25/07/2025
Petfishing
You may have heard of ‘Catfishing’, where a stranger creates a fictional online persona to lure someone into a relationship.
Deceitful pet sellers use a similar tactic to ‘Petfish’ unsuspecting buyers. These unscrupulous sellers pretend that the kitten they’re selling you comes from a happy home.
In reality, the animal may have been bred or kept in poor conditions.
Don’t get caught out.....
Buying or adopting a pet is an exciting time. But do you really know the person behind the advert?
Sadly, when you’re looking for a new cat, you’re more likely to come across deceitful sellers than you might think. These sellers mistreat animals to line their pockets.
Welcoming these pets into your home can have tragic consequences. Some have severe health problems. Often, they won’t have been socialised with other animals or people. It’s important to do your research so you know your new pet has come from a responsible seller.
Watch this video published by DEFRA
https://youtu.be/vpBjwBwRdFs?si=cUPXzfugSkeNt23Z
The introduction of ‘Lucy’s Law’ means that anyone wanting to get a new puppy or kitten in England must now buy direct from a breeder.
Buying a kitten
For kittens or cats, search The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) Breeder Scheme [ https://www.gccfcats.org/About-GCCF/Breeder-Scheme ] to search for breeders, by location or type of cat.
Use the Kitten Checklist [http://www.thecatgroup.org.uk/pdfs/The-Kitten-Checklist.pdf ] to help you get the information you need when looking to buy a kitten.
We, at Belle-Amiche Ragdolls, have heard so many sad experiences from people who have approached us for kittens. Families who have had kittens die weeks after purchasing, kittens that have been sold with major health problems leading to expense vet bills (not covered by insurance), one poor lady had been "petfished', she paid a deposit for a kitten (she hadn't met), travelled quite a distance on Christmas eve to collect her kitten, only to find that the address was not valid. There was not kitten, no seller and she lost her quite substantial payment.
We, at Belle-Amiche Ragdolls, pride ourselves on being proactively transparent in all our cat breeding/husbandry.
We are passionate about doing everything the right way for our cats, kittens and new kitten families.
Our cattery is:
●5* Council Licenced (Inspected)
●Gold Standard GCCF Registered Breeders (Inspected)
●Vet inspected by our wonderful vet Duncan from Roborough Vet .
Before they join their new families, all of our kittens are:
●ESN (neutered)
●Full vaccination
●Microchipped
●Wormed and flea treated
●GCCF registered
Kittens leave us with:
●Vaccination certificate
●Microchip Registration
●GCCF pedigree certification
●Kitten record card (for new vets, showing all of their medical treatments, microchipped info, GCCF info etc)
●A comprehensive Care document
●Top quality food
●Toys blanket etc
●Comprehensive care package
We are 💯% committed to providing healthy, well socialised, confident kittens to our Belle-Amiche kitten families 👊
Are you thinking of getting a puppy, kitten, cat or dog? Petfished is a government public awareness campaign run by the Department for Environment, Food and...
