Pondering F2 or F6 kitten...

[Patti]

Well I guess a breeder should pop in here. I agree with all of the above. I only know of one person who always bottle feeds the kittens and uses this as a sales point, although I have always wondered if the kittens imprint on her how traumatic must it be for them to be sent away to their new homes? I also know of one breeder who routinely pulled F2 kittens at two weeks of age because the moms would not otherwise allow her to handle them, so this was the only way she could socialize them to humans.

The only time I have bottle fed kittens was when their mother rejected them, or they were too week to nurse - in the latter case I always leave them with mom and eventually they grow strong enough to nurse on their own.

 

[Trish Allearz]

Hi Ethan,

Sue Armstrong of Amara Savannahs just had a litter of F2's and will have several other litters coming up. She is a close friend of mine and a fantastic breeder! She has one of my male kittens, so you know she has to be special. Feel free to call or email her. She is listed in our breeder directory here: http://www.savannahcatchat.com/threads/amara-savannahs-kentucky.4088/

Sue is in Kentucky! @WitchyWoman has an F1 from Sue as does @Trish Allearz and several others on this forum!!!

Aww, thanks, Paige <3

 

[Trish Allearz]

And I'm just going to ditto Patti.

A good momma should not have her babies taken away just to 'socialize' them. I'm pretty sure picking them up and kissing all over their spotted tummies and chatting with them works just as well. I'm also positive my owners can vouch for that.

 

[Els]

Just a quick update - I've reached out to a quite few breeders - some of them are listed here. A few did not respond. I've vetted each breeder I spoke with and have narrowed down to two breeders - both seem to be well known and reputable but not listed on this board. Both breeders are too far to drive and they prefer kitten to be transported via in-cabin flight which means I'd fly to the breeder's nearest airport to pick up the kitten and fly back home.

One breeder does do bottle feeding after kittens are 2 days old and will let kitten go home at 10 weeks old. She seems to firmly believe in bottle feeding. She said the kitten is more social than most SV and is well adjusted to other cats.

Another breeder does not believe in bottle feeding but does do early socialization. She indicated the kittens are handled by the family members and kittens are not kept in a cage. She does not let kittens go until at least 12 weeks ago and at least a few days after receiving the second vaccine.

Believe it or not, the kittens from both breeders are same age. One would go home about 1 month early (this definitely is not a factor in my decision).

I learned that most, not all, breeders use killed vaccines for EG kittens. Both breeders I spoke mentioned their vets give killed vaccines to their kittens - and, yes, both breeders have their vets check out the kittens.

 

[WitchyWoman]

One breeder does do bottle feeding after kittens are 2 days old and will let kitten go home at 10 weeks old. She seems to firmly believe in bottle feeding. She said the kitten is more social than most SV and is well adjusted to other cats.

I would choose the other breeder. Ask the one who bottle feeds at 2 days old for the data proving a bottle fed (especially HER bottle fed) kitten is more social than most SVs. There is no way she can know this without a scientific longitudinal study of all SV kittens bred by her and a statistically significant number of kittens bred by other breeders. My inclination is not to purchase from a breeder who blows smoke up my ass.

 

[Rafiki]

Would you share the names of the breeders? They may not be listed on this site but we may have folks here that have purchased kittens from them.

 

[Els]

Sure - Belle Hollow and Dream Weaver. Let me know if you know either one or both.

 

[WitchyWoman]

I don't have personal experience with either. I've watched them on various chat sites and fora for years. Shelby of Dream Weaver is, imho, the better choice.

 

[admin]

I know Shelby personally and her cats... Have been to her place...don't know Betsy personally, but she is always one of the first to help out with Savannah rescue...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Patti]

I would be more inclined to choose Shelby (Dream Weaver). I know Betsy has been bottle feeding her babies for a long time but her supposition that these kittens are more socialized is just bunk, and I have concerns about kittens that are pulled at two days of age - they miss out on mom's colostrum (they should be on it for at least 3-4 days) and mom's more natural milk (rather than a man-made substitute which simply can't be as good), as well as the socialization that a mama cat provides to her kittens which I believe is a very essential element of a kitten's development. Not to mention the physical and emotional trauma the mother cat must go through every time her kittens are suddenly yanked away from her - that is just cruel, INMH