Pedigree cat

[Butterflypaper]

If you had put down a deposit on a pedigree kitten, but then shortly afterwards were contacted about another available kitten by a different breeder that you instinctively preferred (as more provenance re parents, pedigree and breeder information available from the 2nd), would you still stick with the first breeder or move to the second? Kittens are still very young and have waiting lists, so finding another buyer wouldn't be a problem. Also not looking to have deposit returned on the first if didn't go with them, it's not about that. It's more about choosing the right breeder. As it's a pedigree cat breed it's possible (but not known) if the breeders may know of each other in the cat breeding world, so making more enquiries of the 1st would be awkward at this stage. (Asking for a relative).

I think if you have concerns about the first breeder’s ethics etc then definitely swap - though hopefully you wouldn’t have put a deposit down with them if you had such concerns.

If you have no concerns about either, you just “prefer” the second - I think ethically you should stick with the one you’ve already committed to. And yes word may get around and the second breeder might learn you’ve dropped the first and have doubts about how committed you are.

Thanks for the reply. It's just it's hard to find out much info about the 1st and they haven't offered any information about the kitten's parents, but they were found by way of a recommendation from another respectable breeder. There is some professional information available about the 1st breeders from past years, so they do (or did have) a professional standing with the breed but no real information from recent years.
My relative was happy to put down a deposit with them primarily based on the professional standing of the person who recommended them and the little information they could find out themselves, but was planning to dig deeper shortly (and was prepared to walk away) if unsatisfied. But before that the 2nd unrelated breeder has contacted them with availability of a different litter, who have full transparency and history and with lots of current information available, so my relative feels more comfortable about the 2nd mainly as she can gather much more about them and also the 2nd breeder is offering more in terms of the process and what their kittens are provided and set up with etc.

I can understand wanting more information but don’t see why it would be awkward to ask the first breeder more questions, but less awkward to ditch the first breeder altogether?

That's a really good point! I think she feels that if she goes back to the 1st breeder and asks more questions, she would feel disingenuous because in her mind she's asking because she now happens to have an Option 2 to compare to, whereas before she would have been asking just to assess the information completely on its own merits. Not that the 1st breeder would know any different of course.

Perhaps she should ask more questions of the 1st and then can make a better decision based on more info.

I think so!

She's now made contact with the 1st breeder and is satisfied as to the provenance etc so that's all fine. But my relative's quandary is that she can see from the photos sent that one of the parents of the 1st isn't as attractive whereas both the parents of the 2nd breeder are.

It's not an exact science what any of the kittens would end up with anyway, but she is concerned that if one of the parents isn't quite as attractive for the breed, then that might be inherited by the kittens. But again there's no real way of knowing in advance (could go either way). She's leaning towards staying with the 1st as planned but feels a pang about the parentage which she doesn't have about the 2nd.

so move to the 2nd. Nobody loses out if the first has a waiting list - someone will get a lovely suprise by moving up the chain.

Yeah, that was the real reason all along wasn’t it!!

I don't think so, Minipie, as she hadn't seen what the parents of the 1st kitten looked like before. It's a specific breed so in theory they all look the same to the untrained eye like breeds do, but within any breed there's always slight variances of coat colour and pattern etc.

She has one of this cat breed already so knows what she's looking for in the next one. But she was stuck on how best to proceed with this, and I didn't know either! Anyway, it was useful advice to suggest she contacted the 1st breeder again for more information.

1st sounds very odd. Surely you would have seen photos of the parents and had all questions answered before getting as far as putting down a deposit. Remove your friend as the middle man and talk directly to your breeder about your potential kitten. You need to build a relationship with them for any questions once you have the kitten (if you go ahead).

It's not an exact science what any of the kittens would end up with anyway, but she is concerned that if one of the parents isn't quite as attractive for the breed, then that might be inherited by the kittens.

Sorry to be blunt OP, but reading this reminds me of the type of people who change their decor and get rid of their cats because they no longer match.

Is it that they want to enter the poor cat into beauty pageants?

Christ, it's a cat. And I say that as a cat owner who appreciates pedigrees and provenance. But honestly - what a palaver

How sad to go by beauty, mine wouod have no chance 😃

Geidi It's a cat breed with a distinctive coat pattern. For people who like a specific breed, it wouldn't be considered unusual or terrible to want a really good example of that breed.

Each beauty is in the eye of the beholder, though. Some people take real pleasure in (their perceived version of) beauty, to others looks don't matter at all. Appreciating breeds and their perceived beauty isn't necessarily sad. Personally I reserve "sad" for poorly treated animals of any kind, not ones with excellent owners who thoroughly enjoy their animals' looks as well as their personalities.

aztec vs oci, by any chance?!
(I have strong opinions on that one myself, fully understand it!)