Exoticsuk

14/01/2026

I’m apparently now a ‘conversation starter’. For those of you who know me in real life, you know this couldn’t be further than the truth! 🤣

But I’ll take it 🕺🏻🕺🏻

14/01/2026

Charky left us today - last minute cuddled before he left us. He’ll be missed! 🐆🖤🖤🖤

14/01/2026

This guy is forever exposing all for tummy rubs - sweet little thing 🐆🩶🩶🩶

13/01/2026

Following some negative and ignorant input from several people associated with cat rescues, this is a really useful and relevant post I stumbled across this morning 🐆🐾❤️

🐾 The “Vacuum Effect” — and why blaming ethical breeders misses the real issue

A lot of people say, “Breeders are the problem — if breeders stopped breeding, there wouldn’t be cats needing rescue.”

It sounds logical… but it’s not how cats (or people) work.

This image explains something called The Vacuum Effect:

✅ If you remove cats from an area…

You don’t end the problem — you create an empty space.

And what happens to empty territory?

➡️ More cats move in.
Intact cats from outside the area fill the gap.
They breed.
Numbers rise again.
The cycle repeats.

So when people remove cats without addressing breeding, they aren’t fixing anything… they’re just creating space for more unneutered cats to replace them.

That is exactly why “catch and remove” is often ineffective.

⸻

✅ What actually works? Prevention.

The only thing that breaks this cycle is the same thing shown in the bottom part of the graphic:

TRAP – NEUTER – RETURN (TNR)

When cats are neutered, they:
• stop producing kittens
• defend their territory (so new intact cats don’t move in)
• stabilise colony numbers
• reduce fighting, spraying and roaming

This is why rescue organisations push for neuter programmes — because rescue without prevention is like trying to empty a bath with the taps still running.

⸻

So where do ethical breeders fit into this?

Ethical breeders are NOT contributing to the vacuum effect.

Because ethical breeders do not create uncontrolled breeding.

In fact, we do the opposite:

✅ ESN (Early Spay/Neuter)
✅ Health testing and responsible pairing
✅ Controlled numbers
✅ Lifetime support
✅ Take-back policies (cats never “end up in rescue”)
✅ Education and transparency
✅ Many breeders actively support or work with rescues

Ethical breeders are basically operating like prevention-based rescue… but on the pedigree side.

⸻

💡 What would happen without ethical breeders?

If ethical breeders stopped existing tomorrow:

1) People wouldn’t stop wanting cats.

Demand doesn’t vanish — it shifts.

And it would shift straight into the hands of:
🚩 backyard breeders
🚩 unlicensed sellers
🚩 imported kittens
🚩 kitten farms
🚩 people breeding for cash with no health tests, no aftercare, no ethics

Which means:
• more sickness
• more behavioural issues
• more abandonment
• more cats dumped into rescue
• more intact animals breeding accidentally

So ironically…

❗ Removing ethical breeders would actually INCREASE the rescue problem.

Because the “vacuum” wouldn’t disappear — it would just be filled by worse breeding.

⸻

✅ The honest truth

Ethical breeders are the solution, not the problem.

Because ethical breeders:
• don’t add to overpopulation
• prevent accidental reproduction through ESN
• support rescue and education
• reduce suffering by producing healthier, stable-temperament cats
• help stop people buying from awful sources

If you want fewer cats in rescue, the focus should always be on:

✅ spay/neuter programmes
✅ tackling backyard breeding
✅ licensing and enforcement
✅ education around responsible ownership
✅ stopping impulse buying / imported animals

12/01/2026

Merlin 🐆❤️❤️❤️

This little guy was identified when only about 2 weeks old, as the ‘one to watch’, as he acted a fool crawling over his littermates and mum. Just look at home now, still up to no good, guess I was right 🤣

I’d also like to share just how much I adore the second photo. There’s so much to love in all that body language ❤️

12/01/2026

🐆🐾❤️

12/01/2026

It must be love 🐆❤️❤️❤️ (just one week home)

Hasn’t he got the most handsome face!!

12/01/2026

Litter trays!

I’ve always been quite reluctant to think too much about them, simply relying on a hooded tray with paper litter. It works pretty well, with no real issues….

HOWEVER - we’re due a complete refit of all our cat bits, moving into our new home and I thought I’d have a little closer look into what I’ve seen more and more of recently….

The 2 tier tray with a sort of sieve, designed for use with wooden pellets. My God!! What a revelation, consider me enlightened.
These trays are great. Although they set me back a pretty penny, the stainless steel trays will last far longer, while the sieve separates the used litter instantly without any real effort, ensuring that there is no wasted unused litter that reaches the bin.
Not only that but the lower compartment houses a puppy pad, absorbing liquid and collecting the used dusted litter, reducing cleaning and mess.
Because the litter is raised up, wee doesn’t sit on the bottom, being absorbed back up into the litter, also reducing the amount of litter used.

A final bonus - despite the open lid, the litter is tracked far less and less further, due to the weight of the pellets, in comparison to what we’ve used over the last 3 years or so, the paper pellets. These things are caught between paw pads and find their way everywhere. So it’s safe to say that I’m converted!

Although it hasn’t made a huge difference for us with the smaller of kittens we take to the new house, we expect it to make a considerable difference once we have these trays with all our cats, in their various housings. What’s spent in the trays will slowly be made up by the cheaper litter and slower use, but far more substantially by the time I’ll regain as my own, which I can spend with the cats, rather than sorting out their trays. It’s a real win for all 🐆🐆❤️

Crash causing a slash, for attention 💦

12/01/2026

🦋 I earned the emerging talent badge this week! Soon, we hope to be soaring 🦅

11/01/2026

We have a couple of boys recovering from their castrations earlier today. I popped out to see what or where they were… 🐆🐆

Aren’t they funny ❤️❤️

11/01/2026

Sometimes, looking back at photos and videos, you realise that you maybe didn’t appreciate enough what you had!

Just look at this stunning brown female 🐆❤️ I don’t think she got the attention and praise she deserved.

That being said, she left us to a wonderful home in Wales, to a finally who train animals for TV roles. SO… you’ll all have chance to see her in an upcoming BBC production. More to be shared when it’s aired 🐆❤️❤️❤️