Alexandra Vaillancourt
Dateline Boston — Designer kittens! Get your designer kittens! Lots of colors, tons of personality, only $3,000! Oh, did I mention they were hypo-allergenic?
We haven’t had a cat in three years. I wanted kittens. I wanted two of them. I wanted kittens that my stepson and friends wouldn’t be allergic to. Enter the Purebred Siberian, the cat who has less of the protein in his saliva that people are allergic to. Yes, it’s the spit that makes you sneeze. The spit that the cats wash themselves with, that gets on their fur, that comes off and clings to everything. These cats wouldn’t make people have itchy eyes. Plus, they were gorgeous.
Getting Siberians was going to be the only way we’d be able to have cats. So I did my research, and our adventure began. By research, I mean we asked our friends who have the most amazing Siberians where they got theirs. They were told to go to the best of the best, so we followed their lead.
If you’ve never ordered a purebred cat before, you’re in for quite an experience. There are many steps to take, and the process is…interesting. And expensive. The first thing I had to do was take some extra jobs in order to save up enough money for these kittens. A little childcare here, some childcare there, and in a few months, we had the dough.
Not Being Royally Catty, You See
At the cattery we chose (yes, it’s called a cattery), there were many moms and dads. At our cattery they were called Queens and Kings. There were many colors to choose from. What happens is, a Queen will come into heat, and they put a King in with her, and hopefully she’ll get pregnant. You can get just about any color you can think of. The breeder even knows colors to expect! What colors did we want? Orange? Silver? Black Smoke? Tabby? McTabby? Torbie? The names were confusing, but the pictures told a thousand words. Every single kitten on that website was enchanting, every single one. We decided to take a practical approach to choosing our kittens. As soon as we got the funds, we’d take whomever was pregnant next, and get kittens from that litter.
By the time we saved enough dough, Dalia was pregnant by Boris, and we would be getting Golden kittens! We anxiously waited many weeks for our kittens to be born. The breeder went down the waiting list, and we got an email the day Dalia delivered our bundles of joy. She had four kittens, and we got to choose which ones we wanted. We knew we wanted a boy and a girl, so she told us what colors were available: Two Golden McTabbys, and two Golden McTabby Points. I said we’d take one of each, not knowing what a Point was.
A week later, we got our first photo. Our girl was a mix of brown, black and golden stripes, and our boy was all white, with a grey striped tail! They were cute. We named them after the creators of our favorite TV show, The Amazing Race. Every week as we watched our show, we’d read the credits out loud. Two names stuck out to us because of their awesomeness—Bertram Van Munster and Elise Doganieri. The names of our babies were chosen. Welcome to the world, Bertram and Elise Vaillancourt!
Every two weeks, we got an updated photo, and they got cuter and fluffier as time went on. Deposits were paid, then installments, and we received emails about what to expect and what supplies we should buy. We followed every instruction to the letter. Since the cattery is in Georgia, we paid an extra fee to have them flown to the airport in Boston.
Then the big day arrived. We got notice a couple of days in advance that a courier would hand deliver our kittens. She would supply a carrier—all we had to do was give her an envelope with cash. It was like a drug deal. Husband did the transaction while I got updates via text.
When I got home from work that day, I could hardly wait to hold our balls of fluff. In two days they bonded with us, and we’ve been high on love ever since. Now I have to get extra jobs to pay for their food and vet visits. Who needs a babysitter?
Next week: Meet Bertram and Elise, two amazing kittens who are as different as night and day.
Ms. Vaillancourt may be contacted at snobbyblog@gmail.com