Questions to Ask a British Shorthair Breeder Before You Buy

When you contact a British Shorthair breeder, the questions you ask tell them you are a serious buyer, and the answers tell you whether they are a careful breeder. But the conversation on the phone is only half of it. The part that actually decides things is the visit, and there are two of us at this end of it. I am the judge, so I am the one who talks about type and testing. Paula is the one who notices everything else.

The visit is the real interview, and Paula is the other half of it

Buyers tend to prepare for the questions and not for the visit, which is the wrong way round. Anybody can give good answers on the phone. What a visit shows you is whether the answers were true.

It is worth knowing that when you come here, you are not only being assessed by me. Paula and I have bred cats together since 2004, and we do not do the same job. I look at the cats. She looks at everything around them, and there are a few things about her worth knowing, because they tell you something about how this house runs.

She is a certified microchip implanter, so our kittens are chipped here at the kitchen table rather than at a surgery. That is not really about the cost. It means a kitten is chipped by somebody it knows, in a room it knows, with no car journey and no waiting room attached to the memory.

She is a qualified pet first aider. When something happens at eleven at night (and with kittens, something occasionally does) the first response in this house is a trained one.

She is also certified in pet bereavement counselling. That is an odd credential to advertise on a page about buying a kitten, and I have thought about whether to leave it off. I have kept it in, because it says something true: she has sat with the part of owning a cat that nobody asks about at the start.

Fifteen years is the whole arrangement, not just the good bit of it.

And she is a feline artist, which is how most people in the cat world know her. That has nothing to do with health testing and everything to do with the fact that neither of us does this as a business.

None of that is the day-to-day, though, and the day-to-day is what actually raises a kitten. Paula runs it. She is in charge of all the feeding, from the syringe at three in the morning in that first week through to the diet sheet that goes home in the bag.

I do the grooming, which I keep for myself, because it is the best twenty minutes of the day with a cat and I am not giving it up. I also do the litter trays, which is not the best twenty minutes of anything.

That is the honest division of labour in this house. If you ring and ask what a kitten has eaten this week, you want Paula. If you want to know why its coat is doing something odd, you want me.

So when you visit, expect two sets of eyes and two different conversations. And expect to be watched a little, in the nicest possible way — how you are with the mother cat, whether you put a kitten down when it has had enough, whether everybody who came actually wants a cat or one of you is being brought along. None of that is a test you can revise for. It is simply what placing a kitten well requires.

Which cuts both ways: you should be doing exactly the same to us.

Questions about the parents

• Are both parents GCCF registered, and may I see the pedigrees?
• What health tests have the parents had? For British Shorthairs you want to hear PKD1 and blood typing at minimum.
• What have you not tested for, and why? This is the better question. An honest gap with a reason behind it beats a vague claim every time.
• May I see the health test certificates? Not a description of them — the actual certificates.
• Why did you choose this stud? A breeder who cannot answer bred from whoever was available.
• Can I meet the mother? A genuine breeder will always say yes.
• How many litters does the mother have, and how often? Responsible breeders do not over-breed their queens.

If any of the health terms are unfamiliar, the British Shorthair health guide explains what each test is for. Our own answers to all of the above (including where we come off worst) are set out in the questions I would ask if I were buying a kitten from me.

Questions about how the kittens are raised

• Where are the kittens raised? Underfoot in the home is what you want to hear, not in a shed or a cattery block.
• What else lives here? Ours grow up around other cats and ordinary household noise. A kitten that has already met a vacuum cleaner and a doorbell will cope with yours.
• How are they socialised, and by whom? Ask who actually handles them daily. The answer should be a person, not a policy.
• What are they fed, and what should I continue with? A kitten coping with a new house should not also be coping with a new diet.
• At what age do they leave? Never earlier than 13 weeks, and ask whether that is their target or their floor. Ours leave at fourteen to sixteen weeks.

Questions about what comes with the kitten

• Is the kitten vaccinated and microchipped before it leaves? And ask who does the chipping — the answer is more interesting than you would think.
• Is there a contract, and what does it cover?
• Is any insurance included? Ours go home with four weeks’ free Petplan cover.
• What is in the kitten pack?
• What support do I get after collection, and for how long? Lifetime support is the answer worth having, and it is worth asking what they mean by it.

For what you should be buying before collection day (and the popular kitten kit that is mostly a waste of money) there is a UK kitten checklist and a piece on what not to buy for your kitten on CattyLicious, the owners’ site I write.

