Proposals on kitten sales need to go further, says Cats Protection

Feline charity Cats Protection has called for kitten breeding regulation to be brought into line with that which exists for dogs, in response to the government’s announcement for a consultation on a ban on third party puppy and kitten sales in England.

Cats Protection’s head of advocacy and government relations, Jacqui Cuff, said the charity was “really pleased” that the proposal would bring an end to the commercial sale of kittens in pets shops and non-professional breeders, but said the rest of the UK needed to follow suit to make it effective. She added: “There is currently a proposed bill in Scotland but this only addresses the sale of puppies, not kittens.”

Cuff said: “In addition, we would like to see regulations brought in for cat breeding as, unlike dog breeding, this remains unregulated in the UK. This means that potential buyers are currently unable to go to a licensed cat breeder.

“Regulation of commercial cat breeding would provide safeguards for cat welfare. We’d urge the government to consider regulating cat breeding to offer cats the same welfare protection as dogs, which is something we called for in our 2016 manifesto for cats.”

She added: “The government also mentioned tackling the sale of puppies that are not bred to recognised standards, e.g. those with very extreme characteristics, but there is no mention of cats bred with extreme features so we would like to see cats included in this as well.”