How to buy a pet safely
Most problems in this market are avoided by one thing: seeing the animal with its mother, where it was raised, before any money changes hands.
Before you contact anyone
- Read the breed guide. Know what the breed's health tests are called, so you can ask for them by name.
- Decide your budget including setup and insurance, not just the purchase price.
- Check the seller's badges. Licensed breeders publish a licence number and the issuing council - you can ring the council and check it.
When you visit
- See the mother with the young. Not a photograph. Not "she's at the vet". If you cannot, walk away.
- See where the animals are actually kept, not a front room they were carried into.
- Ask for the health test certificates with the parents' registered names on them.
- Check the animal is the age stated. Puppies and kittens should not leave before eight weeks, and pedigree kittens usually not before thirteen.
Warning signs
- Meeting in a car park, a service station, or "halfway".
- Several breeds available at once, or a new litter always ready.
- Pressure to pay a deposit today to hold one.
- Payment by bank transfer, gift card or cryptocurrency.
- A price far below the going rate for the breed.
- The mother is "not around", or looks nothing like the puppies.
What is illegal, so you know
- Selling a puppy or kitten under six months old unless the seller bred it, or is a registered rescue.
- Selling any animal to someone under 16.
- Advertising, selling, giving away or rehoming an XL Bully type dog, or any other breed banned under the Dangerous Dogs Act.
- Advertising a pregnant animal, or a dog with cropped ears.
- Posting or couriering a live animal to a buyer.
We refuse all of these at the point an advert is submitted, but no filter is perfect. Report anything that looks wrong - we act on reports within 12 working hours.