Screening buyers: questions and gut feeling
Finding the right home matters more than finding the fastest one. Ask open questions rather than yes-or-no ones, who lives in the household, what other animals are there, how the workdays look, what they expect from a cat and whether the kitten will live indoors. Open questions make people describe their real life instead of guessing the right answer. Always meet the buyers in person, or at least on a video call, before you accept a reservation, and trust your gut, if something feels off it usually is, and you are allowed to say no. A polite decline today is far easier than a rehoming case in a year.
The sales contract
Every kitten should leave with a written sales contract, however friendly the buyers are. Put in the price, the kitten's health status at delivery, and how hidden defects are handled under your local consumer legislation, buyers of animals often have stronger rights than sellers expect. Spell out whether the kitten is sold as a pet with a neutering clause or with breeding rights, and what those rights include. Add a return-first clause, if the buyer ever cannot keep the cat they must contact you before rehoming it elsewhere. A clear contract is not distrust, it is a shared understanding that protects the cat.
When the kitten is ready to leave
Kittens leave home at the age your registry or club requires, typically not before twelve to fourteen weeks, and those last weeks with mother and siblings are where much of the social education happens, so resist pressure to deliver early. Before delivery day the kitten should have completed its first vaccinations, be microchipped and registered, be dewormed if fecal checks or your veterinarian indicate a need, and be examined by a veterinarian who issues a recent health certificate. A kitten that leaves healthy, well documented and properly socialized is the best advertisement your breeding will ever have.
The delivery package and staying available
Send the kitten off with a well-prepared package, the pedigree or registration papers, the insurance handover or details so cover continues without a gap, a supply of the food it already eats, a blanket that smells of its first home and clear written care instructions covering feeding, litter habits and upcoming vaccinations. Then make yourself available afterwards, answer the anxious first-week questions, ask for updates and celebrate the photos. Lifelong breeder support is what buyers remember and recommend, and it also means you hear early if something in your lines needs attention.