I borrowed this idea for a web page from a good friend of mine - with her permission of course. I think it is important for everyone to understand what goes into building and operating a cattery.
I get asked occasionally "Why does a ragdoll cost so much?" Please read further to find out the answers!
There are many costs involved in starting your own cattery. So you decide you want to become a breeder of ragdolls? Great! Hopefully you have deep pockets! You had better ask your family and friends how they feel about cats before jumping into it! This decision to become a breeder is not something to just jump into. Becoming a breeder is a LIFESTYLE DECISION for many years to come - if you stay in it. You are no longer free to be spontaneous - everything in your life revolves around these cats!
FINANCIAL COSTS TO GET STARTED
First major question - do you have the cash to get started?; will you be taking out loans?; using credit cards?; or do you have a business partner? Either way, do you have a business plan? How long do you estimate it will take to earn a return on your initial investment? (if at all)
Have you checked around to see if there are other breeders in your local and regional area? What is the opportunity for you? How will you market your cats to sell?
You must decide a name for your cattery and register it with at least ONE professional cat organization, possible two or three depending on your locale. Those costs can run $25 per year and up per organization. That costs money and there is alot of paperwork involved.
You need to join some professional organizations as they give you access to other breeders and is good for networking. Each organization could run you $25 up to $50 per year.
Many costs go to either/both TICA and CFA for registration of your cats. ($10 each cat) Then should you desire to purchase a 3 or 5 generation pedigree for each cat, there are additional charges for that ($50 each). When you have litters you must register each litter ($10) each litter. Double that if you also register in TICA and CFA.
MENTOR
Who is your mentor going to be? I believe this is THE MOST IMPORTANT decision you will make in getting started in a cattery. Is it someone you can count on? Will they be there in the middle of the night when you have an emergency? Can you trust them? Are they an experienced, reputable breeder? Are they respected by other breeders? Have you done your homework on them? Is this person mentoring anyone else? How much time can they devote to you? Do they live close to you?
I would NEVER had made it without my mentor and awesome friend and I would personally like to again thank Sharon for everything she has done in the past and continues to do for me!!!!! Along with other breeder friends I have met along the way - and they know who they are!
PURCHASING YOUR NEW BREEDER CATS
Who are you going to purchase your breeders from? Do you really think you can just phone well-known breeders and convince them to sell to you "just because you're new" or "just because you may have alot of money"? WRONG! Count on many turndowns before you might find someone who is willing to sell to a "newbie".
Unfortunately when you are new you don't always get treated with respect. Sure, someone will sell to you but don't count on your first breeders being top quality! Many a new breeder has been scammed by low-life older breeders for the all encompassing dollar! Maybe the cat you bought as a breeder isn't the cat they ship to you. Maybe the cat they ship to you has ear mites, ringworm, or worse. Maybe the cat you bought as a breeder doesn't have TICA paperwork (like my personal experience). Maybe they sell you a cat and claim it's show/breeder quality and you show up for your first TICA show and get laughed out of the show hall OR disqualified because the cat is very poor quality. All these examples have happened to not only me but other new breeders!
How many breeders are you going to need to start with? A good number would be one male and three to four females. Breeders cost between $1000 and $2000 each! Conservatively you could count on spending between $4000 and $10,000 just on your breeders. And that's if you start out small!!!
Don't forget the possibility of your breeder cats not producing for you. They could possibly be sterile or have some other illness. Most breeding contracts require you wait until they are two years old before the breeder will replace it. Or perhaps the kittens you produce out of the breeders aren't what you wanted. Then you have to spay/neuter the cat and purchase a new breeder.
Normally every few years you do bring in new breeders and retire older ones. You must continually be evaluating the breeders and their offspring to ensure you are breeding to ragdoll standard! Again, more money is spent.
Don't forget shipping costs if your breeders don't come locally!!!
Also remember females can only be bred no more than 3 times every two years at the most!!!
YOUR HOME
Now, where are you going to keep all these cats? Do you have to renovate your home or a room in your home? Where will you keep the males if they spray? Where will you keep the females when they spray and are in heat and need isolated? YES FEMALES SPRAY!!!!! Where will you keep the pregnant queens prior to and after delivery? Where will you keep the babies once they are born? Some breeders might add an enclosed porch ($5000 - $20,000+). Some might renovate their garage - ($500 and up). Some might use a spare bedroom. Everyone has a different set up in their home. The males and females when adults MUST BE IN SEPARATE LIVING QUARTERS!!!
