Tabaxi’s Scratch’n Post

We have posted eleven Pixie Bobs who are available for adoption from PuRRS – the Purebred Rescue and Relocation Society. There is a mix of males and females and all are spayed or neutered except one. PuRRS does require a contract be signed. On each Pixie Bob’s page, you will find a link to download a copy of the contract, as well as contact information for our contacts at PuRRS: Michele and Julie Punzel.  You can find more information about these cats here: www.tabaxipixiebob.com/adoption.php5.  They are looking for people who are able to provide foster homes, as well as those who are interested in adopting Pixie Bobs.

We are often asked how much Pixie Bobs cost and why their prices vary.  Pixie Bob prices vary according to several factors.  Most obviously, price can vary between Pixie Bob breeders.  The most important factor affecting how much a Pixie Bob costs is their physical appearance and how closely it matches the breed standard.  However, price can also be affected by whether the Pixie Bob kitten is related to a champion and by how many champions to which the kitten is related.  The more champions related to the kitten, the higher that kitten’s price will be.  That having been said, the rest of this article will provide general guidelines on the relationship between price and appearance, and the range of prices you can expect.

Pixie Bobs can be separated into three to four categories according to the cat’s appearance: Pet, Altered Show, Breeder, and (optionally) Show.  Some breeders do not consider a cat to be Breeder quality if it is not also Show quality, but there are some who do.

A Pet quality Pixie Bob is a cat that typically does not conform well to the breed standard.  Possible flaws include the eyes being the wrong shape, the earset is poor, the shape of the face is incorrect, the cat’s markings are not desirable, or its tail is the wrong length.  Sometimes breeders will sell a Pixie Bob as a pet simply because they do not want to use it in their program for whatever reason.  Pixie Bobs sold as pets will either have been altered (that is, spayed or neutered) by the breeder or the breeder will stipulate in the contract that it is the purchaser’s responsibility to alter the kitten by a certain date.  The prices you can expect to pay for a Pet quality Pixie Bob range between $400 and $1,000, sometimes as high as $1,200.

Altered Show quality Pixie Bobs are cats that conform very well to the breed standard and would likely do very well in the show ring.  A cat of this quality often has three or fewer “flaws” when judged against the breed standard or the breeder isn’t entirely confident the kitten will develop into Breeder or Show quality.  The breeder has opted not to keep this cat or kitten and use it in their cattery’s breeding program.  Therefore, they will either alter it or require the purchaser to alter it prior to a set date.  Prices for Altered Show quality Pixie Bobs often range from $1,500 to $2,500, sometimes more.

A Breeder quality Pixie Bob should have three or fewer “flaws” as judged by the breed standard.  A cat of this quality should be one the breeder themselves would like to keep, but have decided not to, for some reason.  The reasons a breeder decides not to keep a Breeder quality Pixie Bob are far too numerous to go into in this article, but can be as simple as the cat has short hair and the breeder prefers long hair.  The expected price for a Breeder quality Pixie Bob starts at $2,000 and goes up from there.

Show quality Pixie Bobs should be nearly perfect.  A breeder selling a Pixie Bob as Show quality often will guarantee the cat will do well at shows.  Be sure to get this in writing!  Often, these Pixie Bobs are not altered because the purchaser breeds Pixie Bobs themselves and intends to do so with this cat, as well.  Prices for these cats usually start at $3,000 and go up from there.

You now have some idea as to what affects a Pixie Bob’s price and what kinds of prices you can expect.  When you’re purchasing a Pixie Bob, ask lots of questions and read the breeder’s contract carefully.  Don’t be afraid to ask for more pictures.  Try to understand how the Pixie Bob meets the breed standard and how it does not.  You may also want to ask other breeders for their opinions of the Pixie Bob you’re considering purchasing and then weigh those opinions against the information the breeder already provided.  If you do ask other breeders for their opinions, beware of breeders who demean either the breeder or the quality of the cat you’re considering purchasing while also mentioning they happen to have a “better” kitten or cat for sale.

