Frequently asked. Occasionally answered politely.

Sometimes. A planned breeding is not a promise, and a pregnancy is not inventory. I announce kittens after they have weaned, begun vaccination, and developed enough personality to evaluate. Biology remains stubbornly indifferent to administrative convenience.

No. You cannot reserve a kitten who is still inside the mother, and I do not reserve an unweaned kitten. Stop asking.

At that age the kitten is still fragile, vaccination has not begun, and its principal accomplishments are sleeping, nursing, and looking decorative.

I do not sell positions in a line or place kittens first-come, first-served. A form may begin the conversation, but it does not decide where a living animal belongs. I want to know the household. I have picked a fair number of juries. I have reasonably well-developed assessment skills.

It is a mutual audition. I do not want to send a quiet, contemplative kitten into a daily tornado or inflict a rumpus monster on people who wanted a reading companion. Color, sex, and order of inquiry are preferences. Compatibility controls.

Current terms are discussed privately after we establish that the household and kitten may fit. A message consisting only of “how much?” is not an especially persuasive opening argument.

Pet kittens leave altered, vaccinated for age, and microchipped. The price also reflects months of food, veterinary care, socialization, losses, and a breeder who remains available after departure.

A pet kitten leaves altered, microchipped, vaccinated for age, examined by a veterinarian, and with the records needed to continue care. CFA registration paperwork is supplied as applicable, and I include an in-cabin carrier.

The exact vaccination and medication history travels with the individual kitten. “Had shots” is not a medical record.

You can have preferences. They do not control the placement. Color describes the coat; it does not supply a personality. I would rather disappoint an abstract preference than create a bad thirteen-to-sixteen-year match.

Not before sixteen weeks. The kitten must be eating reliably, vaccinated for age, recovered from alteration, microchipped, and mature enough for the move. The calendar is evidence. The individual kitten remains the controlling party.

UltraVires is in the San Francisco Bay Area. I do not publish my home address because this is both a cattery and a home. Practical arrangements are discussed privately when a placement becomes real.

No. This is a home and working cattery, not a retail showroom or petting zoo. I do not invite strangers into it.

You may check references, see current photographs and video, follow identifiable cats across time, and meet UltraVires cats at shows. A legitimate breeder should provide evidence. That evidence does not have to include surrendering the security and biosecurity of the home.

No. I do not ship kittens, and no amount of money will convince me to put a cat in airline cargo. A real live person must come to the Bay Area: the buyer, or a flight nanny who carries the kitten in the cabin. SFO, OAK, and San Jose are the practical airports. I will not use a service that purports to drive a cat across the country.

I can suggest a flight nanny, but transport is the buyer's cost: expect round-trip airfare, the airline's pet fee, and the courier's fee. I include the carrier. Budget accordingly. The increasingly popular “weekend in San Francisco, fly home with kitten” method works perfectly well and has the incidental advantage of including San Francisco.

Sometimes. Retirees are altered and matched as individuals; they are not used equipment cleared from inventory. Availability is unpredictable, and two compatible retirees appearing at once is even less predictable.

Call me before rehoming the cat. Circumstances change; shame accomplishes nothing. The cat comes back to me or moves through a placement I approve. Do not sell or give the cat away and notify me after the fact.

They are intelligent, social cats with a highly developed belief that whatever is happening should involve them. They talk, learn schedules, demand organized play, interfere with work, and remain committed to kitten games well into adulthood. My father called them living sculpture with the souls of alley cats. They are very decorative. What they are not is purely decorative.

Many do better with company. Some want a wrestling partner; some merely tolerate roommates; a few want their person to themselves. “I work from home” is useful. “I work from home and would like to complete some work” may require a second Oriental Shorthair.

Often. The more useful questions are whether the children are trained, the dog is cat-safe, the resident cats can tolerate this breed’s style of play, and the individual kitten fits the household’s level of activity.

Yes. An UltraVires cat lives indoors. Several of our kittens have been harness- and leash-trained by their owners and do very well on supervised outings; several are stroller cats. They still live indoors. A secure catio is also perfectly reasonable. Oriental Shorthairs are fast, curious, conspicuous, and not reliably burdened by common sense. Traffic, predators, theft, poison, and infectious disease do not become character-building experiences because the cat wanted to investigate them.

Slowly. Begin with one quiet room, familiar food and litter, water, the carrier, and a blanket that smells like home. Sit on the floor and let the kitten approach. Be the furniture.

Exchange bedding before supervised introductions. Hissing is communication; physical aggression means back up. This usually takes seven to ten days, not an indefinite diplomatic occupation.

I use a mix of quality wet and dry commercial food. I am not a raw-food evangelist. “Cats are carnivores” is not, by itself, a complete nutritional study.

No, and yes. Short hair does not mean no allergen. Home grooming is minimal. Show grooming is another proceeding because the cat fancy has never met a simple task it could not ornament.

Breeding cats should be tested for progressive retinal atrophy. That answers a real inheritance question. It does not make a cat, line, or kitten clear of every meaningful risk. “Tested” and “risk-free” are not synonyms.

Pedigrees, family reports, veterinary findings, necropsies when useful, and honest exchange between breeders provide evidence no commercial panel can supply.

Start with the breeder, not the kitten photograph. Look for registration, pedigrees, show records, current photographs and video, references, and years of identifiable cats growing, leaving for known homes, and aging.

Never send money because a stranger added urgency to a comment. It is difficult to counterfeit an entire community with institutional memory.

Each judge’s ring is a separate show. An adult begins as an Open and earns the first title through six qualifying rings. Grand titles require competitive points earned by defeating other eligible cats. The cat fancy maintains several ledgers because one would be dangerously comprehensible.

Showing is assessment before it is decoration. Multiple judges apply a published standard, the cat demonstrates that it can be handled, and the breeder receives evidence from outside his own kitchen. A title is evidence. It is not a complete biography of the cat.

I consider the physical cats, pedigrees, line breeding, known defects, health and longevity reports, temperament, maternal behavior, and what the next generation actually needs. The object is a whole cat—not one spectacular feature attached to several administrative problems.

No. You cannot have breeding rights. Period. The end.

The people who receive intact cats from me are breeders and exhibitors I have known and worked beside for years. They do not begin that relationship by asking a stranger on the internet for breeding rights.