I purchased a wonderful birthing cage to keep in my bedroom for the pregnant queens to stay in when "their time" gets close. Once they give birth they live in the birthing cage with their babies. The moms do get out and stretch and have a break from the little ones. I bought a really good solidly built unit and the cost on it was $750! It only holds two litters at a time.
Many breeders keep their males in a large walk-in pen as they might need to be separated from the females. Walk-in type pens can cost about $1500.00 each or more depending on the type!
VETERINARIAN COSTS
Do you have a veterinarian you trust? Are they familiar with cats (ragdolls) and their special needs? Do they do early spay/neuter? Do they have extended hours of operation? Can you phone your vet and ask for medicine and advice over the phone? Will your vet trust you to know your animals and their needs? Does your vet take payment plans - because sooner or later something devastating will occur and you won't have the funds to cover it. Are they "breeder friendly"?
When your vet's office is closed, where is the nearest emergency clinic located? If you think your regular vet bills are expensive, hold on to your hat because the prices these emergency clinics charge are absolutely astronomical and I have found they average AT LEAST TRIPLE a normal vet office during normal hours!!!
For example I had two unfortunate emergency situations arise in one month. Both required EMERGENCY SURGERIES. Ex. #1 - One of my breeder girls had a breech baby and things were going downhill quickly and I couldn't assist in the birthing due to complicated medical reasons. I am not kidding when I tell you my vet bills for one month were just under $5,000 for both emergencies!!!
A normal well cat checkup at my vet costs a minimum of $35 each. Shots cost an average of $40.00. Then comes the testing for FELV, FIP, bloodwork/blood typing, fecal tests on EACH CAT that runs around $100 per cat.
This does not even begin to include the prescription costs for medicine for all the cats/kittens.
These costs are why some breeders have taken it upon themselves to give their own vaccinations, etc. Perhaps they validate this by telling you it's "inconvenient" to go to the vet office. It's really about trying to save money. I have a Bachelor's and Master's degrees but I do know my expertise does not include medical treatment for my cats! I choose to leave my cats in the hands of the professional vets!!!
Please realize most breeders do have some knowlege about illnesses, remedies, medications, etc - but that does NOT mean you should be treating your animals in my opinion for serious and/or long term health issues. The longer you breed the more information you learn. Breeding may give you enough knowledge to discuss intelligently the pros and cons of a treatment for your cat with your vet - but does NOT entitle you to treat your cat in my opinion.
Costs for spays and neuters vary by doctors and regional areas. A neuter can run anywhere from $50 - $150. A spay can cost $100 - $200 (females must spend at least one night at the vet office afterwards). These costs are only if there are NO complications or medications required.
While we're on the subject let you tell you how much an ultrasound costs. Let's say you have a pregnant queen and she's having some issues prior to birth and you might need to know how many kittens she is carrying. An ultrasound will run anywhere from $150 - $300 or more!
HCM ultrasounding can run anywhere from $80 to $500 depending on where you get it done, and by whom you get it done! Those numbers are PER CAT! And ALL breeders must be HCM scanned/tested each and every year.
HCM blood sampling and/or DNA extractions can run $50-$60 per cat at a minimum. These tests are in addition to HCM ultrasounds.
ADVERTISING/MARKETING COSTS
How are you going to advertise and market your cattery?
Website: The MOST important tool you will have is a fabulous website for the internet. A good website can cost anywhere from $10 a month for a "do-it-yourself" up to $500+ for a custom website designed and maintained by a professional. The cost does depend on how much work you want to do yourself or if you want a professional to handle everything. There are lots of options regarding the website. This is a very time consuming task and needs constant updating! Be sure you have an easy program to use if you aren't computer literate!
Business cards: You will also need to get business cards ($50 and up) for 500. It just depends on how fancy you want. If you want a photo of your cat on them you can pay upwards of $200+.
Communication Costs: Perhaps you need a second phone line ($50 a month)? Perhaps you need a cell phone ($50 a month). Perhaps you might need to update from dial-up internet service to high-speed internet service ($40 a month).
Magazine Advertising: Should you decide to advertise in the national magazines for cats - count on spending between $50 (just your printed name) to $1,000+ (for a professonal photo and your name/info) per magazine per occurrence.
