I feel a bit anxious

[Besswess88]

I am getting another kitten.

They are going very fast atm and as soon as you message anyone they have gone or been “reserved” for a better word.

I messaged someone about a kitten and asked if we could come and see it (taking precautions obviously). I have seen photos of the kitten and the person has added me on FB but three times now they have cancelled me going to see the kitten (the reasons are symptoms of covid, waiting for a test result and it not being convenient). The second time when I tried to rearrange they then said they couldn’t keep it indefinitely without a deposit as they had had so much interest in it. I said fine and sent a deposit online - (we have a couple of mutual friends on FB who have said they have no concerns about them).

I am not bothered about the money particularly although obviously it would be shit to be ripped off, but is it normal atm for people not to see a pet before they commit.

AIBU to expect to be able to see her with her mother before I agree to buy her?

Its a sellers market? Op you are talking about kittke lives. People shouldn't have any litters from their cats. None. Accidents happen yes, but then money shouldn't come into it. The lives created should go to the homes that will care for them the best not who will pay the most money

£200 not £300?

So no cats should have kittens?

Then eventually there would be no cats?

No I don’t want a pretty new kitten, I know what is best for my existing cat.

Please show me where I can buy a kitten for £40 in the south of England.

Anyway that wasn’t what my OP was about.

But why let that get in the way of an opportunity to try to tell someone else how to live their life when you know absolutely nothing about me.

There may not even be a kitten, there's plenty of scams out there, especially at the moment.

Even during the pandemic I would still expect to see the kitten with the mother. Have they offered anything like a video call so you can see the kitten interacting with the mother?

That’s what I am going to ask tomorrow.

If I didn’t have another cat I would get a rescue cat.

I think my cat will react better to a younger girl kitten.

It’s been a really traumatic time for us having a 2 year old cat killed by a passing car and finding her dead.

Sounds like you're invested (quite literally) in the kitten being offered via Gumtree but if it falls through, you might want to consider contacting the Blue Cross: www.bluecross.org.uk/rehome/cat

I don’t want to “rehome” a cat because of my other cat.

Blue Cross have kittens from 2 months old... obviously they are in demand but if you're as committed as you seem to be, sure you'd be willing to reach out...

Erm I have “reached out” and there aren’t any in my area, nor at the Cats Protection League, probably because people aren’t abandoning them right now round here as they are getting up to £200 a kitten ....

Can’t believe I am getting attacked for basically buying a kitten from a family home!

I am buying a kitten not killing one.

Offering what was intended to be a helpful suggestion for how you might find another kitten should what sounds like a somewhat dubious arrangement fall through is hardly attacking you but appreciate suggestion was not well received so good luck to you and your cat.

You are being irresponsible to buy a kitten from gumtree/Facebook/the paper/a man in the pub as you’re fuelling unethical and often cruel backyard breeders. And yes ‘accidental’ litters count as backyard breeders: if you don’t get your animals spayed what do you think will happen?

Other than getting a rehomed pet where are people buying pets?

It is very hard to get kittens and even older cats from rescues at the minute. It’s not just that there are waiting lists, it’s that the rescues are able to choose from the best owners. For kittens they’ll want someone who can take two. Then they’ll go for someone with cat owning experience, ideal home environment (eg. No kids, safe garden, no traffic). Most aren’t operating kitten waiting lists at the minute.

Next year they’ll be rehoming loads of older kittens/young cats though.

There's a few scammers I've encountered recently who are using Covid as a reason to stop people visiting but insisting about the deposit, there's no animal there. I caught one claiming to have puppies, they had at least 2 different ads. I did an image search and the pictures they had used in the ad were from an older ad in America. I contacted and asked for some more pictures but they sent pictures of a completely different breed (that's how I knew there was another ad) the second lot of pictures didn't return any results though, but obviously through the behaviour and other info I knew it was a scam. Also they didn't pay attention to what I was saying. They also sent pictures of a clearly Male puppy when I asked for Female. They didn't deny scamming when I called them out on it either, just said something like "if you say so" I'm sorry OP but if you get a kitten out of this I'll be amazed. These people are making money from deposits from many people, they don't need to do anything further.

A colleague of mine is picking up a retriever puppy from a legitimate breeder that his family have used before this weekend. He's travelling a distance to do so (not UK so not affected by UK COVID restrictions before anyone chips in). Granted he hasn't seen the litter yet because of the distance, but receives very regular pictures and video calls and has done from day 1.

The breeder has another buyer in our area on her waiting list for the next litter and has asked if my colleague would be so kind as to briefly meet with her when he's back home and prove that his puppy exists and is healthy, as this other buyer recently lost 100s of pounds to a 'puppies for sale' scam so is understandably nervous. To my mind that is the kind of 'beyond the necessary' effort a genuine breeder should make to reassure their buyers.