We’re pleased to announce the addition of our newest male Pixie Bob, Taj. He has a nearly perfect face, long dark hair with brown accents and black spots, and a long tail. We look forward to seeing what his kittens will look like and plan to breed him to Amber, if Amber doesn’t sell. See pictures of Taj and read more about him.

We’ve posted two Pixie Bobs for adoption from our friend, Maranda Hull of Red River Bobis cattery, in Oklahoma. The two cats do not have names, as such, and so we’ve assigned them the designations “Lacy” and “Lucy”. The Pixie Bobs were purchased from Maranda, but their owner decided to return them because of the demands of his work, which would keep him away from home for long stretches at a time. They are both spayed and the gentleman who purchased them had them de-clawed. Neither Pixie Bob has behavioural or health problems. They may be adopted individually or together and are available for just the cost of shipping. You can see pictures and read more about them here: Tabaxi Cattery’s Pixie Bob Adoption page.

Update: These cats were both adopted by a very nice gentleman from Georgia.

Tabaxi Cattery is owned by Clement and Carrie Smith, currently living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We’ve bred mixed breed dogs and cats for many years. Carrie has wanted to own a Pixie Bob ever since she saw one over a decade ago. When my female Tibetan Mastiff-St. Bernard mix died, we weren’t ready for another dog immediately. Carrie happened to introduce me to Pixie Bobs just a few months after our loss. I fell in love with them, too, and asked her if she would like to get involved in breeding and showing them. Naturally, she jumped at the chance and now we get to regularly play with kittens! We felt that by becoming Pixie Bob breeders several additional responsibilities were incumbent upon us.

The first of these is making quality, accurate, and extensive information available to other people who are also interested in the Pixie Bob breed. While we were looking for quality Pixie Bobs for sale, we discovered there was almost no information available online about the breed and even less information that was useful in selecting a quality Pixie Bob. Certainly, TICA’s site has the breed standard, but the reader is left to infer much from the primarily text Pixie Bob breed standard. Since we had such a difficult time finding any information about Pixie Bobs – let alone good information – we decided that education and information should be a focus of our breeding program.

Second, since we know there are many, many cats and dogs languishing in rescues, shelters, and humane organizations and since breeding brings new life into the world, we simply couldn’t conscience being Pixie Bob breeders without also being involved with Pixie Bob rescue and adoption efforts. To help rescue Pixie Bobs, we post Pixie Bobs for adoption on our site at no charge, regardless whether it is an organization or an individual that needs to adopt a Pixie Bob to a new home. We maintain a list of people looking to adopt a cat and we are networked with other breeders around the country. So, when we post a rescue Pixie Bob, we notify all of those in our network and on our waiting list. Finally, if we are able to provide the cat a home temporarily, we will.

Third, we microchip our Pixie Bob kittens to make recovery easier in the event the kitten gets lost. The microchip is also useful in case the kitten does end up at a rescue, shelter, or humane organization.

Fourth, if the Pixie Bob kitten is going to be a pet, then we also either spay or neuter the kitten or the new owner signs a contract addendum agreeing to spay or neuter the kitten prior to a specific date. Unplanned breedings are one of the biggest contributing factors to shelter over-crowding – mostly because reputable breeders take responsibility for their kittens and will take a kitten back if the kitten’s owner cannot keep it. This is something we do and it is written into our contract.

So, if you have a Pixie Bob up for adoption or know of a Pixie Bob in need of adoption, please see our Pixie Bob Rescue page and then contact us! Otherwise, if you’re interested, adopt a Pixie Bob or check out our Pixie Bob kittens for sale or Pixie Bob cats for sale.

We’re just rolling the blog out. This is where you’ll find supplemental information beyond what is found on our site. In the next couple of weeks, we are going to begin a series of articles discussing, in-depth, the physical appearance of the Pixie Bob, according to the breed standard. We expect to post new articles in this series every couple of weeks, complete with pictures so you can see what we’re talking about as we go along. Where we’ll go after that is anybodys’ guess, but if there is something in particular you’d like to know more about, then we’d like to hear it.

In the meantime, other resources available are the Pixie Bob forums ↑ and also Tabaxi Cattery’s site. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for our blog and our main news feed, Tabaxi Cattery News.