Sources to Avoid at all Costs
* Pet Stores
Most pet stores get their kittens and puppies from "mills"--breeders who are breeding for profit, and not to preserve and promote specific traits of the breed. These commercial catteries often breed dozens of different breeds, pay little attention to conformation of lineage, and many times the animals live in unsanitary, inhumane conditions. Many pet stores are refusing to sell cats and dogs, and some states are even looking at laws prohibiting the sale of those animals in pet stores. By all means, go to your local pet store to buy toys, cat food, beds and scratching posts, but look elsewhere for that precious new family member, and you can save yourself a lot of money and potential grief.
NOTE: Many large chain stores, such as PetSmart, and some smaller pet food stores, have agreements with local rescue groups to allow showing of their rescued cats, usually on weekends. These are the exception to the pet store rule, and are great places to find an adoptable feline companion
* "Kitten Farms and BYBs (Back Yard Breeders)
There is some discussion about the term "Back Yard Breeder," but what I am referring to are those breeders who crank out litter after litter of substandard kittens with no thought to genetics, with a dozen different breeds on the premises. Kittens from these breeders more often than not end up with breed rescue organizations.
If you have done your homework and ask all the questions above, these breeders will be pretty easy to spot, so say "No, thank you" politely and walk away.
NOTE TO READERS :
although this article is extracted from the resident feline expert at
www.cats.about.com and refers to petshops and backyard breeders in the USA, it is applicable to Malaysia as due to the lack of regulations, supervision, monitoring and enforcement on animal rights and cruelty to animals, there exists an unseen but prevalent industry in backyard breeders- some of the petshops that we see often may obtain their cats from these backyardbreeders.
and these backyard breeders may be someone that you know or have heard of - what they do is they breed their own animals - supposedly they can't resist it - their cats are too cute, their cats need to have babies, all stupid excuses as they plainly plan to make a profit from their pets (unless they plan to keep each generation of resulting litters which doesn't make sense right?)
Where not to get your cat
