What a contract should contain, why pet-class kittens come with a neutering clause, how a return-to-the-cattery clause protects the buyer, and which wording should make you wary.
When people buy a kitten, they tend to treat the contract as a formality: everyone understands each other, so why bother with paperwork? That lasts right up until something goes wrong and it turns out the agreement was only verbal and each side remembers it differently.
Disputes rarely end up in court, and the main use of a contract is practical. It makes both sides talk through the terms before the sale. While everything is verbal, the buyer is sure the kitten will be handed over at two months and the breeder plans to let it go at three; one thinks neutering is up to the owner, the other is sure it's compulsory. A contract turns all of this into a text that both sides read.
The cat needs it too. Through the contract the breeder sets conditions that keep the cat from being bred without oversight or resold through an ad. For you as the buyer, the contract records exactly what you bought, what you paid for and what you must be given.
The contract opens with the seller's and the buyer's details. Check that the seller's name matches the account you're paying into and the breeder named on the kitten's birth certificate. A mismatch is typical when you're buying through a middleman.
This describes the specific kitten: its name with the cattery prefix, date of birth, breed, colour with its code, sex, birth certificate number and the parents' names. Sometimes the microchip number is added.
This section sets out the price, the size of the deposit, when and how you pay, and what happens to the deposit if the seller pulls out and if the buyer does.
The key rule: the contract is signed before any money is transferred.
This gives the moving date. A kitten doesn't leave before three months: by then it has had two vaccinations and finished the quarantine after the second one.
The kitten comes with its birth certificate, a vet passport recording its vaccinations and parasite treatments, and a supply of the food it's used to, sometimes with notes on its litter and feeding routine as well. If any of this isn't included and is offered for an extra charge, ask why.
The buyer usually agrees to keep the cat indoors, provide vet care and vaccinations, not let it roam outdoors unsupervised, fit screens on the windows and never have it declawed.
The operation sometimes sold under the cosy name "soft paws" is in fact the amputation of the last bone of each toe, because the claw grows out of the bone. It leaves the cat with chronic pain and arthritis, litter box problems start and aggression increases. That's why decent breeders write a ban into the contract.
The seller guarantees that at handover the kitten is healthy, vaccinated, treated for parasites and free of visible defects. Contracts often also give a period during which the buyer can have the kitten examined and raise claims about congenital or hidden conditions. A reasonable period is a few days for a vet check.
Kittens are divided into classes: pet (a companion for the home), breed (suitable for breeding) and show (with the prospect of a show career). The class depends on how well the kitten fits the standard and on its value for breeding, not on looks: a pet-class kitten can easily be prettier and healthier than a breed-class littermate.
A pet-class kitten is sold on condition that it is neutered or spayed, and without breeding rights. The contract records this, sometimes with a deadline and an obligation to send proof.
It's a sensible condition. Breeding means choosing pairs for health and pedigree, and mating a cat "just once, for its health" has nothing to do with it. A cat that wasn't meant for breeding passes on the very faults that put it in pet class. Across the whole breed, that's how the population goes downhill.
Nor does a female need to have a litter "for her health". On the contrary, spaying lowers the risk of several diseases.
When to neuter is something to discuss with your vet and the breeder, and sometimes the breeder has the kitten neutered early, before it leaves.
Some catteries only hand over the birth certificate once neutering is confirmed. It's common practice, but the condition must be written into the contract in advance so that it doesn't come as a surprise to the buyer.
It reads roughly like this: if for any reason the owner can't keep the cat, it goes back to the cattery rather than being rehomed through ads or handed to a shelter. The breeder usually proposes this clause, and it's worth accepting.
Buyers sometimes take this as a sign of distrust, but the clause protects both sides. It guarantees the cat won't end up on the street or with strangers. For the breeder, it means taking responsibility for the animals they have bred. And the buyer gets a safety net in case circumstances change: a family member's allergy, a move, illness.
If the contract has this clause, that's a good sign. Its absence isn't a crime in itself, but a breeder who tells you up front "after that it's not my problem" has already told you a lot about themselves.
"No health claims accepted." That means no guarantees of any kind.
No description of the actual kitten. A contract for "a Maine Coon kitten" with no name, date of birth or birth certificate number.
Documents at extra cost. "Pedigree arranged separately", with no explanation of how or how much.
Full payment before handover with no fixed dates. Especially when you're buying from a distance.
Obligations for the buyer only. A contract that spells out in detail what the buyer must do and says nothing about what the seller must do.
Penalties for everything. Penalties for breaking the neutering terms are normal. Fines for not sending photos once a month are going too far.
A ban on seeing other vets. It's rare, but it happens.
But the most worrying of all is refusing a written contract altogether while being perfectly happy to take a deposit.
If the kitten is travelling to another city, the contract should also say who arranges and pays for the journey, who travels with the kitten and who obtains the veterinary accompanying certificate (usually the sending side, shortly before the flight). Write down what happens if the flight is rescheduled and who pays in that case. Flights can be moved because of the weather too: in winter, airlines won't carry animals in the hold when the frost goes below their limit.
Agree in advance how the handover check will work, too, so that going through the documents and examining the kitten doesn't take anyone by surprise.
Read the whole contract before you sign, properly, without skimming. Ask for the text in advance so that you aren't reading it while the kitten is being handed over.
If a clause isn't clear, ask: a decent breeder will explain why it's there. Irritation in response to questions is an answer in itself.
Sign two copies, one for each side. Keep yours with the birth certificate and the vet passport.
And keep your messages: they often turn out to be more useful than the contract itself, because they record promises that never made it into the text.
There's more on kitten classes and documents in Kitten classes and in other articles on our blog.
Home in Raksi Maine Coon cattery, St Petersburg. Kittens | VK (in Russian).
Waiting list for a litter: how waiting for a Maine Coon kitten works23 October 2026
Reserving a Maine Coon kitten: how the deposit works and what to put in writing22 October 2026