How to Choose a Sphynx Breeder (and Spot a Scam)

The unpleasant truth about a breed in demand is that it attracts people who should not be selling cats — and outright scammers who have no cats at all. This is the checklist we would use ourselves, including on us.

Health testing, in writing

Ask for documents, not reassurance:

• hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) echocardiograms on both parents, done by a vet with cardiac experience, with dates. Scanning has to be repeated through a breeding cat’s life — one clear scan years ago is not an answer.
• FeLV and FIV negative status for the parents.
• DNA panel results, including the tests relevant to the breed.
• Vaccination and worming records for the kitten, and microchip details.

“Our lines are clean” with no paperwork means untested. There is no third option.

See where the kitten lives

Visit in person if you possibly can, or take a live video call. You are looking for kittens raised inside a household rather than in a shed or a cage, a clean warm space, and a mother who is present, healthy and relaxed. Meeting the queen tells you an enormous amount about the temperament of the kitten you are taking home.

A breeder who will not let you see the mother, or who insists on meeting in a car park, is telling you something.

Paperwork and contract

Registered pedigree with a recognised registry, a written sale contract, a health guarantee with a defined period, desexing terms for pet kittens, and — importantly — a return clause. Every ethical breeder wants their cats back rather than see them advertised online in three years.

How the good ones behave

They ask you as many questions as you ask them. They will not release a kitten before twelve weeks or before its vaccinations. They keep a waiting list rather than always having kittens available. They talk about the breed’s problems unprompted. They stay contactable after the sale, and they like getting photographs.

Scam red flags

• Prices well below everyone else, or urgency and pressure to secure the kitten today.
• Payment only by gift card, cryptocurrency or an untraceable transfer.
• Refusal to do a live video call with the kitten and its mother.
• Photographs that appear elsewhere online — always reverse image search them.
• New social accounts, no verifiable history, no registry, no vet they will name.
• Kittens “ready now” at six or eight weeks.
• Extra fees appearing after the deposit — a crate, insurance, a permit. This is the classic pet scam pattern.
• No written contract, and vagueness about what happens if the kitten is unwell.

Two minutes of due diligence

Reverse image search the photos. Search the cattery name plus the word “scam”. Ask which registry they are with and check it. Ask for their vet clinic’s name and ring it. Insist on a video call where you name what you want to see — a real breeder will happily walk you through the room.

Ask us these questions too. If we cannot answer them, we do not deserve the sale either.

Meet the cats behind the advice

Everything here comes out of running a household of Sphynx and Donskoy cats — meet the queens, studs and kittens, or send us an enquiry if you have a question we have not answered.