Five really expensive cat types that aren’t even recognised as pedigrees

How much it costs to buy any given cat is one of those “how long is a piece of string” things, and they can range from free, to several thousand pounds at the top end, although cats that command those types of figures are incredibly rare and usually top level show cats.

As a broad average, you might expect to pay around £600 for a pedigree cat of most breeds – but in some cases, the average prices charged for certain non-pedigree cat types can far exceed the average for pedigrees!

When we talk about pedigree status, we’re talking about registration with the GCCF, or Governing Council of the Cat Fancy, the UK’s umbrella registry for pedigree cats. Other registries are available, but none have the same degree of prestige, authority or recognition as the GCCF, and so the latter is what we’re referring to when we talk about pedigree registration.

Cats that aren’t pedigrees of a recognised breed but that have a level of uniformity that is selectively bred for are correctly referred to as types rather than breeds; and some such types are in development and may in future years become recognised and afforded pedigree status by the GCCF, but at present, have to use other registries like TICA.

In the meantime, however, they’re classed on paper in GCCF pedigree circles as non-pedigrees; and yet some of them command average sale prices of well over £1,000 each for TICA-recognised cats.

We’ll discuss the various factors that can result in non-pedigree or unrecognised cat types as a whole sometimes being very expensive to buy in another article, but within this one, we’ll give you some examples of really expensive unrecognised cat types or breeds; along with some ballpark figures for how much they cost on average to buy with TICA breedlines.

This information is based on the average asking price advertised for such cats here on Pets4Homes over the course of the last year. Read on to learn about five really expensive unrecognised cat types, and how much they cost to buy.

Number 1: The Savannah Cat

The Savannah cat is a wild/domestic cat hybrid, and one that has not been in development for a huge amount of time, which means that unlike their fellow domestic/wild hybrid cousins the Bengals, they’re still very close in the family tree to the wild side of their heritage.

Breeding programmes that involve wild cats or cats that are very close descendants of wild cats are incredibly costly and often complex to run and develop, and crossing domestic and wild cats in general can be quite hit and miss.

All of these factors help to contribute to the Savannah cat, which isn’t even recognised by the GCCF, costing on average £1,380 to buy with a proven, TICA-registered ancestry.

Number 2: The Pixie Bob

The Pixie Bob cat is a cat type deliberately bred to look like the wild bobcat, and this is a very unusual type with a short tail, tufted face, and extra toes! However, these deliberately bred physical traits can result in health problems for the cats and would not be self-sustaining in the wild, and the GCCF doesn’t recognise them as a result.

Pixie Bob cats can be registered with TICA if they have a known breed line, and such cats commonly change hands for around £1,205 each.

Number 3: The Keetso

The Keetso is another cat with more toes than the norm, in this instance being bred to have six on each paw. They’re also bred to be particularly big cats, and they’re not currently recognised by the GCCF.

Whilst the Keetso’s physical traits have yet to be correlated with any health problems, deliberately breeding for mutations (extra toes) without good reason is generally frowned upon by the GCCF due to the potential implications of this; but in the meantime, TICA-registered Keetso cats sell for around £1,117 on average.

Number 4: The Munchkin

The Munchkin cat has a very distinctive appearance, being as it has abnormally shortened limbs as a result of possessing a form of dwarfism.

However, the genes that cause this unusual appearance are likely to disadvantage the cat in the wild, and would not have naturally evolved into a large and stable breed population; and the GCCF doesn’t recognise the Munchkin due to the impact that this trait has on the welfare and health of cats that possess it.

This does little to reduce demand for Munchkin cats, however; and helps to keep their prices high, with the averages for those with proven ancestry and TICA registration running at around £1,013 per cat.

Number 5: The Scottish fold

Finally, the Scottish fold cat is quite a steep drop down in average price from the rest of the list, being sold for an average of around £744 each for TICA cats.

However, this is also one of the most controversial unrecognised cat types of all, and one that the GCCF takes a very firm stance against. This is because the Scottish fold’s signature folded ears are once more caused by a mutation, and one that is firmly known to be problematic in terms of breed health and welfare.