Ethics & Cat Breeding

As a current member of the Board of Directors for the Canadian Cat Association, I have been involved in Board discussions relating to complaints against cat breeders either because of the health of kittens, contract disputes, or the conditions in catteries. At the moment, the CCA office refers these complaints either to the Humane Society, if they involve health or cattery conditions, or to small claims courts if they involve contracts or financial disputes. The current Board of Directors does not have the time or resources to become involved in disputes between breeders, seeing many of them as frivolous and unnecessary "cat fights" between members, or between breeders and their customers.

While this may seem an easy way to handle these complaints, the spin-off is a very bad rap for cat breeders. Many cat associations have a complaint process whereby complainants can write a formal complaint which is then discussed by a disciplinary committee, receiving comments from both sides, and then a decision is reached to issue some form of disciplinary action, such as revoking membership, or forcing the issuance of registration paperwork, money owed, etc. to avoid such discipline. This negates the need for either the courts or humane societies to become involved.

In this day and age of puppy and kitten mills, back yard breeders and increased legislation restricting the ownership of pets, any avoidance of lumping ourselves in with undesirable suppliers of pets should be embraced rather than dismissed as beyond our control. If other associations do it, we can certainly do it. As a *private* association, we are in complete control of who we allow as members and therefore, who gets to advertise on our website.

I am not sure if it is still done as routine, but it used to be when you joined the CCA, you had to agree and sign a Code of Ethics as a requirement for your membership. I know I have signed one, yet what does it mean? At the moment, nothing.

I will continue this discussion on future posts as time and thoughts permit. I hope you will also comment.

Tracey