At the time of pick-up or shipping of our kittens, we have a contract that must be signed by their adopters before our kittens leave us. This contract includes our health guarantee, and states that your kitten will be
a) Indoors,
b) Will never be declawed (A painful procedure involving amputation of the finger tips), nor have a tendonectomy performed ( surgical cutting of tendons so cats cannot extend their claws).
c) Will be spayed or neutered before reaching 8 months of age
d) Will be taken care of to the best of your ability and if required at any time in the future, you will take your cat/kitten to a vet whenever needed
e) The contract also states that your kitten will never be anywhere but a home. If at any time in the future you can no longer keep your cat, he/she will never be abandoned at a shelter, research facility, pet store or anything other than a good home. We ask that you contact us should you ever need to re-home your kitten.
To activate our health guarantee, we ask that your kitten be seen by your own veterinarian within the first week of pick-up. This is to confirm with your own vet that you are getting a healthy kitten, in case something comes up that my own vet had missed, and we can immediately honor our health guarantee. Of course, all our kittens will have seen our own veterinarian several times before they go to their new homes.
For a complete copy of our contract and health guarantee, please contact us.
We offer a 3 year health guarantee on all of our kittens from any life -threatening, hereditary or congenital (present at birth), genetically inherited disease or defects, that could result in pre-mature death, or life-long treatment of your kitten. We offer a guarantee against some of the most lethal and common genetic diseases, including PKD, and genetic causes of HCM. We guarantee that all our kittens are free of Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV), Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), and Feline Infectious Peritonitis FIP, at the time of purchase. All kittens are guaranteed to be free of intestinal parasites, ear mites, and fleas, and are up to date on all age appropriate vaccinations. These should all be checked by your own veterinarian during your kittens first vet exam within the first week of pick-up. Since kittens can pick-up any contagious illness after leaving our care, there is no guarantee against contagious illnesses after the first week, or after the initial “clear” health check from your own veterinarian. We guarantee the kitten is in perfect health at the time of pick up, shipping, or delivery. A copy of the kittens health record will be provided at the time of adoption. We cannot guarantee against any future contagious illness that is picked up after leaving our cattery, or any adverse reactions to vaccines given in the future while in the buyers care.
To activate the health guarantee, we ask that you confirm the health of your kitten by making an appointment with your own veterinarian within the first 5 business days of purchase. This is for you own security, so you can confirm you are getting a healthy kitten, free of any disease. This is in the case something comes up that our own vet had accidentally missed, and we can honor our guarantee immediately. Of course, our veterinarian will have examined each of our kittens several times before going home.
This guarantee does not include injury due to accidents, illness due to neglect or improper care or feeding on part of the new owner, illness caused by environmental factors, minor treatable nuisances, poisoning, non-hereditary, spontaneous/idiopathic development of disease not originating within our cattery, or contagious/infectious diseases that have been picked up or acquired while in the Buyers care (eg. viruses, upper respiratory infections, parasites, bacterial or fungal infections). These can be picked up anytime after leaving us, including on a flight, during travel, or a trip to the vets office, and we cannot guarantee that this will not happen out of our care. However, we guarantee that none of these are present at the time of shipping, delivery, or pick up. In addition, all kittens are vet checked by a licensed veterinarian prior to leaving, and will receive a veterinary certificate of health stating they are in good health. All veterinary fees are the responsibility of the Buyer while in the buyers care. Our guarantee does not cover the cost of vet bills.
For a complete copy of our contract and health guarantee, please contact us.
All deposits placed to hold/reserve kittens are non-refundable. Because we are dealing with live and growing baby animals, if you choose to no longer proceed with the adoption of your reserved kitten, your deposit becomes forfeit, and your deposit can no longer be transferred to another future litter, nor applied in the adoption of another kitten in the future.
This is because every kitten held, is removed from our available list, making him unavailable to other potential homes who might be interested in adopting the kitten at his most desirable age. The longer a kitten is held, the more opportunities each kitten misses to be adopted by another family. The purpose of a Non-refundable, security deposit is to ensure each purchasers commitment and well-thought decision to adopt a kitten, and to prevent the above circumstances. Kittens’ adoption fees are subject to change at any time in the future.
When someone backs out of a kitten, not only has he already lost other potential homes by being unavailable, I must often keep/house kittens for a longer period of time, re-advertise, and re-screen potential adopters, all in a shorter amount of time.
