have gone down the rescue route to no avail).

For the last couple of months I’ve been looking online to buy a kitten. Even for a black moggie it’s minimum £150 with some being £200 and that’s before fleeing/vets etc etc.

I swear a couple of years ago you could pick them up to next to nothing. One of my neighbours used to have a sign in the window with ‘free to a good home’.

The only reason I can think is because it’s not quite kitten season yet therefore they’re not in high demand?

That was puppies. A lot of money is being made from puppy farms.

Cats are farmed too. It's not just dogs, although it's far more common with dogs as they command more money overall.

It's to prevent them being used as dog bait. The wives etc of the men who do the dog fights search online to pick them up cheap, even taking their children with them

Yep ^ this very much. Why should living animals be 'cheap' and plentiful anyway? I'm glad they are expensive. Should put off people not committed and those looking to get an animal for dog fights or those who can't actually look after them properly (including affording neutering and vet bills).

Rescues also have to deal with many unrealistic and unpleasant people. The lady who runs my local Cats Protection told me about some of the abuse she's received from people ringing demanding a cat because their child wants one.
The rescue is the only advocate these unwanted animals have, so I don't blame them for being strict. Many rescue animals have been rescued from awful homes so doubt they are going to allow them back into any old situation.

If your CPL approved you and you are prepared to travel could you look out of area? We often have kittens on ours that can take weeks to rehome (not stalking as such, but when I can rehome I want the one that’s been looking for a new home the longest!)

We got our lovely natured; toilet trained adult black moggy through an ad on Facebook. Absolutely free.

Same. We had SUCH a rollercoaster with her! I don't think people would believe it.

They said she was spayed. Few months later she was upstairs on the bed making low growling noises, scaring me to death, bleeding from her lady bits. Had to rush her to the vets who confirmed she was giving birth but a kitten had got stuck coming out tail first . Emergency C section. The stuck kitten died

There was another in there and the vet managed to save it. It was so teeny, the size of a mouse. We had to feed it with a syringe - which it hated! The vet said "looks like a boy". We named him Casper.

Yeah you guessed it - few months later... Casper gives birth to THREE kittens! So we ended up with 5 cats. It was manic. We gave the new kittens away for free to good homes.

So I'd be very cautious with ads because clearly people lie on them!

We got our puppy from a respected breeder and vet checked her ASAP!

I paid a very tired looking woman with twin babies £20 for one of her cat's kittens in 2007. £150-200 for moggie seems crazy!

@leckford no such thing as good breeders any more. Please go to a rescue centre, there are plenty of puppies, older dogs aswell as "pure breds" dumped. They will assess you with the right dog.

I would have no problem paying a rescue centre for a kitten but I think an ordinary Joe Soap who couldn't be bothered paying for their cat to be spayed selling them for £50 a pop is taking the piss.

PDSA East London currently has a couple of gorgeous ginger kittens to be housed together, and their black friend, to be housed separately. They are likely to be around £50-100 to cover spewing and microchipping costs.

We got a kitten from cats protection. £70 chipped and wormed, all injections and the cost of having her spayed are included.

Think it becoming more common now . Most cats are neutered so I suppose its supply and demand, I know kittens are hard to find.
We couldnt adopt from cat rescue as we lived about 500 metres from a railway line and it was deemed too close, so we finally found and bought two 8 month old cats and they lived very happily 500 metres from railway line with no mishaps.

It's pure profiteering on the part of the fools who see their female cat as a cash cow.

It is also partly in response to the rescues being difficult sometimes, I went to CPL and in my area they didn't rehome indoor cats at all. As I live on a busy road it was the only option, I got my cat free to a good home from a friend of a friend.

I know someone who lives on a farm where they churn out several litters one after the other. A nice little moneymaker.

The owners use the excuse that it is the going rate as that is what rescues charge, however rescues actually care for the kittens and vaccinate them.

I would just buy one. People go on about rescues but my sister wasn’t allowed one because she lived in a flat, so she just bought one instead. I got mine from gumtree £20 for two. Mind you they were abit older (1 year old cats)

Because you're paying for an animals life and people need to know you can afford to look after them properly. Also the breeder will hopefully have got them vaccinated, microchipped etc. all of which costs more than when you could get them free from the neighbours

We paid £20 for our little black and white moggie a couple of years ago. Some people were trying to charge up to £150 per kitten. It’s ridiculous.

