Available

Screening

At Sunfox we screen our pet buyers to make sure there is a good match of kitten to new owner. When you contact us, be prepared to answer questions about your housing, family members, and past and current pet ownership, and please fill out our Inquiry Form. We require a veterinarian's reference. If you are new to pet ownership, now is a good time to start your search for a veterinarian you feel comfortable with. Also feel free to ask any questions you may have, we will do our best to answer.

If price is the most important issue for you, we suggest you look elsewhere - you can surely find a pet for less money if that is your main goal - our goal is to raise healthy, well-adjusted kittens, and it's an expensive undertaking. Alternatively, just because you are willing to pay our asking price doesn't necessarily mean you will get a kitten from us - it's important that both the new owner and the kitten be happy, and that the kitten get proper health care and love and affection during its lifetime. Our pet buyers make a lifetime commitment to the health and happiness of the kitten.

Spay/Neuter

All pet kittens are spayed or neutered before delivery to the new owner. This is an advantage to you as the future owner, as I take the risk of any problems, and is good for the kitten, as he or she recovers at home in familiar surroundings. Kittens are sold at 16 weeks of age at the earliest. At this age they have had all their kitten vaccinations and have been fully socialized. Sometimes we may keep kittens longer - Somalis are notoriously slow to mature, and sometimes it takes a few extra months to determine whether a kitten will be suitable for showing.

Sometimes buyers want to get their kitten at a younger age, feeling that a younger kitten will "bond" better with the new owner. This theory may apply to puppies, but does not apply to kittens. Kittens need to be properly trained and socialized by the adult cats and humans before they are ready to go to new homes. And since we give their final kitten vaccinations at 16 weeks, the new owner doesn't have to worry about vaccinations again until the cat is a year old. For more information, see the article entitled "How Young is Too Young."

Contracts

Pet buyers sign a contract agreeing not to allow the kitten to roam outside, and not to declaw the kitten. The contract spells out the duties of both buyer and seller so that there are no questions about what was agreed to.

Shipping

We do not ship our cats. We live in Southern Nevada. If you live in a surrounding area, such as Southern California or Arizona, it is possible we can make arrangements meet you half way to deliver a kitten. It may work out for someone to carry the kitten on board a flight for you, at a cost roughly close to the shipping cost. The best idea is to drive or fly here to Las Vegas and pick up the kitten yourself. If none of these options are workable, we suggest you look for a breeder who is closer to you.

Thinking about an adult cat? Check out this video of Amelia, red Somali spay. Amelia was born in 2002, and this video was taken at Christmas 2008 when she was 6 years old. She was placed in the home at 4 with her daughter, Kismet, who was 3. Take a peek at this YouTube video of Amelia playing with her new bird toy.

To understand why breeders and exhibitors sometimes place adult cats, see this article.

We feed a variety of raw, canned and freeze dried foods. We do require new owners to feed the cat's current food for at least the first 6 months, to provide continuity to the cat's diet so as not to cause any tummy upsets during the very stressful rehoming process. Also we strongly discourage feeding kibble - cats have an acidic digestive system, and kibble creates an alkaline environment, making digestion difficult. There are several freeze dried foods that can be used instead.