One of these days, if I can finally sell my house in the UK, I will move to Brittany with 4 cats, three of them Abyssinian. I'm hoping one of the members of this group can tell me how to register them as pedigree - I will probably continue breeding from one of them. The other possibility is that Star might actually be pregnant when we move. Will LOOF recognise the English mating certificate so that I can register the kittens?
Any hints and tips on breeding cats in France would be welcome. Would it be simpler to register with TICA before moving to France? Do you show your cats? Do you know anyone with an Aby stud cat?
If you want to see the cats google Hattie Wavetail, she has her own blog......
Yes, think contacting your breed club is the best way forward. They are normally happy to give advice and if you have been already showing and gaining titles with your cats that definitely helps... a good pedigree means a lot here. The owner of the stud cat may also be able to help with finding purchasers for kittens. Having my own boy stud fees were not something I needed to worry about so I cannot help much there. I have found that vet bills are cheaper here though living in the country I have had to learn a few new skills such as injecting my own animals with antibiotics.. could never imagine that in the UK! Like you we adored having the kittens and invested quite a lot of money ensuring that our girls stood no chance of unwanted kittens by shipping out two large cat cabins from the UK (who wants to live with their doors closed all the time) and keeping females on the pill can lead to terrible problems. My greatest pleasure now is watching my cats roaming free with no fear of roads etc. As they go the the big cattery in the sky I will confine my number to two... one a british as I have had them for around 30 years now and one rescue... though hopefully it will be a while yet before they depart!
Thanks for your help. I'm not intending to breed in other than an occasional way, mostly for the delight of the kittens. That said I have noticed kitten prices seemed to be higher in France than England. I've yet to find out if that reflects higher stud fees and veterinary bills. I've had a look at the French Abyssinian/Somali Club website and there are 4 or 5 breeders in Brittany and Normandy, so I am hoping one of them has a stud.
Thank you so much Paule for this very informative reply, I hope it helps Vivien and others.
Hi, yes, it is possible I bought six British Blue cats to France. These included my stud cat for which, I had to obtain from the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy an official copy of his pedigree issued by them (Loof will not accept a breeder's copy). This was then sent to Loof to register him here in France. As far as I am aware ALL pedegree cats must be registered with Loof. TICA documentation or involvement was not needed in the registering of my cats here in France. I subsequently bred from him twice with two of my girls. The first litter consisted of only one kitten which subsequently went to someone from the UK so he was only registered with the GCCF. The second litter was registered at birth with Loof declaring how many kittens there were in the litter and what sex these kittens were. Then so many weeks later you had to declare how many sold/survived etc. I still have one of the kittens who is registered with both Loof and GCCF. I was quite lucky as I my stud came from quite a famous line which was quite well known here in France so selling was not a problem. The one thing I also did was contact the club for the breed in France and the President of the Club was very, very helpful showing me what to do and in fact, she purchased one of the kittens and it was her who insisted I register the kittens with the GCCF as well - for no other reason than to say that her cat is registered in the UK too... all that said, after all the problems with the paperwork, not wishing to continue to show my cats and more importantly for me, the fact that there are unwanted kittens everywhere here my conscience would not allow me to add to the problem so all my cats were subsequently neutered and are enjoying a happy retirement! If you contact the GCCF in London they should also be able to inform you of the documentation you will need before you go... and be prepared you will have to pay for official pedigrees etc. Good luck... but be warned it is not as easy as it is in the UK.... and more importantly depending on where you live selling pedigree cats can be very difficult... where I live in the Aude very few people want to pay for a pedigree cat.. my purchasers came to me from Paris and Geneva.. here they will buy a hunting dog.. but to pay for a cat... sadly no...
Hi Vivien,
I personally have no knowledge of registering UK pedigrees here and would advise you to ask the UK registration authorities for their advice. When you move you will also need to register their microchip numbers here in France.
I will try and make some enquiries here too and get back to you if I find anything.
As for breeding here, as a cat charity we are being asked more and more often to help breeders in trouble. The market here seems shrunken, most likely because of the finaincial climate, but also because of raised awareness of the huge numbers of abandonned cats every year.