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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

how much to pay for a kitten

64 replies

spanky2 · 28/04/2010 19:09

My friend's cat has had kittens. I said I was interested in having the girl one but it turns out a family member is having that one, so I have a boy one. My friend had said she was thinking of selling them which is fine. But I thought they would cost around £10-£20, and she has told me she would like £40. I have to pay for the injections, the neutering and the microchipping. I feel cross and have a sneaking suspiscion that the family members probably won't have to pay. What do you think I should do?

OP posts:

Original poster

spanky2 · 28/04/2010 19:49

My parents cats were neutered before they had a litter and they don't seem to miss it, they are very content. It must be worse to have your kittens taken away from you.

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IHeartKittensAndWine · 28/04/2010 19:55

Geordieminx (glad you like my namen )agree with you totally re RSPCA and many (but not all - CPL is excellent) cat charities. The one we dealt with asked us to keep the knocked up cat with most cursory of checks and then when we asked to keep her and two of the kittens (didn't want us to keep just mum,or one kitten as we both worked and didn't want us to keep mum and one kitten) said "but she won't like it in a week or so"...err, since they'd trusted us to bring them into the world with nary a word why weren't we placed to be the judge of that?

Re children and cats - agree is absurd from the "don't home this cat with a child" - but given my sister's terrors I think the opposite "don't home this child with a cat" can be absolutely correct

geordieminx · 28/04/2010 19:59

yy - love CPL, have a wonderful woman near me who has a huge country house with so many cats she looses count. Some are feral, others she re-homes but she always comes to your house and chats to you before she will re-home, and they are always neutered/speyed.

Ds was trying to saw the cats' head off this afternoon... the cat was loving the attention... fool.

IHeartKittensAndWine · 28/04/2010 20:15

LOL! Reminds me of DSis Terror1. Runs crying to aunt at family party last year...
"Your dog bared his teeth and growled at me" "That's very unusual" says his aunt (my other sister)when everyone calmed down "What happened?" "We were playing and then he growled and bared his teeth". "Oh what were you playing?" "Pencils", says Terror1. "Pencils?" says aunt. "Yes, I was trying to poke his eye out with a pencil and he started growling..."

geordieminx · 28/04/2010 20:18

PMSL

fruitshootsandheaves · 28/04/2010 20:20

I paid £40 for a kitten for my sister for Christmas 2008. But she was after a ginger one and I got a female which is quite unusual I thought. I actually got her 2, from different places, 2nd one was free.

Trafficcone · 28/04/2010 20:30

Greedy ? Have you any idea how much it costs to feed a pregnant or nursing queen and how much it costs to feed a kitten from weaning to the point of collection? Alot more than £10 per kitten if you didn't know. I charged £20 for a standard kitten and £50 for tabbies. Especially as our cats carry all the true tabby genes.
Anyone unwilling to pay clearly doesn't have proper comittment to owning a cat. All my kittens were litter box trained, trained not to scratch furnishings and generally socialised and wonderful trouble free animals. I bred over a period of 4 years and most of our kittens families keep in touch now and say how wonderful their kittens are and how well trained.

pooka · 28/04/2010 20:32

I'd go for a boy kitten anyway (though agree with all the other posters who say best to get a rescue/CPL cat).

Reason I've preferred boy cats - the neutering op much more straightforward than spaying. I'm a softie and felt so sorry for the girl cats we have. The boy cats were right as rain after their ops whereas the girl cats have all had stitch issues.

Haven't noticed any difference in terms of their friendliness and homeliness. Have had crazy female cats and big soppy male cats.

(FWIW we haven't had as many as it sounds - have 2 girl cats and a boy now. The boy used to have a brother, who unfortunately died. Before the boy cats we had a girl cat that went missing ).

Original poster

spanky2 · 28/04/2010 20:34

My next door neighbour has a ginger girl and she is 18! I've never heard of another one before now, I have heard they are very rare. Fab name fruitshootsandheaves. Iheartkittensandwine, you are right about the cats and children. I came into the sitting room to find my 2 year old ds using the cat as a pillow.

