Show vs pet quality cat

What is the difference between show quality and pet quality cat?

In most other breeds, this means only cosmetic qualities suffer. In folds, it can mean very unethical breeding. The money you save on some backyard breeder’s pet quality cat will often disappear very quickly when the bills for arthritis medication and an orthopedic specialty vet bills arrive. I personally get contacted several times a year asking for medical advise on cats people got from someone besides me. Over half are “breeders” who have never shown or it’s their first show. I often get asked if I have heard of so and so when 11 months old kittens cannot walk and the breeder cannot be found.

A high quality cat is one with a healthy tail. A show quality cat is like this cat below that got a final in all rings at that show. Show quality cats are those that take top spots at shows and can make QGC or SGC within 3-6 shows. There are many cats that are not show quality and have shown for years but not made in to QGC yet. This is not show quality, but if it has not had DQs it may at least be medium or high quality.

For us, pet quality are cats with pointy faces, very slight cow hocking (backyard breeders won’t even know what that is as it’s something very active breeders are working on fixing in cats now that we’ve got consistent high quality cats) and possibly a cat with bad ear placement. We’ve only once had a kitten with single fold from a brit breeding, so don’t even ask if we have them.

We often price most the kittens between 5-7 weeks at medium quality prices, so early reservation can save hundreds on a beautiful face. We usually list who is on highest priority to raise to show quality face prices and by 8 weeks we know who the kittens with the widest faces and eyes will be. We will usually watch the highest quality kitten in a litter for a few weeks or months for ourselves and tell how likely we are to release it at a later date.