Breeder Health Guarantee: 72-Hour Exam, 24-Month Clause

Most breeder contracts fail at the same point: they promise a healthy kitten and never say what happens in the first 3 days. A health guarantee that can actually be used needs 4 numbers written into it: a 72-hour exam window, a 24-month genetic clause, a named list of records, and 3 refund tiers with their own deadlines. Without those 4, the rest is decoration.

What the 72-hour window buys

The exam happens at the buyer's own vet, not the seller's, and the clock starts at the hour of pickup. Book it when you pay the deposit, not on the drive home: a Saturday pickup with a Monday appointment has already spent 48 hours. The visit is a standard physical — weight in grams, temperature, auscultation, ears, eyes, umbilicus, coat — plus a stool float or a PCR panel for Giardia and coccidia, which together run $80-180. Ask for a written report that is dated and signed, with the weight recorded. If the exam finds something pre-existing, the contract should let the buyer pick 1 of 3 remedies: return for a full refund, treatment paid by the seller up to a cap, or a price reduction. Name the 3 in writing and pick 1; a clause that offers all 3 verbally is worth nothing 3 months later.

The 24-month genetic clause

Two years is the usual cover for late-onset inherited disease, and it is the clause most often written in 1 line. A usable version names 5 things: the diseases, the diagnostic standard, who pays, the remedy, and the conditions that void it. In cats the working list is HCM, PKD, PRA and PRA-b in Bengal lines, SMA in Maine Coons, and the gangliosidoses in Korat and Burmese lines. The diagnostic standard matters: HCM is diagnosed by echocardiography from a cardiologist, not by a radiograph or a listening test, and PKD by ultrasound after 10 months of age or by DNA at any age. Who pays is usually the buyer for the first test and the seller for a confirmatory one, with a cap of $300-800.

Voiding conditions are where the disputes live. Three appear again and again: neutering before 12 months, feeding a diet the seller did not approve, and any vaccine given in the first 10 days. A clause that cancels genetic cover on neutering is defensible in a show programme and indefensible in a pet contract, and buyers routinely find it after the surgery. Read that paragraph before booking the appointment.

Records that must change hands

Ask for a folder, not a promise. The minimum is 6 items: dam and sire vaccine dates with product names, the kitten's own card with lot numbers, deworming dates, a negative FeLV/FIV test dated within 30 days of handover, the parents' DNA certificates naming the laboratory, and the litter registration number. Photograph all of it at pickup and email the photos to yourself the same day. A paper folder left on a counter disappears inside a week, and a phone gallery from 2 years ago is not evidence.

Three tiers, and the deadlines that make them real

Trigger	Deadline	Typical remedy	Share of claims
Infectious disease at the 72-hour exam	3 days	Full refund and return, or seller pays treatment	about 30%
Congenital defect found by 12 weeks	84 days	Replacement from the next litter, or 50% refund	about 40%
Named genetic disease confirmed	730 days	Partial refund of 30-100% by severity, cat stays	about 25%
Death from a covered cause	730 days	Refund against a necropsy report	under 5%

The fourth row is not a tier of its own: it is the death carve-out that sits inside tier 3, and it needs a necropsy report because nothing else proves cause. A tier without a deadline is a promise to argue later. The 2 that matter are the first and the third: 3 days is short enough that the buyer must have the appointment booked, and 730 days is long enough that the seller must keep the parents' records on file.

Deposit, waiting list, and the 10% trap

Deposits run $200-500 or 10-20% of the price, and 3 facts must be written down: whether it is refundable, what happens if the litter is smaller than expected, and whether it moves to a later litter. The trap is a non-refundable deposit with no fallback date. If the queen misses twice, the buyer has paid $400 for nothing. Ask for a hard date — 9 months is a reasonable outer limit — after which the deposit returns in full. Read the price language too: some contracts allow an increase of up to 15% if demand rises before pickup.

If it goes wrong: a 30-day path

Write the timeline in: written notice within 48 hours of a diagnosis, seller response within 5 business days, independent veterinary opinion within 14 days, decision within 30 days. Say who pays for the independent exam — 50/50 with the loser reimbursing is the common compromise — and cap the seller's liability for treatment at a stated figure, often $500-1,500. Add mediation before lawyers; a 2-hour session at $150-300 is cheaper than the first letter from a solicitor. Keep everything in email, because a phone call about a sick kitten is unprovable 6 months later.

Five checks before you sign

1. Does the 72-hour window name an hour, not just a date?
2. Are the genetic diseases listed by name, with the test type for each?
3. Is the deposit refundable, and against what date?
4. Does the 24-month cover survive neutering, and from what age?
5. Is there a treatment cap, and who arbitrates when the 2 sides disagree?

Then set the standard contract terms beside the paper you are about to sign, check the parents' pre-breeding genetic tests, and put the purchase price plus the first-year vet budget into the cost calculator before deciding the price is fair. This is a reading checklist, not legal advice: contract law differs by state and country, and an hour with a local lawyer costs less than one disputed litter.

Terms mentioned in this article

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