Questions a good breeder will ask YOU

Be ready for the conversation to run both ways. A responsible breeder will want to know about your home, whether anyone is home during the day, whether the cat will go outside, whether you have children or other pets, and what you understand about the breed. If a breeder asks you nothing at all, that tells you how much they care where the kitten ends up.

Some of the answers will be conditions rather than preferences. Ours are indoor-only as a term of the contract, collection from us in Hampshire with no delivery, and kittens on the non-active register unless there is a prior agreement. You are entitled to hear the conditions before you fall in love with a photograph, not after.

Questions about temperament and the kitten’s future

• How would you describe this kitten’s personality? A breeder who knows each kitten individually has been hands-on with them.
• Is this kitten better suited to a quiet home or a busy family? Good breeders match kittens to homes.
• Which one would you pick for us, and why? Let them choose. They have watched these kittens every day for three months and you have watched them for an hour.
• What is your neutering policy, and is the kitten sold as a pet or for breeding?
• What happens if I hit a problem two years from now? You want a breeder who expects that call and takes it. Ask what they actually do when an owner is struggling — the useful answer is that they help you fix it.

How to read the answers

The words matter less than the shape of the reply. A careful breeder answers specifically. They name the kitten, mention its quirks, talk about the parents by name, and happily go off on a tangent about the breed. An evasive seller deals in generalities, deflects the health questions, and tries to move you towards a deposit. You are not looking for perfect answers; you are looking for someone who clearly knows and loves their cats and is in no hurry. Trust the texture of the conversation as much as the facts.

What I’ve learned answering these questions

I am on the receiving end of these questions every time we have a litter, and I judge other people’s cats besides. A few things stand out.

The best buyers interview me harder than I interview them. Those are invariably the homes the kittens thrive in, and I have never once resented the questions.

Good breeders love being asked about health testing. It is the part we are proudest of, and reluctance there is the single biggest red flag you will ever get.

Ask to see the kitten more than once if you can. A kitten that is confident on a second visit, in normal household chaos, is a kitten that has been properly socialised. And bring everybody who lives in the house while you are at it. The visit exists partly so we can see that a cat is a household decision rather than one person’s project.

Above all, listen for the questions coming back at you. A breeder who does not ask about your home, your hours and your other pets is not placing kittens carefully.

Trust the relationship, not just the answers

One last thought from the breeder’s side of the table. The questions and answers matter, but what you are really trying to work out is whether this is a person you can trust with the next fifteen years of a cat’s life, and who will still pick up the phone when you ring in a panic at week three because your kitten has not eaten since lunchtime. A good breeder is, in effect, signing up to be your back-up for the life of the cat. Listen for warmth as well as competence: do they light up talking about the kittens, do they remember small details about each one, do they seem to actually like the people who have had kittens from them before? The breeders worth buying from stay involved long after the money has changed hands. That is the relationship you want, and the conversation is where you find it.

Should you put down a deposit?

A deposit is normal and reasonable. It is how a breeder holds a kitten for you and how you show you are serious. Ours is £300 against a price of £1,200, and both numbers are published rather than quoted on request. But protect yourself. Never pay a deposit before you have at least seen the kitten with its mother on a live video call in the breeder’s home, and ideally not before a visit. Ask what the deposit covers and whether it is refundable if the kitten turns out to be unwell at the vet check. Pay by a method with some buyer protection rather than a bank transfer to someone you have never met. A genuine breeder will happily put the terms in writing; anyone who pressures you to send money fast, today, before you have seen anything, is showing you exactly why you should walk away.

Frequently asked questions

What is the single most important question to ask a breeder?

“Can I see the kitten with its mother, in your home?” Everything else flows from being able to visit and verify.

Is it rude to ask a breeder lots of questions?

Not at all. A responsible breeder is pleased to meet a careful buyer and will answer gladly. Reluctance to answer is itself an answer.

Should the breeder ask me questions too?

Yes. A breeder who asks nothing about your home is a warning sign. Good breeders place kittens carefully.

When should a kitten be ready to leave?

No earlier than 13 weeks. That is the GCCF minimum, not a target. Ours go at fourteen to sixteen weeks, fully vaccinated, weaned and well socialised.

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Ask us every one of them. Ring, email, or come and visit. We would far rather you came and met the cats than took our word for any of it. And if an answer ever sounds rehearsed, ours included, keep asking until it stops sounding rehearsed.