i agree and the kc (kennel club) do try quite alot to stop people breeding too much (puppy farming). for instance more than one litter from the same dog within a 12 month period is heavily frowned on and i think (not 100% sure!) that they will only allow you to register one litter a year per mother. however being a member of the kennel club is quite expensive espically if you are an accredited breeder (basically you have been checked and abide by a kind of moral code of breeding) each puppy costs to register, you have to pay yearly for your affix (kennel name) dna testing is not cheap, vets bills, insurance, time, stud fee's etc etc i would like to think i have been quite sensible and have researched all involved over the past year and am entering into something with my eyes wide open. however the kennel club is not compulsory for all dog owners. the expensive looking animals in shelters normally arnt, they may be from the same breed and look the same but proberably were never registered, have a higher % chance of having genetic disease, could be a cross breed several generations back, are not pedigree etc. An animal is expensive (dogs / cats etc) because of its pedigree / availability and genetic history, also what colours it carries, the lines (affix / prefix) it comes from etc etc for example you can buy an unregistered french bulldog for between £500 and £800 but a registered french bulldog will cost between £1500 and £3000. the registered dog will have had a lot more thought go into the mating, alot of money will have been spent on the mating etc etc basically you get what you pay for. i personally dont see anything wrong with non-pedigree cats and dogs, we have both ourselfs! and we also breed pedigree cats, our main concern isnt the money we get for a kitten its the home, we always say if 3/4 years down the line your situation changes and you need to rehome ring us first and we never ever have kittens ready for the x-mass market they are pets not presents. the cat i got (myself) for x-mass is a first generation bengal, he is 7 years old and his first and only family moved to brazil and decided it was too much hastle to fly him over. it took our friend at the cat rescue nearly a year to get him back up to weight and the only reason we have him is because she knows he has a 'forever' home with us and we have the experience to deal with him, he is very nervous and has tried to rip my other halfs face off on more than one occasion! if he went into a shelter they wouldnt know what he was and would proberably think he was dangerous and have him put to sleep. we on the other hand know what he is and that because of what he is it will take him a good 6 months before he even contemplates coming to us and proberably a year or more before he would trust us enough to pick him up! but when that moment happens he will have claimed us and will be a completley different cat to the hissy pants he is at the moment! we have another cat that was the same but massivly abused before she came to us and now over a year on she will run toward us when she see's us, clean my face, sleep on me, all the normally loving cat things! but when she first came home she tried to bite me and clawed me several times just for walking past her! she will be with us forever as we would never be able to let her go to someone else after all she has been through (12 owners in 18 months! breeding machine!) going onto the two cats that were going to be put down because they sprayed i disagree with that practice 100% and hope the owners never get another animal without being fully aware of everything involved! however once a cat starts spraying it is more common for them to continue even after they have been neutered. i also wonder if the cats were allowed out and how many litters they fathered! one of our pedigree cats has just had a litter sired by the local tom cat that the owners havent had neutered! (our cat got out by accident!) the other cat should not have been out either while it was still entire, luckly we had homes for them before they were born all with good friends who will keep them forever. thats where the problem is with all the dogs and cats in rehome centres, they predominatley come from unwanted litters sold on and then the same happens again simply because people do not think there cat will get pregnant (ignorance!), or more normally people buy a cat or dog as a tool simply to make money, do not think about the risks involved, the praticalities etc etc or people do not think about the animal in the long term and the novelty weares off and they get rid. chipping is a good thing, our more expensive cats are chipped as god forbid they should get snatched or run away we would have a much better chance of getting them back. as the law stands in england you do not have to register with anyone to say you have a dog or a cat. if you have 5 or more breeding female dogs you 'have' to get a license from the local council but the same dosent apply to cats. i do believe that if you own an animal you should have to register it and all dogs / cats should be sold already chipped by the breeder pedigree or not and neutered / spayed if they are for pets. people who use animals as money makers (puppy / cat farmers) should be prosecuted. we ourselfs are going to take courses to allow us to microchip all of our kittens. and we are looking into the dangers of early neutering (common in the states but not here!). however introducing and policing something like that would be impossible and cost way too much, so unfortunatley while there are breeders out there only in it for the money and not the future of the breed type, gene pool etc this problem will only get worse!! this is also a much debated topic on the siamesechatchat forums everyone has different views and opinions but like i said before it always comes down to money!
Topic: All I want for Christmas... (Read 18632 times)