We strategically plan our litters around our outside work schedule, and around other litters to make sure we are available, and the nursery is ready (quiet without older rambunctious kittens) before a new litter of newborns arrive. We generally take into consideration the average of 10-12 weeks of time kittens usually stay with us before going to their new homes.
RESERVATION/WAITLIST SECURITY DEPOSIT
By placing a reservation/waitlist deposit, each family is purchasing a saved position in line for upcoming kittens and kitten notifications. If you have placed a “reservation/wailist deposit”, and we cancel sale for any reason and adoption can not proceed due on our part – the deposit can be refunded in full. For example, if we go on hiatus, or cannot offer you any kitten, regardless of gender or colour (colour and/or gender of future kittens cannot, and are not, guaranteed. These are personal preferences of the Buyer which are out of our control), within one year of time since deposit placement, we can refund your deposit if you choose, or, if you would still like to wait for your ideal kitten, you can also use the same deposit and transfer it to another future litter at any time while keeping your place in line. If you choose to no longer proceed with adoption on your part for any reason, and no longer wish to adopt, a reservation deposit is refundable by half for up to 2 years. Should you choose to remove your name from the reservation list, reservation deposits are refundable by half for 2 years from the date it had been received and your name was added to our reservation list. After two years, the reservation deposit becomes fully non-refundable, unless we have not been able to offer you any kitten(s) for adoption, regardless of colour or gender. This serves as compensation to the breeder for time to send updates, photos, and any other communication, as well as paperwork, administration, and book keeping/documentation of all incoming or outgoing funds for income tax and deductions purposes. If a kitten has not been chosen after 3 years, the reservation deposit becomes forfeit and you must reapply with another reservation deposit to be added back to our reservation waitlist. Please note, once a kitten is chosen and held, the full amount of the deposit immediately becomes non-refundable and non-transferable.
Security deposits are set in place to ensure adopters have truly considered their decision to adopt, are committed to their decision, and are 100% serious about adopting a kitten. While we consider the decision to place a security deposit as a “good faith” agreement of commitment between the buyer and the breeder, by placing a reservation/waitlist deposit, each family is also purchasing a saved position in line for upcoming kittens, kitten updates, photos, and kitten notifications from us personally. If the adoption of a kitten cannot proceed due on our part, we will offer a full refund of the deposit amount. For example: if queens do not become pregnant, if we cannot provide a kitten within the discussed timeframe, or miscarriage/unsuccessful birth/delivery of kittens.
The non-refundable portion of the reservation deposit is applied to cover time spent sending updates, administration/paperwork, book-keeping of all incoming and outgoing funds for income tax purposes, bank trips and bank fees (including currency conversions, money order purchases, e-transfer fees, time and fuel to and from the bank, etc), and mailing fees to mail refundable portions of deposits via money order or cheque.
Many families who inquire about our kittens base their decision to place a deposit on the time-frame to get a kitten, and the amount of prior reservations already placed (likeliness of getting a kitten sooner rather than later). The number of reservations often contributes to their choice to place a reservation, or find another breeder with a shorter waitlist. We only accept a certain amount of reservations per litter, and once those spots fill up, others are unable to secure a spot on the list, and may look elsewhere for another kitten. Even if a kitten has not been reserved, we do take losses when families break their commitment and back out of the waitlist.When our waitlist is “full” with sufficient amount of families for several upcoming litters, we close our waitlist to new applicants. When your position is held in a full waitlist, other families cannot get on the list and usually look elsewhere to adopt. Please let us know as soon as possible if you no longer choose to be on the waitlist so we can remove your name and allow another family on the list.
In some cases, we only breed when there is a sufficient amount of reservations to ensure kittens are placed in homes. If a girl is already bred and families back out, we are left in the same position of kittens without homes.
Litters can be planned around the number of families on a waitlist, and pairings occasionally based on colors that families are requesting.
We do put a considerable amount of time and effort into reading applications, screening, administration, sending photos, and correspondence with each and every potential adopter, and getting to know them to ensure our kittens are a right fit for a potential family and vice versa before accepting any security deposits. As we want to make sure all adopters have a positive experience, are well informed and don’t have any questions or concerns before proceeding with the adoption of our kittens, we do our best to provide detailed and informative emails, answers to any questions, texting, taking and sending photos of past, future, and current kittens, and time chatting over the phone, which can all be very time-consuming.
