Richard John Torrens
Cats

Choosing a cat breeder

Choosing a new cat or kitten is not simple. But you are right to be careful. Many breeders do it for profit and the health of their cats tends to be secondary. Even if they breed apparently healthy kittens, how can you tell if there are problems that will show in later life? Diseases such as kidney failure are quite common in cats, and can be devastating for you when you loose a much-loved cat. It is difficult for the breeder to know how their cats fare - but most good breeders do hear from some of the owners they have sold to, so they do get a feel. Ask the breeder for names of some past owners. Even if you don't check with these people - what is the breeder's reaction to the question?

Be wary of "commercial" breeders - these will have many queens housed in a cattery. A large cattery doesn't neccessarily mean poor kittens but I suspect the odds are a lot higher! The better breeders are more likely to have only a few queens - and probably a waiting list for their kittens.

Once you have found a breeder how do you choose a kitten? Best advice is to let the kitten choose you. Does one kitten show more interest in you that the others? Does one kitten seem especially happy to be handled by you?

Look for character - don't go for a kitten simply because you think it is the prettiest!

When our cat Misty had to be put down because of chronic kidney failure we were of the opinion that modern orientals were over-bred: their faces are simply too long. Not only does this look unattractive, but we thought it was why Misty always seemed to have trouble eating. So we were looking for a traditional Siamese, more like Zanna, the first Siamese I had.

Arpege
Jarmila
Lintana Cats
Vindex
Re-home a Siamese cat
Old Style Siamese Cat Club has helpful information and a list of breeders.

Re-home a Siamese cat

Rather than buy a kitten, have you considered re-homing a cat? There can be benefits - their character is more fully developed and you know exactly what you will be getting. The The Siamese Cat Club Welfare Trust operate a re-homing service and their two re-homing centres are run by very diligent operators who are at great pains to re-home the correct cat with the correct owner.

The club also have a Kitten List where kittens are sometimes advertised.

Jarmila Siamese

I have no personal experience of Jarmila. However the breeder, Zuzanna Bale, has a lot of cats so I cannot help being cautious, for she must raise Siamese as a commercial operation. This surely must affect how they are housed and looked after. I also have been told that Zuzanna will sell un-vaccinated kittens, which is contrary to the Cat Fancy's guide lines.
Jarmila Cats web site

Lintana Cats

I talked to te breeder, Lesley Green, when we were looking for our kittens, Flora and Fauna. Lesley was very reluctant to consider letting us have a kitten as we live on a road. she was fairly insistent that we should instal a Freedom fence.

Lesley does not have many queens - breeding is not so commercial so likely to be better.
Lintana Cats web site

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Bale