I have the opportunity to get one. But...

[Stormi]

Ok. I fell in love. Head over heels for an F4 girl. Stunning. She is owned by Rollinridge Savannahs. Everything seems so perfect. I can afford her and everything.

The part that I'm iffy on..

"And we do ship but their is a charge. Better yet we have family going to North Carolina next week maybe that could be a meeting pickup"

This just sounds.. I don't know. Odd? They said I could pay $1,000 now.

"Ok. We normally require 50% down to hold/reserve a kitten. That would be $1,250 for Sonseehray since she is $2,500. In this case we would do it for you for the $1,000 since that is so close. The remainder is due at or before pickup or delivery. We will hold her for you for up to 2 weeks. We try to work with you as we take Paypal, or credit card."

Does this sound iffy to you guys, or is this just a normal breeder trying to be helpful? I am absolutely in love with this girl and will go all out on this if this seems safe. But money is not easy for me to get that much of.

 

[Eddies]

You know I understand the deposit thing I really do, after all by the time the banks finished "sending" Eddies $$$$$ the breeder had already sold the intended F5 kitten, the next one (an F4) died, & behold Eddie II my F5. BUT we had familiar references & a second reference before $$$ was ever sent...I DON'T like deposits but I DO understand the reasoning behind them...I prefer to save ALL the $$$$ then get the "intended" preferably with a few extra $$$ to cover EXTRA CHARGES....This site has wonderful, intelligent, HONEST Breeders available; 2 I can give references for any time.

 

[WitchyWoman]

I don't have personal experience with them but have heard some negative stuff. Do they offer a health guarantee and microchip and spay/neuter before shipping the kitten? You have to factor those costs into yours if they don't.

I don't know if you like mels, but Paige's Carbonite is available and he's cute as can be. And you would be purchasing from someone who has a good reputation which is huge IMHO.

 

[WitchyWoman]

Just noticed they say health certificate is an extra cost. They still have to get a health certif to transport the cat over state lines. If you meet them somewhere and they don't have a health certif and the cat is sick or shortly thereafter gets sick, what recourse will you have? Will you have a signed contract prior to receiving the kitten? That is a definite necessity.

 

[Stormi]

I just looked up your kitty, and OMG those ocelli! She is a looker (not that I know much, haha).

What about this is suspicious to you? Unless you requested to see her cattery and this is her way of refusing, I don't see any problem with her offering to meet you halfway. Personally I hate the idea of trusting the airlines to properly transport a kitten (or any living thing, for that matter), so this would be a bonus, IMO.

I know! I adore those markings. And it's sending them money and them being willing to let another person deliver her to me. It just sounds odd to me. What if they never gave them the kitten to transport to me? I don't have the money currently to drive 12 hours to NJ, or ship. So it's a great idea but.. How do I know the other people are trust worthy?

I don't have personal experience with them but have heard some negative stuff. Do they offer a health guarantee and microchip and spay/neuter before shipping the kitten? You have to factor those costs into yours if they don't.

I don't know if you like mels, but Paige's Carbonite is available and he's cute as can be. And you would be purchasing from someone who has a good reputation which is huge IMHO.

Negative stuff? That's all I need to know. They said she is already spayed and chipped. And I didn't see the extra cost until right before you said something about it. That doesn't sound very good to me.

And I'm not a fan of Mels very much.. I want to see those amazing spots :3

Thank you everyone for responding! I think I will be holding off.. I hate waiting so long for "the right one", but I refuse to do anything risky.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Ok. I fell in love. Head over heels for an F4 girl. Stunning. She is owned by Rollinridge Savannahs. Everything seems so perfect. I can afford her and everything.

The part that I'm iffy on..

This just sounds.. I don't know. Odd? They said I could pay $1,000 now.

Does this sound iffy to you guys, or is this just a normal breeder trying to be helpful? I am absolutely in love with this girl and will go all out on this if this seems safe. But money is not easy for me to get that much of.

