About Our Waiting List

We receive kitten requests almost daily and, unfortunately, because we don't produce very many kittens, we usually do not have any available at any given moment. In order to manage the requests fairly, we have instituted a waiting list.

How Do I Get Onto the Waiting List?

To have your name added to our waiting list, you must first complete our waiting list request form. We will then try and contact you (usually within a week, unless we get really behind on our email - which happens rather more often than I like to believe) to get more information and begin the process of matching kittens to prospective owners.

How Long Will I Have to Wait?

That depends on what you are waiting for -- and what Mother Nature provides in the way of kittens. You'll probably end up waiting longer if you have very specific requirements (for example, if you want a specific color or a kitten with specific characteristics, such as one who will be at ease with small loud children). Generally, boys are in greater demand than girls, and younger kittens are in more demand than older cats. So if you are in a hurry, you might want to consider a girl or a retiree.

How Often Should I Keep In Touch

Often! Pam and I both have jobs that keep us quite busy, and because of that our email correspondance suffers. Don't feel shy about sending us short notes keeping us up to date on your kitten search - the squeaky wheel is the one that gets greased! :)

On the other hand, we do try and send out litter announcements to the people on our waiting list (usually when the litter is 3-4 weeks), and we will remove from our list anyone we don't hear back from or whose email bounces. If you are using a Yahoo or Hotmail account (or any other email account with a limited amount of space available), please try to ensure that you have room available for new email. (Tip: if you haven't received any new email for a while, you might want to check your available space.) If we send email to you and it bounces, you are removed from our active file. (However, we do maintain a record of 'first contact' - if you think you have dropped off our list and would like to be put back on - just drop us a note. You will be restored to the active list with all your seniority! :-)

Also, I cannot stress enough the value of 'face time' - of getting out to the cat shows or coming to the cattery and meeting the breeders and being more than a voice on the phone or a email address.

What if I Find a Kitten Elsewhere?

If you end up getting a kitten elsewhere, we would appreciate if you could let us know so that we can remove your name. Otherwise, we will end up turning away people unnecessarily.

What if I'm looking for a Show-quality kitten?

We'd love to talk with you! :)

As a rule, any kitten that we sell may be shown (we include that right with every Coonpanion kitten) - but not every kitten will do well on the show circuit. We do evaluate all our kittens for show potential, and we make some of the kittens we feel have that potential available. We have had Coonpanion-bred cats compete successfully in both TICA and CFA (our most successful cat so far is QGCA Coonpanion D Dougal McKeller McKie). Exhibitors looking at Coonpanion cats may get some preference over pet owners, since the success of a Coonpanion cat being shown enhances the value of our cattery.

What if I would like Breeding Rights?

We'll talk with you.

When you negotiate for a purebred cat, you are basically negotiating for three things:

1. Ownership.
2. Show rights.
3. Breeding rights.

As I mentioned above, anyone who successfully screens for Ownership is granted showing rights. However, we reservebreeding rights to all the kittens we release from the cattery. This is stipulated in our contract, and we will enforce that clause, as required.

Breeding rights are negotiated separately from ownership, and are released and assigned at our discretion, and as we choose (we may include restrictions such as pre-breeding approval, we may opt to retain breeding rights to any kittens produced, we may maintain co-ownership of the cat in question, etc. Or a combination of any of these. Or not.) If you get the impression that this is not a casual decision to be made on a whim, GOOD! It's not a casual decision, we take it very seriously.

We do release breeding rights to established breeders with whom we have established a relationship, and those select new breeders that we know are aware of the limitations of our lines, and who we feel will meet our standards and who match our breeding philosophy.

If you are interested in Breeding Rights to a Coonpanion cat, feel free to contact us. After the discussion, we may opt to work with you more closely (we are currently working with several new breeders), or we may opt to refer you to a more another breeder (for example, one that may live closer to you). There are many rewards to this hobby (money is not one of them unless, of course, spending lots of it is rewarding to you ;-), but there are many responsibilities as well.