We maintain the right to cancel sale at any time for any reason. For example, if we discover new information about an adopter that makes him/her unfit for one of our babies, or, we do not foresee an ideal match and ongoing relationship between owner + kitten, or the buyer + breeder. We will provide a full refund of deposit if we are to cancel sale.
For the health and safety of all our cats, we consider ourselves to be a “closed cattery”. The safest catteries are closed catteries, and your veterinarian will also appreciate this fact. This means we take all precautionary measures to keep our cats and kittens healthy by reducing all possible health risks.
A closed cattery means:
-All new kittens and cats are quarantined and tested before introduction to our home and resident cats.
–Our cats are examined and tested regularly to ensure they are free of disease and illness.
–No stud services (no cats coming in or going out for stud services). We own all our males and females.
–No outside animals allowed in
–No boarding cats, not even kittens sold in the past
–No outdoor roaming
–No visits or handling of our cats to bring in illnesses. Such examples are: Parasites such as fleas, worms, ear mites; Viruses such as respiratory infections (cat colds), FIV, FeLeuk; Fungal infections such as ringworm; and the very highly contagious coronavirus which can mutate to the deadly form of FIP.
Any of these illnesses can accidentally be brought in by other animals, or a well-meaning visitor on shoes, hands and clothing, particularly by anyone who has visited another cattery or shelter before coming to visit. Any illness brought into our home can be potentially devastating and even life-threatening to our cats. Even the mildest contagious health issue could be hard on us, and our cats, cause kitten loss, and be both time consuming and financially costly, to have every cat in our home treated for any condition. The health and well-being of our cats is our priority, and nothing is worth risking it. I have known a breeder who had to destroy all her cats and kittens due to a deadly contagious virus accidentally brought in by a visitor who “stopped by” after visiting other cats in a shelter.
Visitors are limited only to those picking up their kittens. Aside from contagious health risks to our cats, strangers visiting our home can be very stressful for our mother cats who have young kittens to protect, and pregnant cats; particularly those who are very near their due dates to begin labor. Cats have the ability to delay or stop labor under stressful situations, and this can cause problems with the normal birthing process, putting the kittens and mother at risk. If a cat feels her nesting site is threatened or exposed, she may refuse to give birth in her designated area, and a new mother may abandon and refuse to care for her kittens. In very rare cases, a mother cat may even harm her own kittens, or a cat in early pregnancy may miscarry. We often have pregnant cats, cats that are in labor, or, near their labor dates, and we often have females being introduced to new males, and cats or kittens out of surgery from being spayed or neutered. These can all be highly stressful situations for any cat to have a stranger over to visit with them, and makes it impossible to have them readily available for visits.
We post many pictures and videos online, and can send any pictures or photos needed at your request without having the risk the health and wellbeing of our cats, and without the risk of infecting our cattery/home. If you have an apple device, we can even facetime with our cats/kittens for you. We will do our best to accommodate your requests, and apologize for any inconvenience.
Despite additional revenue that can be made providing stud services, or boarding, there are simply far too many communicable diseases and parasites, from STD’s, viruses, to ringworm, to risk exposure in uncontrolled circumstances. Remember, we are essentially producing and caring for both our own, and some else’s future companion. We take that responsibility very seriously.
We do often enjoy getting some extra time to spend with our kittens, and this is generally not a problem if we must hold on to your kitten a little longer for you. However, please note, that due to poor experiences in the past, full payment of your kittens’ complete adoption fee Must be received no later than 12 weeks of age, unless other specific arrangements have been made and agreed upon. If full payment is not received, and there is lack of communication on part of the “adopter”, the kitten will be made re-available for adoption to other families and deposit will be forfeit as compensation to the breeder.
Any kittens held past 12 weeks of age are subject to a boarding fee of $50 per additional week unless other arrangements have been made prior. This boarding fee must be paid in advance and covers the cost of food, litter, maintenance, and the cost of any additional vaccinations.
