28/04/2026
When people say, "I support ethical breeding" - I always wonder if they understand what "ethical" actually means.
A reputable breeder prioritizes the health, temperament, and betterment of a specific breed OVER profit. A responsible breeder will perform extensive genetic/health testing on parents, socialize cats in a safe home environment, require extensive interviews/applications for buyers, for transparency they allow buyers to visit their facility and meet the parents and will always take back their cat if necessary.
Truly ethical breeding is not a cause for hundreds of thousands of unwanted animals entering our communities..... Backyard breeding is.
It is easy to exploit animals when there are so few laws in place to protect animals. And it is easy to deny animals basic welfare standards when profit is involved..
No one should ever support a non registered backyard breeder. Especially when buying a Bengal, ragdoll, Sphinx, Main C**n and any other pedigree breeds.
Non registered breeders dont do the tests required to ensure healthy kittens. Especially the annual cardiologist scans to minimise chances of HCM. They buy cheap cats without papers or breeding rights and perpetuate genetic issues in these breeds.
Do u know what HCM is?
Do you know what PRA and PK def are?
Do u want a kitten that dies at 4 yrs old or even younger from heart failure? Or goes blind, or has anemia?
That u will spend thousands on vet bills over its short life?
If so, go right ahead and find a backyard breeder selling kittens that are half the price of ethical breeders with genetically sound registered parents with breeding rights.
Just know that you will be supporting bad breeders and contributing to bad genetics.
Unregistered kittens from these breeds are the worst deal and the most likely to end up with health and behavior problems.
Note - being registered is not a guarantee the breeder is ethical and does parental genetic and cardio tests, so you still need to confirm, require documentation and check references. The registration organizations simply is a starting point that allows u to see the pedigree and know the kittens parents have breeding rights. They don't police breeders for health and genetic testing especially TICA the registration body. the GCCF you have to show the genetic results before they register active breeding cats.
The point here is that unregistered breeders selling kittens at half the market price don't do the parental testing necessary to ensure healthy kittens. The money you save by not having papers is usually lost in the long run.