I got Eric off Gumtree, I agree a lot of people are selling kittens far too early but i'm glad I bought Eric from there as he only cost £10 and anyone could have bought him on a whim with their pocket money. Glad I could give him a happy home.

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It's awful.. The problem is, I think most people who buy a kitten from Gumtree just don't realise the consequences, that they are encouraging BYBs etc. My first instinct was always to go to a shelter, it was better for us anyway as we didn't want kittens (well we did of course but we both work long hours so it wouldn't have been fair), we wanted a pair that had been brought up together so would keep each other company and so on. I also liked the idea of giving a home to cats who really needed one rather than cute kittens who would be snapped up. I have to say that I was a bit miffed when I realised that the shelter expected a donation of £60 per cat as I felt I was doing them (and the cats) a favour. It was only afterwards that I realised why they do that, to encourage people to take the commitment seriously. I think the bottom line is that I didn't realise how badly some animals could be treated and I can't say for sure that if someone had offered me a kitten for free or on Gumtree for £10 or something that I wouldn't have taken it. I am clearly a lot better educated now but at the time I just didn't realise the issues.

PS I actually considered that I had actually been quite diligent about researching cats before getting ours - my hubbie had always had cats growing up, I had bought a book, thought about the practicalities, discussed with friends of ours who had cats etc. It's not as though I had done no research and I wasn't taking things lightly at all.