This is due to previous experiences of families suddenly deciding to back out of kittens after we have held them for extended periods of time, or families who disappear and do not show up to pick up their kitten. In return, these kittens lose out on other possible homes while being held for a family that does not intend to take the kitten home. Each week they are held and become older, and when someone suddenly backs out of an older kitten, it is more difficult to find a home for them. There is much work, time, and resources, that go into caring for and maintaining a happy kitten, and providing individual playtime, socialization, and training. Each one of our litters is carefully planned around our working schedule, other upcoming litters, and our available time to spend with the kittens based on their usual homing dates. This can sometimes make it difficult to unexpectedly keep kittens for a longer period of time than we anticipated, especially when multiple people require their kittens be held longer at the same time. Older kittens must often be separated from our other cats and need separate quarters, as they can be bothersome to expectant mothers, or be overly rough with younger, smaller baby kittens. We prefer to avoid “over-lapping” of our litters from one to another to avoid a limit on our available space.
Of course, exceptions can made due to flight delays, and poor weather conditions for travelling to pick up, or take home your kitten. We would much prefer you travel safely.
There is no fee to hold your kitten for the first two weeks after notification that your kitten is ready to come home, to give you ample time to make arrangements for pick-up… however, after two weeks beyond the original release date, we do ask a weekly boarding fee of $50 to care for him/her during this time, until you are ready to bring him/her home.
Due to past experiences, and to ensure permanent homes of our kittens, failure to communicate, and failure to pay for your kitten in full by 12 weeks of age, forfeits your deposit as compensation to the breeder, and renders the kitten re-available for adoption. No exceptions
I know it is a difficult thing to be patient when waiting for your new kitten to come home, but please do not ask to take your kittens home early than the dates stated. I will not allow kittens to go home before the posted dates, or before I am comfortable enough with their health and development to leave their mom and litter mates.
Please note: We do not offer boarding services outside of holding kittens longer than their homing dates. This includes cats or kittens that have previously left our care, and is for the health and comfort of our resident cats. Please see our “closed cattery” policy, above, for more information.
Pets are a lifetime responsibility. I intend for all kitten placements to be permanent, however, sometimes things just don’t always work out. We will always accept a Sylverkat cat or kitten back at any time in the future. If you feel at any point, your kitten is not making a good adjustment to your home situation, please contact the Seller and we can do our best to provide helpful suggestions. Kittens may need several days to adjust to their new surroundings. We do expect new owners to follow through with their commitment to their new kitten and give him/her every opportunity to fit in, however, if it is just not working out, and you feel you must return the kitten for any reason, we will always take him/her back. Within 14 days of the original homing date, a refund will be provided at my discretion, excluding the holding deposit of $500, provided the kitten is returned in the same condition. All deposits are non-refundable once a kitten has been reserved, and he/she is held up from other potential adopters, thus, the deposit will be automatically subtracted from the refund price. The deposit is considered compensation for any loss of sales, and loss of other potential homes during the time that each kitten is listed as reserved or sold. This covers costs and time of re-advertising, re-screening potential adopters, and housing and care during the re-homing period. Every kitten loses opportunities to find another home while being listed as reserved, or while being held up in a non-permanent home. As with other catteries, deposits are not refundable. For more information why Sylverkat and other catteries do this, please contact the seller, check our faq’s page, or see below for more information on our deposit policy.
Partial or full refund of the purchase balance (adoption fee minus deposit) can be provided during the 14-day period if the following has been complied with. All refunds of the purchase balance are at the Sellers discretion and are considered on an individual basis depending on each circumstance.
- The cat/kitten must be returned clean, uninjured, and free of disease and parasites.
- Buyer agrees to have the cat/kitten examined by a licensed veterinarian within 72 hours before return, and health certificate provided to the Seller.
- Any returned cat/kitten must be tested for feline Leukemia/FeLV and FIV before entering our home. The fee for this is the responsibility of the Buyer.
If any of the above conditions cannot be met, any refunds will be at the discretion of the Breeder/Seller, and will be considered case-by-case, and on an individual basis. Any vet fees paid out by the Breeder/Seller for these conditions listed above will be subtracted from the refund amount. These retained funds will be used for office visits, testing the cat/kitten for FIV/FeLV, any needed medications, treatments, grooming, re-advertisement, re-training, quarantine period, and housing, including feeding, care, and litter, until another suitable home is found.
Before any cat or kitten enters our cattery, all cats must be tested free of FIV and FeLeuk, must be dewormed, and re-treated with revolution. This is for the safety and protection of our resident cats and kittens. Once a cat or kitten leaves us, we have no control over his exposure to contagious illnesses, therefore, all returned kittens must be tested for contagious illnesses that can be brought into our cattery when he/she re-enters our home. This is especially the case where the kitten is exposed to other animals or other pets.
