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?

I’m sure someone has said already but surely this is a good thing if it means unwanted kittens aren’t being born and given away. The price must mean there’s less around than there was

Contact your local vet ?

Hopefully it's due to more responsible owners and the success of the neutering campaigns.No living creature should be advertised for free.

The same thing I thought last year when looking for mine. I ended up paying £100 for my ginger Tom which was the cheapest I found and had to travel 40 miles to get him. Gone are the days of getting one from a friend, etc. All my cats have been purchased but my current one was the most expensive.

All that said and done I may need to rehome mine

Kitten season soon, most rescues will be inundated sadly.

Great to hear kittens are expensive. If you can't afford to buy one then you can't afford to look after one.

It'll be kitten season in no time. If you get home-checked by a national rescue like the RSPCA you can apply for cats at any of their branches (not just the one that home-checked you) which will widen the net.
I'd be very careful with pets4homes, Gumtree etc. I used to work at a vets and saw a lot of underage, underweight, or flea / worm infested kittens that people had paid £££ for (whereas most rescues are £50-100 adoption fee for a vaccinated, usually neutered, healthchecked and parasite-treated kitten, with no nasty surprises). Personally I think that's worth waiting a few months, but obviously it's up to you.
Don't write off a teenage or adult cat. I adopted my gorgeous boy (RIP) at 4 years old, and he had the most loving personality and was a really good fit for our home. We are looking to adopt another adult soon, as I am looking for a playful and affectionate cat, and it's harder to predict personalities with kittens.

To be fair, I think it's better that people sell kittens for a sum that wouldn't be considered cheap to deter people taking them for horrible reasons. If someone wants a cat and to care for that cat, they will pay for the cat unless they are willing to take rescues and be vetted to take that rescue.

We bought our cat off Facebook. He was 10 months old at the time. I actually didn't want a cat really but I had such a bad feeling that he would be bought by someone and used for something sinister. I just had that feeling because the woman only wanted £40 and seemed desperate and used the words 'I need to get rid of him'. I said to DH we need to go and see this cat. We did and we took him home. I love him so much. He is a pest, fairly vocal but I can't imagine not having him now. He's a great cat, never done the toilet in our house or anything and happily gets his vaccinations and treatments done without a fuss. He just likes attention when he's in the house (outdoor cat) and that's fine.

I've just heard that someone found a cat that had it's head and tail cut off not far from where we live, well 7 miles or so. That's awful but people can be cruel. Don't fuck with cats on Netflix shows you how evil people can be

Apart from 1 cat which I paid £10 for they've all been free 🤷‍♀️

Cats Protection League all the way .

I had Rescue guinea-pigs for years so Rescue Cats was the only option.

They certainly weren't "free" but they are neutered,vaccinated and microchipped which would cost more than the donation to adopt (which is £80/cat) We would've had this done by our own vet anyway , but it was all in place . No rogue litters (ours are brother/sister so breeding is a No )

Look at what you could've won if you''d got in quicker

I paid £50 for two last year. A random taxi driver told me his friend had kittens and I contacted her on Facebook. Word of mouth cheapest way.

I'm glad they're expensive, stops people getting them for nefarious reasons. Not likely they'll use a cat they've paid a couple of hundred for as bait etc.

When I had to have one of mine PTS, I spent a long time looking at kitten photos for the one I wanted. I paid £180 for my gorgeous part maine coon and didn't begridge the price at all

*begrudge

My two 2 year olds came from rescue just before Christmas. £75 each - neutered and chipped. They were much loved in foster before coming to me and their personalities, likes and dislikes were well established. I wouldn't want to buy a cat. My friend has two kittens from the same rescue, coming up to a year old now. A friend of hers got a lone kitten from a local litter and it has been a much more difficult experience . Apparently he's temperamentally very demanding and he's destructive. Poor little thing doesn't sound happy.

Are people panic buying them?

Where I live it's actually common for dog fighters to take cats and kittens for bait to train the dogs. It's horrific, so people often advertise cats/kittens for at least £50 so that only people who really want them get in touch. We rehomed our cat after several visits to and fro, and her previous owner didn't take any money, she just needed to be sure we were genuine.

Are people panic buying them?

Well there is no toilet roll left!

I've looked on Gumtree (after I got my two lovely felines) to see the price and the bare faced cheek of the sellers)

Often £250+ for basic moggies .
Litter trained, on solids and de-flead ( not vaccinated and too young to neuter)
flea drops costs only a few pounds ( my most recent vet bill included 6 phials costing £55 , so less than £10 a dose)

The number of Bengal crosses is another worry too. Are people churning out these high maintenance specialised cats or are they just big tabbies ?

Kittens are gorgeous but I can imagine quite hard work (even my adults claw up the carpet, chew the tablecover and threatened the life of the Christmas tree ...it lasted less than 4 days till we admitted defeat!)

Well there is no toilet roll left !

Ouch !

Will Sainsbury start substituting my Andrex with a couple of ginger kittens?

Cos it’s not kitten season?

Maybe look further afield for a rescue. A smaller, local one. Mine has a kitten list and huge turnover with cats. Why not just get an 8 month old rather than a tiny kitten? IMO if you really want a kitten then get a particular breed from a reputable breed, you’d be mad to pay hundreds of pounds for a moggie bred from some idiot who can’t neuter their pets. Both of my cats are rescues, cost about £50 each and both wonderful. We’ve had and will have many happy years together.

Ours were £140 for two from the local rescue.

Some of the rules which cat shelters have for rehoming cats in my area have reached ridiculous proportions. I was recently reading the website of one of them where they specified that the new owner should be ' a single lady, working part - time or preferably not working at all' .

We were £50 each for ours about 10 years ago.,