Frequently Asked Questions
Adoption Agreements
Kittens are able to go home at 12 weeks - 14 weeks old.
Your kitten will come with the following:
- TICA or CFA Registration Papers (Most of our cats are registered either through The International Cat Association, or the Cat Fanciers Association, or both!)
- Written Contract of Sale
- 2 vet visits, with standard kitten vaccinations at each visit and wellness checks by our veterinarian - guaranteed free of FIV/FELV !
- A sweet, well socialized personality :)
- 5 Year Genetic Health Guarantee - Parents confirmed Negative N/N for HCM and PKD and screened for over 50 other known genetic illnesses. We are one of the only catteries who offer this longer term coverage, because I strongly believe it is the right thing to do in these very rare cases. Your kitten is guaranteed healthy into adulthood or we will be there for you in the 1% chance of an illness no one could have screened for or prevented.
- 30 day, completely free insurance coverage through Trupanion, so any accidents that could possibly happen upon going home would be covered if needed.
- Dewormed on standard schedule
- Spay / Neuter completed (a $200 - 300 (male) - $200 - 600 (female) value)
- And a 'kitten care package' full of supplies; information for you; food to start with; and goodies for helping your little one settle into their new home with you.
* This list does not hold cash value.
We make sure kittens are clean, healthy, and have that sweet new baby smell when they go home to you. ♡
Security Deposits and Meetings
To secure a kitten we require a $500 deposit which goes towards the total purchase cost.
* This deposit is a commitment to your kitten and is non-refundable.
I will open up adoption applications and take security deposits only when kittens are actually available for reserving, this will be clearly listed under a kitten's information (see kitten info further down on this page).
Please see our ADOPTION PROCESS for a general guideline of what to expect from our process! Please keep in mind I need time to evaluate each kitten before listing them as available. Kittens are typically posted around 6 - 8 weeks old, and able to go home at 12 - 14 weeks old.
SECURITY DEPOSITS AND VISITING:
* We no longer have a reservation list due to high demand and not being able to realistically promise "first pick" to everyone.
I am happy to video chat or talk on the phone to help families make their decision! I really do not encourage 'blind picks', I know the kittens best and try to help match your personality and life style to the right kitten.
- Kittens will be available to reserve once evaluated, typically around 8 weeks old - once we can tell their gender, color, and base personality. Kittens will be able to go home 4 weeks later, at 12 weeks (or older).
- Kittens will clearly show on the website whether they are Under Evaluation, Available for Adoption, or Reserved. An adoption application will be clearly listed on this page when we are open for taking applications for each kitten.
- Once we talk and agree on the right kitten for you, your kitten is reserved with a security deposit along with going over and signing the adoption contract (this can be done digitally or in person) - this is a commitment to your kitten and is non-refundable as covered in the contract. Deposits can be made through Paypal or in cash during the meeting.
- If making a cash deposit I will only 'hold' a kitten for up to 3 days to allow for scheduling a meeting time.
- Most catteries do not allow visitors - please understand these cats are raised in our home and by giving out our address to people, we are putting ourselves at risk, so we no longer allow for people to visit our home. I understand this is a special time for the families adopting from us, and I am alright with scheduling one meet up before go-home day so you can meet your kitten in person, but this meet up would be in the parking lot of our local police station (which is actually in a very cute park near our local farmer's market!)
*** We do not allow browsing visitors for the safety and health of our cats and kittens. ***
I take great pride in our home and cattery and I understand there are too many scams out there - I am more than happy to schedule a time to talk either on the phone or with a video call at any point - whether or not a deposit has been made. The technology for video chatting has gotten very easy to use if you've never done it before - there are multiple free options available I'd be happy to help you set up if needed.
Picking Up kitten / Shipping
We are located near East Lansing, Michigan - We schedule meet-ups to pick up your kitten either at our local police station, or another local / safe public meeting place.
I am so sorry, but we do not allow visitors to our home.
If flying in from out of state, you can fly with kittens in-cabin on certain airlines - we will meet at the Lansing Airport or within a 20 minute drive of our location for free - schedule allowing.
We do not ship kittens or work with flight nannies, we live too far from our international airport to be able to do this - especially as flights are often delayed/rescheduled without much notice.
You can coordinate flying in and flying out with your kitten yourself. We have worked with this before where you can book your ticket, fly in, rent a car to come pick up your kitten, stay overnight in a hotel, and then fly out the next day with your kitten booked as a carry-on in a soft carrier.
Most airlines allow kittens to be checked in as carry-ons for free or a small fee, many show cats fly to competitions this way and it is fairly easy to do. I recommend calling ahead for your airline to see how they would like you handle it. Again this is something you'd have to line up yourself, but I could recommend the supplies you would need and safe hotels and areas near our Detroit International Airport for you to stay if you want to do things this way.
