Where do I buy a kitten?

[BorisJohnsonsHair]

I'd be happy to get a rescue cat, but DS has his heart set in a kitten.

But I don't know where to start looking. Not sure I'd want to buy from Gumtree or similar.

Are there any reputable sites please?

Oh please I’ve had my cat for 8 years, she is part of the family and she was from gumtree, no health issues at all! Very happy very healthy, kids love her and for what it’s worth she wasn’t even a kitten she was 1 when I got her and the man was selling her for £15 so hardly doing it to earn money he only wanted £15. So not the greedy kitten breeders you are referring to.

We have just taken two older kittens from a rescue. They are seven months, had a very difficult start in life and are a work in progress. We were approved because: no children, someone usually at home for most of the day, not near a main road, experienced cat owners.

Hope that helps.

Try a rescue but my attempts came to nothing.

I'm an experienced cat owner with a safe garden and,at the time , well trained tween aged children who love cats, but they said no.

One would only re home if we guaranteed they would stay inside, which I think is cruel. The other didn't like that we had kids or a cat flap.

I ended up buying from a lovely lady who'd rehomed a cat that then had kittens, but wasn't happy about it.

One would only re home if we guaranteed they would stay inside, which I think is cruel. The other didn't like that we had kids or a cat flap.

We were turned down by Blue Cross at one point because we didn’t have a cat flap. Cat rescues vary!

They do indeed. I thought I would have issues because I live near a main road. However, I do have a load of gardens behind me and the cats I was interested were both older strays.

I found both the RSPCA and Blue Cross very pleasant to deal with. Whereas many years ago, I had a bad experience with a small independent rescue who I think were basically cat hoarders.

Even rescues that prefer to re-home kittens in pairs will often have single ones - litters don't always come in even numbers and there are sometimes shy kittens which would benefit from individual attention. A good cat rescue will match you appropriately. But, I'd agree it varies. In my area the small independent rescue is brilliant - has the cat's interest first but is quite pragmatic - while the large one is much harder to get a cat from. So, ask around!

We also had two littermates, who live£ entirely separately within the house for nearly twenty years. When one died, the other blossomed and spent the evenings downstairs with us for the first time in his life.

When I were a lass they used to say that if you tell everyone you speak to that you are looking for a kitten, then you will get one. Might be worth a try.

Please at least ponder taking the parent cat of a litter as a singleton. They’re often still young enough to be very playful, and positively grateful for a fuss.

I have just adopted a pair of bonded 7 month old kittens who lived in a tiny pen together. I am not sure how bonded they actually are !

If you're any where near Manchester contact changing lives at Carrington. We got a mum and kitten from there and they are lovely.

If you're in Kent, try Rolvenden. Ruth there is fabulous, and there are so many cats of all types ranging from kittens (only 3 so far this year, some "special needs" cats, some bonded pairs but many not, some needing indoor only & some needing outdoor space etc. I think she said they had 70 odd in there at present, though I know at least 8-10 that I met have homes to go to.

There was one in particular that I really liked when I went to be chosen, but she doesn't really get on too well with other resident cats so no good for me. But she was only about 2, very sweet & friendly, and still at quite a playful stage.