• What are commercial or wholesale Persian Kitten breeders?
• Is there a difference between someone who breeds their Persian cats as a hobby and someone who breeds as many cats as they can, as often as they can?

Commercial breeders have a building (or buildings) that house many cats - more cats than could comfortably be kept in one's home. The cats kept by commercial breeders are usually kept in small, individual cages for their entire lives. These cats exist for the sole purpose of reproducing. Once they can no longer reproduce they are disposed of. These cats are usually unsocialized and would probably never make a loving and social house cat. For all intents and purposes these cats are wild.

A commercial breeder may or may not be licensed by the United States Department of Agriculture ("USDA") which inspects and licenses breeders that produce or transfer ownership of a certain number of kittens or dogs on a yearly basis. Being licensed by the USDA is NOT a seal of approval of a healthy, socialized, or pedigreed Persian kitten.

A commercial breeder sells their kittens to either a wholesaler or to a pet shop (which is basically a wholesaler). These kittens are sold all at once as an entire litter or in large batches to the wholesalers and pet shops. The pet shops then re-sell the kittens to individuals looking for a pedigreed Persian cat for their family. Pet shop kittens may or may not come with registration papers. A commercial breeder usually does not sell their kittens to private individuals looking for a family pet.

A commercial breeder rarely knows the final destination of their kittens. They never meet the people who get one of their Persian kittens to find out if it is a suitable home. A commercial breeder never gets pictures of their kittens or letters from the "proud owners" of their kittens. A commercial breeder never provides any written or genetic health guarantee for their kittens. A commercial breeder does not research or much care about their Persian cats' pedigree and they do not screen or test for known health problems in the Persian breed (i.e., PKD1 and HCM).

A commercial breeders' sole purpose in breeding Persian cats is as an income producing endeavor. Hence, the term "commercial" - the intent of producing income.

8-week old kitten

Persian cat breeders who are hobby breeders (or catteries) are those individuals who have devoted their time, financial resources, their homes, and have sacrificed time spent with their family and children for their love and devotion of the Persian cat through showing their cats, educating the public, researching pedigrees, and much more. The hours spent bathing, grooming, traveling, packing their and their cats' belongings and grooming supplies, in order to attend cat shows whether locally or on a national scale are incalculable and not recouped through the breeding of their cats.

Hobby breeders are usually people who are active (or members) in a cat registry (such as the Cat Fanciers Association), an active or retired member of a local cat club, and may show their Persian cats. A hobby breeder is one who takes the time to educate themselves and to share their knowledge with others about Persian cats. A hobby breeder tests/screens their cats for known health problems in Persians (i.e., polycystic kidney disease - PKD1 and HCM).

A hobby breeder may or may not be licensed by the USDA depending on how many litters or transfers of individual kittens are done in a single year.

A hobby breeder does not plan a breeding based on the goal of selling the kittens. A hobby breeder plans a breeding for many reasons, a few of which are:

• continuing their line,
• to eradicate a genetic problem,
• to improve on a fault
• most importantly they always keep an eye on "the betterment of the breed"

blue 8-week old kitten

They cannot achieve these goals without knowing their cats, the Persian breed standard (click here to view CFA Persian Breed Standard - Adobe pdf file), their cat's pedigree, and the health or genetic problems in their cat or its' ancestors.

A hobby breeder spends many hours educating themself about Persian cats, pedigrees, the Persian cat breed standard, answering questions from people interested in Persians, and mentoring new Persian cat enthusiasts. They spend enormous amounts of money on purchasing the finest quality Persian cats, cat toys, food, vitamin and mineral supplements, crates, grooming products, vaccinations, veterinarian bills and other medical treatments, having their cats DNA tested for PKD1, and much more.

A hobby breeder does not breed their Persian cats for the purpose of producing income. Most hobby breeders are lucky to break even on their costs of producing healthy, well-adjusted, socialized kittens. Hobby breeders breed their Persian cats because they love them and it shows in everything that they do on a day in and day out basis.

Article on "How to Select a Good Persian Cat Breeder".