OP posts:

geordieminx · 28/04/2010 20:34

Trafficone - I find that, perhaps, maybe, the easiest way to aviod the expense of feeding a pregnant/nursing queen is to GET THE CAT SPEYED!!!! ITS NOT DIFFICULT.

juneybean · 28/04/2010 20:35

I had the exact opposite problem, I wish I hadn't let my cat have kittens because she became very "angry" afterwards, sort of ruined our bond we had. Tis a shame. Wouldn't get rid of her son for the world though, he's a sweetie lol

fruitshootsandheaves · 28/04/2010 20:40

I charged £20 for persian x kittens and £10 for moggies.
I charged to cover the cost of spaying the mother cat.
My kittens were seriously overly cuddled well socialised, and used to household chaos noises and dog slobber being shut in washing machines and shaken by naughty toddlers

PlumBumMum · 28/04/2010 20:42

I got my kitten for free, dh rescued it from a bin lorry, it didn't even have ears yet, he is now a big happy healthy tom cat, go to the rescue centre

I think I still have a pic on my profile

FabIsGoingToGetFit · 28/04/2010 20:45

Aw. He is seriously cute.

Poor little thing with no ears. He must have missed his mummy.

Vallhala · 28/04/2010 20:58

What 3cats3dogs said, which was this:

"Yep, kittens are usually free (if of the mog variety)
Go to a cat rescue place, where a kitten will be vaccinated, microchipped, vet checked, and will have a free voucher for it to be neutered, then you'll get a warm, fuzzy feeling that you're helping a poor abandoned little cat, and not lining the pockets of a greedy woman who really should have had her cat spayed in the first place"

Val (3 cats, 2 dogs and coveting another German Shepherd!).

PlumBumMum · 28/04/2010 21:00

We have him nearly a year now and he is all grown up,
feels like such an achievement as he really shouldn't have been away from his mummy, we had to keep a hot water bottle in with him and feed him special milk

zapostrophe · 28/04/2010 21:04

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

PlumBumMum · 28/04/2010 21:06

Zap we just paid 150 for our new labardor pup (she is seriously cute), I'm not into cats as much as that

What kind of breed are they?

3cats3dogs · 28/04/2010 21:14

Oooh! I've got a warm, fuzzy feeling that I have Val's approval

charley24 · 28/04/2010 21:15

I paid £50 for our new kitten, there was a litter of 5.

Most people, myself included (if I ever had a cat with kittens - not likely as I have had boys and I always neuter) would charge, this is so they can be sure they will more likely go to a better home.

If you will pay £50 the more likely that you will pay for upkeep and neutering etc and can afford vets bills etc.

By the way, our local cats protection charge £50 for a kitten.

Our previous cat was neutered and microchipped, wormed etc for £5.00.

Local vets take turns doing a scheme for neutering/chipping for £5.00 regardless of income.

His injections were £13.00 and then £18.00 for second set.

Original poster

spanky2 · 28/04/2010 21:15

PlumBumMum, your cat is really sweet. I also think your cakes are fab. When I become a 'lady who lunches' I am going on a cake decorating course so my cakes look like yours. I'm all enthuiasm and no talent! I'm so sad someone put him in a bin how awful, some people are just wrong

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PlumBumMum · 28/04/2010 21:18

spanky all self taught & plenty of practice

onebadbaby · 28/04/2010 21:20

There are too many unwanted kittens- it is irresponsible of cat owners to let their cat have kittens- they should be grateful you want to give on a good home- give your cash to a cat charity and rescue one- look in the local vets as there are sure to be ones free to good home- or got to rspca/ cats protection league tc.

Only pay if pedigree.

3cats3dogs · 28/04/2010 21:24

Charley - I'm afraid I would really, really object to paying for a kitten when the owner of its mother can't be arsed to get it spayed.
Presumably they could afford to keep the cat in the first place, and the cost of neutering should have been factored into this.
I would have no problem forking out £50 or more for an animal from a rescue, as you actually get something for your money - a healthy pet, back up and advice if there's a problem. If the rescue place recieves £250 from a litter of 5 kittens, I'm sure the money will be spent wisely.
A lady in our village charged for kittens, and was delighted to announce that the "little venture" bought her a wii. I'd far rather my £50 spent bought safety for other animals.
[note to self: Must stop ranting]

Original poster

spanky2 · 28/04/2010 21:26

Wow PlumBumMum I am so impressed. I do have a birthday cake to decorate on Saturday with some KitKats and Smarties! Fingers crossed they stick! I agree, onebadbaby, I thought people only paid for pedigree.

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