OK, a rather irritating ad on a certain site riled myself (and Judith!) so I posted the following on Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham sites. Loads of typos and much more I should have said.....
If you really are a animal lover and can provide a good home then please go to a rescue.
You may have to 'pay' more for your animal than in some other adverts you see but you know the animal will be healthy and that you will have back up from the rescue.
As rescuers it saddens us to see so many cats being put up for rehoming.
And as for kittens, the reality is that no one should be allowing their cats to have kittens. They don't need to, won't miss it. There are far too many of them to home and all the older cats (anything over 6 months old) have a really hard time of it.
By paying for these kittens , you are encouraging to allow this over breeding to continue. The usual excuse for people to charge for their kittens is to ensure a good home, but then they are never concerned enough to do home visits .
Kittens are not always treated with effective wormers or flea products and very often kittens are let go far too early. This means their health can be compromised and may also leads to behavioural problems later.
At least with an adoption fee given to a rescue, the money will go to help reduce the number of unwanted cats and not promote this back yard breeding.
Neutering cats is an inexpensive procedure and for those who cannot really afford it, larger charities such as the Cats Protection and RSPCA can alway help out.
two replies from the Leicester with my responses to them......
sorry but i feel compelled to reply to your listing. not all "back yard breeders" treat their kittens/cat appaulingly asyou suggest.
I didn't suggest that. just a lot of people do lie when they say wormed etc or have shaken a box of some ineffective johnson at them.
We have know kittens to be homes at 5 weeks old with mum then coming in to us with Mastitis and people fobbing off 4 months olds as 8 weeks olds - not to mention every fluffy cat is a persian cross and every tabby a bengal cross!
if all cats were neutered then you would be out of a job as we wouldnt need a cat shelter because there would be no cats.
that would be a fantastic situation but never happen because of strays that get pregnant and management of feral colonies, where kittens are tamed down for homing. There will always be those animals that need new homes cos of death, allergies, moving, emigrating, don't want to pay the vet bills, can't be arsed - sadly the list is endless and we might find ourselves in a position to help the people with real needs.
god, the creator of all, intended cats/dogs and all other creatures to breed at their own will, human intervention is against gods creation. if he/she had not wanted cats etc to breed he would not have provided them with reproductive organs. by the way i am not a do gooder/church goer or even a believer in god but i have to put across FACT to narrow minded rescue shelters who believe in non breeding. if animals did not breed, then there would be no shelters,
i don't believe in god either so on that we can agree. But by the same argument animal numbers are meant naturally to be kept under control by illness and disease so should we not take them to vets?
thus you would all be yet another number on the unemployed scale and eventually the animal kingdom would fizzle out and die.
All the work that most rescuers do is unpaid voluntary work and while we are not busy with the cats or trying to educate people we are busily trying to fundraise to pay for all the vets bills. That on top of normal things like work and families.
so please leave appropriate, caring breeders alone.
If you are a registered breeder breeding good healthy animals, leaving them time to grow up with mum, inoculating them and all the rest , I don't have too much of a problem with you.
If you are a breeder that allows your queens to have too many litters, doesn't really have much regard for welfare (See the list of prosecutions on the cat fanciers website!) or like some of the ones we've dealt with that provide false vaccination cards while we pay hundreds of pounds to save one of their kittens that was given sickly to some person who does not have a clue then I do have a problem.
If you are happily allowing your moggies to breed then I'm afraid I consider you the scum of the earth, you have no regard what so ever for animal welfare and I would be interested to know if you declare your earnings for tax and benefit reasons.
AND
Very narrow minded and pointless ad!
Well I'm afraid you would say that trying to sell off your moggies as something special even though thats what they are. It means nothing that mum is a persian though to the general population there may be some ignorant to think this bestows special qualities on the kittens.
I tell you what, come and pay us a visit and spend some time on the phone with us, cats protection and we can even visit the local RSPCA shelter and chat to the manager there.
If you really love cats you may begin to appreciate what problems you are adding to by doing what you are doing.
Do you home visit before you home your kittens? Do you offer to have them back if a problem arises such as the landlord gets to hear about the cat, someone develops an allergy or finds out they are pregnant? If you so take them back do you take them back if you are not able to resell them because they are no longer cute and fluffy or do you duck and wait for the nearest rescue to step in?
My ad is neither narrow minded or pointless, the only point to yours is making money on the back of your cat!
