How Healthy Is That Kitten or Puppy On the Website?

How Healthy Is That Kitten or Puppy On the Website?

I'm referring to individual people who want to relinquish their cat.  I'm referring to people who have a cat or who have let their cat breed and therefore have kittens as well and they want to offload the kittens.  These people sometimes advertise their cats and kittens on websites which carry adverts for all sorts of things.  They advertise "free to a good home". That sort of ad is to be avoided.

We have to be careful if we wish to adopt a kitten using an advert on one of these websites because we have no idea what sort of cat owner we are dealing with.  If they are a good cat owner then the cat that they wish to get rid of is going to be quite possibly in good health and vaccinated etc but if not you may be adopting a cat which is unhealthy and which will give you a lot of upset and possibly high expense with vet bills.

Sometimes shelters advertise their cats and dogs online from their own website.  That is a different kettle of fish because you know you're dealing with a professional (hopefully) organisation and you know therefore that they will have done all the necessary checks and provided necessary medication.

However, even with well-known animal shelters sometimes people can adopt cats from them which have serious illnesses and these cats can spread the disease to other cats in the adopter's household.

The key to all cat adoptions is to actually visit the place and interact with the cat yourself and if possible get a contract that protects all parties and even have the cat vet checked. This is a serious business.  The best place to adopt from is of course a shelter because these are unwanted cats and therefore they need homes.

Personally, I would never adopt from an individual person (an unknown person and not an organisation) who is advertising their cat or kitten online on one of these general advertising websites.

Sarah Hartwell, who is a well known cat expert here in the UK says that cats always turn up for her. She has never had a problem adopting. Neither have I. You haven't even got to go to a shelter. They are just there.

Lastly the people advertising cats in this way are being irresponsible because some takers will not be genuine but dealers and the cats/kittens can end up in bad places such as laboratories.