The refund will be provided only once we find a new home for the kitten and is based on the price we can re-adopt them out for, as most adopters will prefer to wait for a newborn kitten they can watch grow, and that has NOT already been in another home. Most people do Not want a “returned” kitten. It is also based on the amount of time in our care, before being re-adopted considering the age and condition of the kitten, any readjustments that must be made, and housing a kitten that would have otherwise already been in another permanent home.
Sometimes when a kitten comes back to us, he/she may need re-training, or behavioral adjustments due to the previous home situation, grooming, or need to put on weight. These situations can take time before a kitten is again ready to be re-adopted. All cats/kittens returned to us must receive a vet exam, up-to-date vaccines, parasite treatment (worming and revolution) and contagious illness testing before going to a new home to ensure we can offer our same health guarantee for all new owners.
Upon surrender of your kitten, you must transfer your kittens’ registration back to us on surrender. The Adopter assumes all financial responsibility for returning the cat/kitten. If the kitten must be shipped back to us by air, the adopter will return that cat/kitten in the same manner, and by the same service originally used to ship the cat to the Adopter. All fees for transportation are the responsibility of the Adopter.
After 14 days, kitten sales become final, and there will be NO reimbursement of any kind, partial or full, if the cat/kitten is returned after 14 days. Aside from the sad situation, and the stress and confusion it puts on your cat/kitten to re-home them, we cannot be held responsible for acquired behaviors or “bad habits” learned out of our care, exposures to health risks that may affect him/her in the future, the physical, mental, and health state of the kitten, proper interactions, or lack of stimulation and socialization, of a cat that has been out of our control for so long. Because of all these possibilities during the amount of time out of our care, we are unable to offer the same level of guarantees and sureties to a new owner. The kitten will be older and more difficult to find a new home after being held up, and finding homes for older cats is often difficult, as most people prefer to bond with a growing kitten. Younger kittens are much more adjustable to new situations and re-learning proper behavior.
The original adoption fee is used for re-homing fees, care and housing during the re-homing period, re-advertising, re-training, socialization, possible quarantine period, and re-screening of potential adopters, medications including deworming and parasite control, vet fees including testing or treating the cat/kitten with my vet before coming back into our cattery, sanitization, and food and litter costs while in our care. It can be more difficult to find homes for older cats, who often spend more time in our care before another home is found. These are all very time-consuming and costly.
However, if you are unable to keep your kitten or find another suitable home for your cat/kitten, all of our cats and kittens are always welcome to come back with us at any time in the future, no questions asked. If for any reason in the future, you cannot keep your kitten, please contact us. We ask the first right to re-adopt the cat/kitten. We never want any of our cats or kittens to end up in a shelter, bad home, or heaven forbid, a research facility. Otherwise, if you feel you have the ability to screen people and find a wonderful new home, you are welcome to find another home for your cat/kitten, but nothing other than a home, as written in our contract. I would even be able to help with this and advertise him/her for you, or screen potential adopters.
Part of being a responsible pet owner, is to seriously consider whether or not you are ready to take on the 18+ years of responsibility for a new cat/kitten before adopting, and be sure the timing is right for you. Often, those who adopt spur-of-the-moment are not truly prepared for the responsibility, training, and time needed for a new cat/kitten. We do our best to screen potential owners to the best of our ability to find permanent homes for life, but we cannot always predict who is not fully prepared, or owners who must return their cat/kitten due to unfortunate, and unforeseen circumstances. Unless the cat is found to have a genetic or congenital health issue, the decision to return the cat is a choice made by the Adopter, and therefore, the responsibility of the Adopter. It is expected of any adopter to be sure that no one in the home is allergic to cats before making an adoption, if you rent you should ensure that your landlord is ok with the adoption, and abide by any laws that hold a restriction on the amount of pets you are allowed to own. It is the same expectation to make sure any current pets and children are gentle, accepting, and able to welcome a new pet into the home. We do not adopt out our kittens on a “trial basis”. Although breeds will have their specific characteristics and traits, as with any living creature, even children, every kitten is an individual and will have their own personality, ability and willingness to learn, trainability, and demand for your time. Please consider this before adopting any animal.
Please do not go into ANY adoption with the mind-set that “if it doesn’t work out…. We’ll return it”. If this is how you feel, then you are not the right family for one of our cats or kittens.
