Responsibility to your Breeder
It is important as an owner that you also understand what your breeder needs from you
We talk a lot about what a good breeder is expected to do for you. We require them to health test their breeding cats, guarantee the health and temperament of each kitten, be there for you 24/7 for up to 20 years - longer than most other relationships you are likely to have in your life. There are also responsibilities, you, as an owner, should have to your breeder.
Responsibilities to your breeder
Breeders tend to be very private people. They don’t tell you about the three weeks they spend getting almost no sleep except for quick naps next to the kittens because Mother Cat needs some help. Maybe her milk didn’t come in, maybe her mothering instincts are a little slow to arrive. Maybe she wants to be shown how to be a mum. Maybe she died.
Regardless, those first three weeks with kittens are often more intense than the first three weeks with a human infant.
Feeding six to eight kittens every two hours is exhausting. Struggling kittens count on us to be their ICU Nurse. It is no surprise that our maternal instincts go full bore on us, and we bond to these guys for life!
Not everything goes well with every kitten in every litter. Losing a kitten is deeply traumatic. We fight so hard to save them and often can’t. Death is not pretty. Death is graphic. It is not peaceful. It leaves a scar on our soul.
After we get through the first three weeks, we spend nearly every waking moment watching, thinking, analyzing, cuddling, loving and inevitably bonding. Could you hold a baby in your lap and not feel anything? Neither can breeders. By the time your kitten leaves our house, that kitten is as much a part of our heart as it is yours.
After a Kitten leaves us, we know some things go wrong. We get that. Best intentions fade through no fault of our own. Maybe a job was lost, maybe the terms of your tenancy changed, maybe someone in your family became sick and needs all your attention. Maybe one million things. Breeders get that! We are people too.
If you can no longer keep your cat, please be open and communicative, tell the breeder.
More importantly, please be kind to breeders!