I don't necessarily think the offer to have someone drive the kitten closer to you as being bad...it avoids shipping so for me is a plus. I can see your point about being worried about trusting your kitten to basically a stranger though, even if your contract would hopefully reflect that you are entitled to a full refund in the case the kitten is not delivered. Easy enough to amend a basic contract to reflect unique conditions like that.

I'm not sure about the discount in deposit but a deposit or holding fee is not unusual. I'd want to see a contract to know if that is a non-refundable amount though... as if something falls through would that mean you were in $1,000 and thus need to get another kitten from them? As a deposit, 50% seems high but if she is to be delivered soon it might not be unreasonable for a breeder to want the entire amount (they say next week if you met the family from NC).

From the looks of the pics on the website the kitten is already older? Is the kitten SBT at F4? It seems unclear as it doesn't say that on the webpage and there is very little info on the breeding cats on their website. I much prefer websites that disclose where their cats originated and have more than one picture of the cat to really see what they look like.

To be honest, $2,500 for an older female F4 kitten is not such a bargain that I'd expect someone to be rushing in...it's not outrageous I guess but it's not a discounted rate to sell an older kitten or anything. Do you have other pics? In the pics on the website she looks very unsure about being outside (understandable) but it would be good to see pics where she is being handled and looks happy about it?

 

[Patti]

The other thing you want to ask about, which Deborah alluded to, is their contract. A contract puts your terms into writing, it includes price, shipping/transportation arrangements, health guarantees, and what is required if you can no longer keep the kitten, amongst other things. I would not buy a cat (or dog or anything else) without a contract, and you should ask to see it before you ever send a deposit.

In addition, have they asked anything about you? I have quite a detailed pre-adoption questionnaire that I ask my potential buyers to fill out, because I want to make sure my kittens are going to the best homes possible.

Stormi, if you decide to look elsewhere, I have some F2 and F6 kittens available. I haven't advertised them yet, but if you're interested email me at patti@jasirisana.com and I will send you some pics.

 

[Dantes]

So I'm not sure if maybe I'm misreading, misunderstanding, or what? Maybe you guys can help me...When I read this:

"Kittens will be ready to leave around ten weeks old. They will have been wormed and had at least one vaccination. All kittens are under evaluation for quality and pricing is subject to change until a deposit has been received or until they are sold. RollinRidge Savannahs offers Hand Delivery or Shipping, both Domestic and Internationally for an extra charge which is not included in the price of the kitten. These additional costs would include airfare, crate, vet health certificate and any necessary permits."

I read this to mean that the travel certificate would be included in the shipping fee, not that it was extra for a health certificate. Of course it's always better to ask what's included and what's not, but that's how I read it.

Also, I didn't see anywhere that it said the kitten was SBT, only that she's an F4? but maybe I missed something. I am curious as to what "premium quality" is supposed to mean though.

I thought it was interesting that their cats and house were featured in an Animal Planet episode (under News). Not as a positive/negative thing but just interesting.

But if your gut feeling tells you something's off, I'd go with that, your gut will never be wrong.

 

[Patti]

Shipping/transportation costs are almost always additional to the price of the kitten. Each of those items cost money so each will be tallied into a total transportation cost. Premium quality to me would be a kitten or cat that meets, or comes close to reflecting the written standard. Of course at 10 weeks of age it's almost impossible to tell how a kitten will turn out, so not sure how they would judge this in their kittens.

Honestly, the thing that bothers me most about the above statement is that they let their kittens go at 10 weeks of age. I have rarely had a kitten that I have felt was ready to leave at that young age. There is an amazing amount of development that occurs between 10-12 weeks of age.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

Agreed with Patti... I think 12 weeks is a minimum but then I want my kittens to have had two vaccinations to be properly protected ...and as Patti says, there is a lot of development in the kitten in those weeks.

"Premium quality" seems a marketing term to me, are they really going to also list a "lesser quality" kitten?