Payments info
We Cash or Check payments for the the final kitten payment.
Kittens are typically between 2,500 - 3,000 dollars + 6% Michigan sales tax.
By state law, we must charge sale tax for each kitten, we can't just 'take it out' of the total paid. The total price for each kitten including the tax is listed with their information when they are made available for full transparency.
Due to issues with extremely high online payment fees now being set by these vendors, we no longer take online payments.
Only security deposits may be paid through Paypal or Venmo.
These platforms all have fees around 3 - 4% of the total payment that prior adopters had to cover, on top of sales tax, so we have moved back to taking cash or check payments for the final balance only. There is no 'cash discount' - our current prices are set so we don't have to increase them to include these online payment vendor fees.
*Check payments must be clear 14 days / 2 weeks before kitten pick-up. Otherwise, final payments must be in cash.
Your kitten must be paid in full before they can go home with you.
If paying in cash, it is fine to pay the day of. Again, if by check, we must receive the check in time that it can clear 14 days / two weeks before your kitten it picked up.
*We reserve the right to cancel the sale of a kitten at any time at our discretion, for any reason. Refunds will be given only in the event of a cancelation that we as the breeder initiate.
Kitten Pricing
Kittens are typically between 2,500 - 3,000 dollars + 6% Michigan sales tax.
By state law, we must charge sale tax for each kitten, we can't just 'take it out' of the total paid. The total price for each kitten including the tax is listed with their information when they are made available for full transparency.
- This is for a pet kitten with TICA or CFA purebred registration, our health guarantee, and all standard vet care, vaccinations, and de-worming up to 12 weeks old.
* Individual price per kitten may vary due to the show or pet quality of the kitten, and their rarity of color.
* We do not allow breeding rights / unfixed kittens to leave our home.
We do offer a 500 dollar discount off the total if you purchase 2 kittens at the same time.
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Please keep in mind that rising vet care costs are the biggest strain on ethical catteries that fully vet, vaccinate, and spay/neuter their kittens as we do. I barely break even in this hobby because of the proper vet care and nutrition that we provide.
This is my passion and hobby, not my full time job.
I am fully employed in a corporate career that fully supports me and the cats, and I think that is the way it should be. I do not have enough kittens born per year to 'make a living' off of them, and that is how it is for most of my friends who I also consider ethical preservation / hobby breeders. We do this for the love of our cats, it's an incredibly demanding, incredibly expensive, incredibly rewarding hobby; and by no means a 'profession'.
Breeding Ragdolls is an expensive hobby; just to start it costs around $5,000 to $10,000 for just one registered, show quality Ragdoll with breeding rights.
Health testing for each parent cat against genetic disorders costs around 150 USD per cat - plus vet visits, vaccinations, supplies, and enclosures - and these costs are required for every litter of kittens that are born as well as the adults. It adds up into thousands of dollars of care for every litter born.
If you're paying for a cheaper, unregistered kitten, you are supporting a scam artist who cuts corners to save on costs.
There is no way they are taking their kittens to vet visits for wellness checks, vaccinations, deworming... and then selling them for 900 dollars (or less!) for a kitten. Let alone taking care of the spays and neuters at the appropriate age before sending them home!
These "discount" breeders do not spend the money necessary to take care of their cats and kittens properly if you stop and think about what they're doing vs what they are charging logically.
Unregistered kittens are not purebred and are not Ragdolls - how is it even possible to say they are purebred if there is no proof of pedigree? You could have gone to shelter and rescued an unpapered kitten at that point for much less and with much less risk.
Bad breeders often inbreed to get 'free' cats they can use (this is a sad and horribly common practice, be very wary of anyone if they claim they don't have / won't provide papers - it is often due to inbreeding) and you end up with cats who don't look or act like the breed is supposed to.
This is how the breed came to have issues with HCM and dwarfism/early death - which we have taken every measure to guard against by working only with clean, health tested bloodlines.
Talk with any cattery that shows their cats, imports/exports cats internationally where perfect health is required, and is on good standing with their other local catteries -
These catteries that take care of their cats and kittens correctly start their kitten prices at or above $2,000.
These are just some of the reasons why it is so important to invest in an ethically bred kitten with a quality breeder who takes proper care of their cats and kittens! Quality breeders are able to provide the vet records, genetic tests, and pedigree papers necessary to prove that their kitten fees are being used correctly towards the proper care of their animals.
At Mittenstar I do not do this for any sort of profit - I do this purely out of love for the breed. I will most likely never break even on the amount of money I've put into these cats - it took me years to save up my nest egg to invest into them.
The adoption fees I charge are to maintain the quality of care these cats deserve and to help raise the next generation of the breed. ♡