Am I right not to buy this kitten?

[SecretMongoose]

I went to see some kittens the other day, first time looking for one as have always had rescue cats before.
The ones I saw were being kept in a garden shed with the mother rather than the house. The lady selling them also had another cat who she said had had a litter 6 months ago.
From this I assume that she's just continually breeding them to sell, and I'm very uncomfortable with buying a kitten under these circumstances. The kittens were crawling with fleas and I'd dearly love to rescue them all but I really don't want to make the seller such a profit.

Don't buy.

Report to the RSPCA.

Go to a rescue and rescue a kitten from there.

One of the hardest things I ever did was to walk away from a little lad who was clearly unhealthy and badly conformed. I looked into his sad eyes and thought to myself things like 'You could give him such a better life'.

Walk I did, though. I reckon you should also.

Was it a kitten of a particular breed you were looking at? If not, lots of shelters seem to have loads of kittens atm. Even if you're looking for a purebred cat, check out the breed-specific rescues first. I'm sure you know this and you sound like a responsible cat owner, walking away from that. Just wanted to do my bit for all the poor mites stuck in shelters - I love our rescue to bits and we've only had her since Monday

BTW, definitely report - afaik fleas can be really dangerous for little kittens (what idiot of a cat owner would not treat their cats for fleas? I had them once in uni accommodation and it was not pleasant, to put it mildly, and I didn't even have animals!)

No, they are just moggies. None of our local rescues have kittens at the moment, I keep looking.
I think it can be hard to get rid of fleas off tiny kittens can't it? You are limited in what you can use on them until a few months old. I'm sure if they were in a house they'd be treated pretty quick though! Urgh, poor little mites.

This is a tough one.

Definitely report. Definitely.

I would take one or two in the belief that if they were with me I could give them a better life.

My friend recently bought a kitten (8-10 weeks) which had fleas, they were treated quickly. The kitten lost weight between them seeing it and picking it up. At least it is now with a family who will look after it x

Don't give her money, as that is feeding supply and demand. It does mean you have to walk away though. And that is seriously tough.

Report her, fleas on kittens can be very dangerous as they get anaemic so easily. Hopefully that should get an inspector out quickly.

I used to work in rescue, I know how hard it is to stick to morals when there are little lives involved but giving her money will just give her more reason to keep breeding. It's odd your local rescues are kitten-less though, we always used to be inundated by late summer!

If you report, hopefully a rescue can step in and they will get good homes then - without you having to pay her.

Report her immediately.

These are the types of people who give reputable breeders a bad name, and it is utterly disgusting to treat animals like this.