My mum was telling me recently of how she came about getting her 17 year old Burmese. Apparentely she got the breeders telephone number from the Yellow Pages and gave her a call and she had 2 kittens available so off they went the following Saturday to have a look well.....

When they arrived it looked like a scene out of How Clean Is Your House with several old, broken childrens tricycles half submerged in mud and when the daughter opened the front door the whole hallway was full of rubbish, clutter, dust and debris. My mum even had the guts to ask if she can use the loo (as it was a 2 hour drive there and all) and even that was well .... 'nuff said

The breeders 9 year old daughter was very cheerful and said that she'll take mum down to the cattery but mum was a bit dubious of what sort of conditions the kittens were kept in BUT the actual cattery was PRISTINE!! It was a sort of chalet building with little ladders, runs, and you could honestly eat your dinner off the floor. The kittens were healthy and obviously used to being held and socialised by the breeders children which was a good sign.

There were only 2 kittens there Lucy and Coco. Lucy was very timid and ran and hid but Coco came over right away and started rummaging through mum's handbag so you could say SHE chose mum!

17 years later she has never had a days illness in her life but now she is beginning to slow down and not able to jump so high and has a little bit of kidney trouble so is on a special diet but really the moral of the story is if what seems at first glance a dodgy place to get a cat from can sometimes be a pleasant surprise!