I just wouldn’t pay more than £50 for a moggie cat. I can understand charging a bug for the food litter and flea treatment, but seriously! Some people are just greedy. It’s not like they’re proper breeders, most I’ve seen seem to just a be people who haven’t bothered getting their pets spayed and have ended up with kittens.

We couldn’t love our boy any more, so just because I’m not prepared to pay breed cat prices for a moggie cat, doesn’t mean he won’t be loved and well treated.

Thank god they are expensive. It might stop idiots impulse buying them then chucking them outside when they scratch and tear up furniture or piss on the floor. There are too many cats left to go wild and breed uncontrollably when they grow out of the cute kitten phase.

I agree with Gingerkittycat. People are happy to profit out of their unspayed cat(s) having numerous litters with no care about their health. Breeders are in it for profit not animals welfare. A lot of these kittens will the end up in rescues when the novelty wears off/they get pregnant/are ill.
Rescues may appear "picky" but they have the best interests of the animals first and foremost. At least they have been seen by a vet, vaccinated, chipped, neutered and health issues treated.

I had the exact same problem OP.

Tried cats rescue. Live in the country.. down a rural lane off a rural lane.. maybe 5 cars a day . Detached house with 5 fields out front before you get to anything approaching a busy road.

Went to the cats rescue. After a couple of kittens. They had 15... cat lady came out. Saw the house but immediately decided that because the road was 'national speed limit of 60mph' - that it was not going to be possible.. their policy ! The REALITY is that whilst that may be the speed limit.. you can't possibly ever drive at that speed.. it's a single track .. covered in potholes and leads no where (just 10 more miles of country roads .. )
Really ? I was looking for 2 kittens after losing our much loved family cat 2 months earlier. Who passed away at 18 having lived at the same house inspected by the 'cat lady' for 11 years.

Ended up paying £40 for 2 furry babies from the FridayAd. They are now 6yrs old. I honestly think some rescues are run by total loons.

We ended

I paid £20 each for mine 3 years ago, I had to pay for all the vets stuff though so a rescue would have worked out cheaper. I was surprised they didn't charge more just to cover their costs - it was a very pretty litter. All the adopters were friends of friends of friends so I suppose they weren't worried about them being mistreated and just wanted them homed quickly.

Bide your time and tell everyone you know you are after a kitten and I'm sure one will come up over the next few months.

We had similar issues with rescues having stupidly prohibitive sets of rules. I had no intention of buying, or of kittens, or of more than one...

Why did you have no luck with local rescues?

Tell us where you are and we'll find you a rescue kitten.

Or did you fail the home check?

And don't for gods sake buy one.

If you have done the bare minimum research you'll know you are encouraging irresponsible people who don't neuter their animals.

And if you hadn't done the research, for gods sake do it before you get a cat.

Get yourself on a horsey Facebook page. There are always loads of farm kittens needing homes. They’re not all feral maniacs, so worth a look.

We foster for a cat rescue. Last summer saw 95 pregnant cats and over 250 kittens through their doors. I think you just need to wait till April/May and take a pair.

I foster for a rescue charity. Without seeing the exact arrangement of your house vs the road, it's impossible to say whether we'd approve you but the sad thing is that many people don't stick to speed limits and certain 30 mph estate roads are often the worst for cats being run over.

If you're off the busy road but not far enough off it iyswim, we sometimes recommend female cats as they tend to stay closer to home.

We also only home young kittens below about 4 months in pairs because they're still babies at that age and need comfort, company and to play together to learn to be a cat.

But I'm surprised you can't find cheap kittens on Gumtree, Facebook etc if that's what you want. We pick up loads in the rescue that people are trying and failing to give away or sell for well under £100 each, and end up just wanting rid of, eg due to landlords finding out they have pets without permission.

Pop into your local vets, there are usually ads up in there looking for good homes for kittens, or the nurses may know of people with kittens looking for good homes