Why do purebreds cost so much?
I recently had someone ask me how much I spend on the kittens. I was a little taken aback by this question. I don’t have that information readily available. Not to mention, it’s a little difficult to put a price on the health, safety, and happiness of a kitten, so I asked what they meant.
They then proceeded to say…
“I will pay you what you spend from the day the kitten is born until the day I get it and not a dollar more!”
“I will pay you what you spend from the day the kitten is born until the day I get it and not a dollar more!”
So I felt the need to explain a few things to them and decided it wouldn’t hurt to write up a little blog post about it.
First, I’ll start with the cost of building out our nursery and our male’s room. My husband built two rooms specifically to keep the moms and kittens in while they are too young to roam freely. Aside from four walls, we have toys, cat trees, whelping tents/boxes/crates, a utility sink, cabinets and storage, additional heating,, 4 cameras, litter boxes, playpens, and many other things I’m sure I’m forgetting. Our male gets the same type of room. Lots of toys, cat trees, beds, etc.
Then, you have the cost of several breeding cats. The investment into a good, quality breeding female and male, much less three breeding females, while only once, doesn’t factor in the health issues that can come along throughout their life (c-sections, for example), the accident and illness insurance helps, but I still have a monthly cost, and when used, a deductible and co-insurance. And as they age, the cost goes up.
Backyard breeders will often charge less because they aren’t using registered breeding cats. A registered cat from a reputable organization like TICA costs more than an average cat because you are buying breeding rights. You must be vetted by the breeder and approved to breed. You become a TICA member yourself, register your cattery, getting the new breeding cat put in your name, purchasing a pedigree so you can prove to buyers that the cat is purebred and comes from a long line of ragdolls. This is all before registering your litters and and getting the health testing done on your cats.
Backyard breeders also charge less because they often aren’t vaccinating, spaying/neutering, microchipping or socializing the cat.
We keep our kittens until they are at least 12 weeks old, in some cases longer. Our vet will spay/neuter at 3 lbs, so we’ve been spaying/neutering about one week before the kittens get to go home. You don’t need to worry about having to keep them from bothering their incision because it’s all healed up by the time they get to you. That, and, you can save a lot of money by having it done before the cat reaches you. We pay for the optional pre-surgical bloodwork, evaluation, pain medications, and any additional issues (undescended testicles, extra anesthesia, anesthesia monitoring, anti-anxiety medication, unexpected overnight stay, etc).
We do microchipping at the same time as spay/neuter because they have to use a very big needle. No need to give them a painful injection while awake once they reach you. You shouldn’t have to start out your journey with pain and fear when I could do the microchip while they are asleep.
They are well loved! They never lack enrichment. I think our cats have as many toys as our kids did when they were little! They have cat trees, beds, scratching condos, scratching posts, trees, and boards, tunnels, and because of wear and tear, I’m buying more all the time. And of course food, water, and Imuquin or L-Lysine, etc. to maintain good health. They are vaccinated through 12 weeks, receive dewormer and/or fecal samples are tested and they are cleared. (Our kittens’ sample is tested and all have come back clear of any parasites, so we don’t do dewormer anymore unless there is a problem. I’d rather know they are clear of anything than give them unnecessary medication just in case.)
All of this costs money. Not to mention time. It takes me hours every day to clean the nursery, clean Bailey’s room, clean the communal litter boxes (4!) for our other non-breeding cats. That’s 9 litter boxes including the nursery and Bailey’s room. This doesn’t even include the weekend deep cleans or monthly overhauls.
Our kittens are socialized and live among us once they are big enough to come out of the nursery (for safety), but even when they are in the nursery, we play with them in the nursery or bring them to the living room for supervision. These outside-the-nursery playtime starts at 5-6 weeks old. By 8 weeks they are among us 85% of the time. By 10 weeks nearly 100%. Why not 100%? We do have to ensure our male, Bailey, also gets playtime with us daily, so we can’t have the moms and babies out all day and night because he deserves family time, too. He just can’t be out all the time because then we would have unplanned pregnancies. He also must wear a diaper to ensure he isn’t marking all over the house.
It takes an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening just to feed wet food to all the kittens (at their current age of 12 weeks), moms, Bailey, Kai and Luna. When they are newborns, I often have to supplement feed them with syringes every 2-3 hours around the clock. I’m doing this now, actually. I’m literally sleeping in shifts all day and night!
This is NOT a complaint whatsoever. It’s just me explaining why purebred kittens cost a lot. I’m not ashamed to say that you are not only paying for the things we provide for our kittens, but you are paying for my time and devotion to your future cat, to ensure that is is sweet, cuddly, used to noise, socialized with other pets, fed, kept clean, safe, warm and oh so loved! I absolutely love it, and although I haven’t been doing this long, I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time. I get so much joy out of loving these little ones and their moms, dad and step-siblings :). I’m proud of how I care for them and enjoy doing it!
Don’t get caught up wanting a purebred kitten so badly that you’ll take just any purebred kitten! Cheaper often means sick, weak, never before seen a vet, never fixed/vaccinated, and rarely cuddled. I’m sure there are a few people who wouldn’t consider themselves a backyard breeder, and don’t do all of these things, maybe just a couple. If you’re looking for a cheaper ragdoll, consider a retired or rescued ragdoll. And while I love and want to preserve the ragdoll breed standard and character, and therefore would love to see everyone get one of these amazing cats, we also have some non-pedigreed rescues in our home who we love and make great pets, so I would never knock a shelter cat!
You will not offend me if you say I’m out of your budget. But you will offend me if you say I’m only doing it for money. No one works this hard for the profit of the sale alone if they don’t LOVE the breed and want to continue good breeding practices and healthy, good lines. And, I’m here for my families throughout the life of the cat!
Please reach out with any questions you might have. I’m happy to answer!