Professional Photos: Speaking of photos, you should have professional photos taken. At any cat show there is usually a professional photographer ready to take photos for you. Those photos will run anywhere from $100 to $500+ depending on how many cats you have photographed, as well as what package of prints or CD you choose. These photos can also be used for advertising in the professional cat magazines (for a price of course). Of course you can always use a local studio for photos as well, and the cost would probably be less.
FOOD COSTS
This is not the place to try and cut costs for breeding! It is essential you feed your cats the very best food available. Lately the manufacturers of cat food have begun putting the nutritional information on the bags, which is helpful in making your decision about which food is best. Ask other breeders - everybody has an opinion about this.
Personally I do NOT feel there is any one best food. I choose to use a combination of three dry foods together. I mix it up in big plastic containers which keeps it fresh.
A 10 pound bag of each food costs between $15 - $35. I go through about $100 of dry food every two weeks. Soft cat food varies in price greatly - the brand I use is about $15 a case and will last about two weeks.
When kittens are first eating solids, the brand of kitten food I use for hard food is about $15 a bag and lasts about two weeks. I also supplement with soft food which is about $2 a day or $28 every two weeks. For example for one litter of 4 kittens @ 14 weeks in your home, your costs could run about $400+ per litter just for food!
For pregnant queens and nursing moms I also use a high caloric soft food which costs about $2 a day per queen! For one queen that would roughly be $28 every two weeks. Multiply that times how many queens that are pregnant and/or nursing. They nurse about 8 weeks - that's about $224 per queen for 8 weeks of nursing. They are pregnant about 65 days and I begin feeding them a higher caloric food the last couple weeks of their pregnancy, so the special food could cost another $28 per queen per pregnancy. For example the food cost for one queen's pregnancy and nursing could run about $250.
FURNITURE/TOY COSTS
One of the best investments you can make is in a quality built cat tree and furniture. I recommend a couple of different companies who specialize in cat trees/furniture for LARGE breed cats!!! One company promises its' furniture can hold up to 450 lbs and has a 3 year warranty!!! If you don't want your cats on your furniture, you need to invest in at least one high quality cat tree - especially with having a cattery.
A well built cat tree that will hold 3-4 large cats will probably run about $350-$400. Some larger units can run up to $1000!!!!!
A good scratching post that is built solid and heavy enough so the cats won't knock it over - runs between $35 - $75.
Soft beds, covered hammocks, etc, will cost between $25 - $100 depending on the size and materials. These MUST be replaced often.
Cats need lots of stimuli and cat teasers, balls, games, etc, will also need to be factored into this equation.
Add in aerated water fountains ($50+), sheets/blankets/plastic to cover your furniture, bowls, litter, litterbox liners, deoderizers, Glade fans, air purifiers, carpet/ tile and furniture professional cleanings - well it all adds up to be sure.
Legal costs for drawing up and enforcing contracts.
Business licenses depending on your locale.
Replacement of your carpeting, furniture, cat trees/furniture, toys, etc. This depends on your cats' behaviors and personalities.
SHOWING YOUR CAT(S)
One of the MOST expensive things you do with breeding is attending cat shows.
There are entry fees (abt. $100 per cat per show). If you need a grooming space that's usually about $25 per show as well. Marked catalogs are also factored in, normally running about $10-$15 per show.
Airline Tickets - if you must travel to a show and it's too far to drive. Prices of course would vary.
Rental Cars/Taxi Costs - again, depends upon the location and distance between the airport, show hotel, and show location.
Cage curtains, grooming supplies, decorations for your benching area - an estimate would be $400.00 but of course these items will last quite a while.
Spending money at the shows - typically you can spend maybe $20 tickets for the raffles which helps the club out.
Hotel Fees - an average of $75 - $100.00 easily a night PLUS pet deposits roughly betweeen $35 - $50 per night depending on the hotel.
Gas - wow, with today's prices it's hard to estimate but an average would be over $3 per gallon. Some shows you must travel to are 5-8 hours away (and sometimes more)! Plus wear and tear on your vehicle.
Eating Out - 3 meals per day for a 2 day show would estimate the costs to be $50 per day if you are careful.
Costs to submit your paperwork to TICA to receive your awards for new titles - $10 per award.
I'm sure I've left out lots of things here but I think I have shown you that breeding is NOT a way to make a living.
Those of us who choose to do this do it because we LOVE the breed!
When you purchase a pure breed cat from us, you are merely assisting us by ensuring the breed is carried on into the future. We are NOT getting rich off breeding!
