| What really makes a kitten cost so much? |
Many people have commented over the years that "I must be making a lot of money from my kittens"
A pet Burmilla from a Registered Breeder costs you, the buyer $600.00. For this amount you recieve a
healthy, happy, well socialised pedigree kitten which conforms within reason to the breed standard, and is
desexed, vaccinated, microchipped and vet checked. Please think for a moment the costs involved in
producing this kitten. These costs include:
*Purchase price of Registered breeding stock (my last Chinchilla stud male cost $1000.00)
*Rearing, vaccinating, worming, vet checks.
*Feeding:- breeding cats need a quality diet to be able to produce healthy kittens, including human grade
meat. Think about how much it costs to feed your family meat!
*Litter, for everything that goes in one end, theres something coming out the other, a cattery uses a LOT of
litter, and lots of litter trays to put it in.
*Housing (my cattery is purpose built and cost thousands)
*Membership, Registration and Transfer fees.
*Council Permit and Inspection Fees.
*Show Entry Fees, it costs me a minimum of $66.00 and two Sundays to get a cat to Champion status, the
amount increases incrementaly the higher the title. The cat needs to be shown during its kitten life (up to 9
months) to be able to be shown as an adult, theres 6 months of showing before you even get a chance to get
a title.
*Vet Bills, most well run breeding programs can keep vet costs down to a minimum, but theres no accounting
for those freaky accidents that require emergency treatment, and for caesarians that occur for no reason at all,
and of course theres the round of veterinary attention every Miamber kitten receives, including desexing,
vaccinating and microchipping. I use Chirnside Veterinary Clinic, an 80 + km round trip from here. I go that
distance because there is absolutely no substitute for quality veterinary care, but it HURTS to fill up that petrol
tank these days.
*Worming and flea treatments.
*Testing, a clean and conscientious cattery will carry out regular testing programs to ensure that their cats are
Feline Leukaemia and Aids free, some also Corona Titre test, and all Burmilla breeders should have DNA
PKD tested their breeding stock, a good breeder should be Ok about providing copies of the DNA tests of
their kittens ancestors.
*Matings, sometimes a particular cat cannot be mated at home, potential inbreeding is one of the reasons for
this. A mating fee is usually the cost of a kitten, plus testing for the cat involved, freight to and from the owner
of the stud who may be interstate, and boarding fees for the queen while she is in residence.
*Cleaning, keeping a house with a number of kittens and adults in it scrupulously clean costs in time and
effective non toxic cleaning products, as well as steam cleaning carpets regularly.
*Replacement, sometimes things go wrong with kittens and they are unable to be sold, but have to be given
away. Sometimes kittens don't make it, there are many reasons why there can be kitten losses from a litter, all
of them heartbreaking and a financial burden for the breeder.
*Maintenance, young litters of kittens break things, they eat wiring and climb curtains, they will hopefully be
trained out of a lot of this destructive behaviour by the time they go and live with you, and be using the
scratching pole. I have to buy new scratching poles regularly, otherwise they will start on my furniture.
*Rubbish removal, a cattery generates more rubbish than can be accomodated in a normal household
wheelie bin, I have to pay for a rubbish removal service every week.
*Advertising costs, its all very well breeding an exclusive and limited breed, but people have to know you are
there, otherwise you don't sell kittens to support your breeding program. That means Yellow Pages, Trading
Post, a website and Internet connection . Then theres the Digital Camera, printers, and computers.
Backyard breeders can afford to sell their kittens for less because they don't invest all these factors into their
kittens.
A pet Burmilla from a Registered Breeder costs you, the buyer $600.00. For this amount you recieve a
healthy, happy, well socialised pedigree kitten which conforms within reason to the breed standard, and is
desexed, vaccinated, microchipped and vet checked. Please think for a moment the costs involved in
producing this kitten. These costs include:
*Purchase price of Registered breeding stock (my last Chinchilla stud male cost $1000.00)
*Rearing, vaccinating, worming, vet checks.
*Feeding:- breeding cats need a quality diet to be able to produce healthy kittens, including human grade
meat. Think about how much it costs to feed your family meat!
*Litter, for everything that goes in one end, theres something coming out the other, a cattery uses a LOT of
litter, and lots of litter trays to put it in.
*Housing (my cattery is purpose built and cost thousands)
*Membership, Registration and Transfer fees.
*Council Permit and Inspection Fees.
*Show Entry Fees, it costs me a minimum of $66.00 and two Sundays to get a cat to Champion status, the
amount increases incrementaly the higher the title. The cat needs to be shown during its kitten life (up to 9
months) to be able to be shown as an adult, theres 6 months of showing before you even get a chance to get
a title.
*Vet Bills, most well run breeding programs can keep vet costs down to a minimum, but theres no accounting
for those freaky accidents that require emergency treatment, and for caesarians that occur for no reason at all,
and of course theres the round of veterinary attention every Miamber kitten receives, including desexing,
vaccinating and microchipping. I use Chirnside Veterinary Clinic, an 80 + km round trip from here. I go that
distance because there is absolutely no substitute for quality veterinary care, but it HURTS to fill up that petrol
tank these days.
*Worming and flea treatments.
*Testing, a clean and conscientious cattery will carry out regular testing programs to ensure that their cats are
Feline Leukaemia and Aids free, some also Corona Titre test, and all Burmilla breeders should have DNA
PKD tested their breeding stock, a good breeder should be Ok about providing copies of the DNA tests of
their kittens ancestors.
*Matings, sometimes a particular cat cannot be mated at home, potential inbreeding is one of the reasons for
this. A mating fee is usually the cost of a kitten, plus testing for the cat involved, freight to and from the owner
of the stud who may be interstate, and boarding fees for the queen while she is in residence.
*Cleaning, keeping a house with a number of kittens and adults in it scrupulously clean costs in time and
effective non toxic cleaning products, as well as steam cleaning carpets regularly.
*Replacement, sometimes things go wrong with kittens and they are unable to be sold, but have to be given
away. Sometimes kittens don't make it, there are many reasons why there can be kitten losses from a litter, all
of them heartbreaking and a financial burden for the breeder.
*Maintenance, young litters of kittens break things, they eat wiring and climb curtains, they will hopefully be
trained out of a lot of this destructive behaviour by the time they go and live with you, and be using the
scratching pole. I have to buy new scratching poles regularly, otherwise they will start on my furniture.
*Rubbish removal, a cattery generates more rubbish than can be accomodated in a normal household
wheelie bin, I have to pay for a rubbish removal service every week.
*Advertising costs, its all very well breeding an exclusive and limited breed, but people have to know you are
there, otherwise you don't sell kittens to support your breeding program. That means Yellow Pages, Trading
Post, a website and Internet connection . Then theres the Digital Camera, printers, and computers.
Backyard breeders can afford to sell their kittens for less because they don't invest all these factors into their
kittens.
