By Francis L. Bonnevie
After warning readers over the holiday season of cretins out to make fast buck by toying with your desire to have a furry friend in your life, here we bring good news—in that you can empower yourself from getting scammed.
First off: adopt, don’t shop. There are lots of cats and kittens in shelters that need a home and love. A lot of these cats and kittens are victims bred by unethical breeders, then abandoned by irresponsible owners. Go to the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (www.paws.org.ph) or Cara (www.caraphil.org) and look beyond the breed and give love to a cat or kitten in need.
Getting a cat is a lifetime commitment. If you are after a certain breed for its characteristics and want to support preserving it for future generations, do your research before even meeting with a potential seller. Exercise due diligence: learn everything you can about the breed, and how to properly care for your cat. If you know more about the breed than a seller knows, that is a definite red flag. Once you have done your research and are ready to talk to a seller, approach only licensed breeders. To protect felines, breeding cats is a government-licensed activity under The Animal Welfare Act of 1998.
Scammers only succeed when you allow them to, which oftentimes is a result of being uninformed or negligence on the part of the buyer. It is, therefore, importance that you do your due diligence—from checking with the Animal Welfare Division of the Bureau of Animal Industry (www.bai.da.gov.ph) for registered/licensed breeders, to reviewing the breeder’s reputation, home and facilities; verifying if your cat’s papers are ideally from established registries like The International Cat Association (www.tica.org), and screening for diseases and a list of vaccines.
Some diseases are not visible to the naked eye, and are only apparent as the kitten ages, so it is crucial that breeders carry out genetic screening and provide a written health guarantee for your pet for at least six months. If paying for a pet, insist on a written contract and double check it right down to the small/fine print to ensure that you have covered all bases so that you and your new feline companion enjoy happy times together.
This article is intended to inform the public and expose the scams prevalent in the Philippine cat trade scene. While violators may be punished under the law, you can help break the cycle of animal abuse such as unregistered breeding, kitten milling and other scams by reporting violators to the Animal Welfare Division, Visayas Avenue, in Diliman, Quezon City.
Bringing a cat into the family whatever the season should be a fulfilling experience, and there are good and ethical cat breeders out there, but they tend to be more the exception than the rule. Learn how to spot the scams to enjoy a purr-fect furry friend.
***Francis Bonnevie is a veteran licensed/registered breeder of purebred cats, vice president of Tica Philippines, member of the Scottish/Highland Fold Breed Committee of Tica, and director for Special Events of Resorts World Manila.