Home / First-Time Buyer Checklist
The full journey in order, from deciding whether this breed fits your home to the first week after pickup. Ten steps, each one linking to the deeper page that covers it in full.
Buying a Siberian kitten is not one decision, it is a sequence of smaller ones, and most of the regret we hear about traces back to skipping a step rather than any single bad choice. This checklist walks the sequence in order: whether the breed fits your household, how to find a real breeder instead of a listing photo, what to ask before you ever visit, how to read health testing correctly, what the contract should say, what the full cost actually looks like, and what the first week home involves. Each section links to the page on this site that goes deeper, use this as the map and the linked pages as the detail.
Start here, before you contact anyone. Siberians run 8 to 20 pounds as adults and take 3 to 5 years to finish filling out, so the kitten in a listing photo tells you little about the cat you'll have at year three. Our apartment and first-time owner guide covers the real space this breed needs (vertical space matters more than square footage), what shedding looks like twice a year during coat blow, and an honest note that this breed does not do well left alone for long stretches on a regular basis. If you have allergy concerns in the household, read our allergy guide first: Siberians tend to produce less of the Fel d 1 protein behind most cat allergies, which is a real, measurable pattern, but no cat is truly hypoallergenic, and a home visit before you commit is the only way to know how a specific person reacts to a specific cat.
This step is easy to skip because it feels like the fun part comes later, once you've found a breeder and a specific kitten. Do it first anyway. A household that is honest with itself about space, schedule, and allergy risk before contacting any breeder saves everyone time, including a breeder who would otherwise field questions from a buyer who was never going to be a good fit for the breed in the first place.
Where you start looking matters as much as what you ask once you're there. A registered litter through TICA (The International Cat Association) or CFA (The Cat Fanciers' Association) means the pedigree is on record and the breeding cats meet a registry's standards, which gives you a paper trail to check. Breed-club referral lists and regional Siberian cat clubs are a better starting point than open classifieds or social media marketplace posts, since a breeder listed through a club has at minimum agreed to that club's code of ethics. A breeder with a waiting list and occasional, planned litters is a better sign than one with kittens "always available," treat constant inventory as the flag it is, not a convenience.
Two specific patterns separate a real breeding program from a volume operation. First, litter frequency: a responsible cattery typically breeds a given female no more than twice a year, so a breeder who cannot tell you how many litters they produce, or who clearly runs back-to-back litters year-round, is worth stepping back from. Second, breed focus: most ethical breeders specialize in one or two breeds and keep a waitlist, while a seller offering five or six different breeds with kittens immediately available is a shape more consistent with a commercial operation than a small home program. Neither pattern alone proves anything, but both together are worth asking about directly before you get attached to a specific litter.
Before you drive anywhere or send a deposit, a short round of questions by email or phone should tell you most of what you need to know. Ask for the parents' HCM echocardiogram and PK-deficiency DNA test results, the litter's TICA or CFA registration status, the kitten's expected homecoming age, and whether a written health guarantee comes with the sale. A breeder who answers plainly and offers to send documents is giving you something to verify. A breeder who deflects, rushes you toward a deposit, or only communicates through payment apps and gift cards is a reason to stop before you go further, not a detail to overlook because the kitten is cute.
A few more questions round out the screen: how many litters has this breeding pair produced, and how many other breeds does the cattery keep. Ask how the kittens are socialized day to day, in a family living space or in a separate cattery building. Ask what happens if health problems show up after you take the kitten home, a breeder who has clearly thought through their own guarantee will answer this without hesitation, while a vague or annoyed response to a reasonable question is itself useful information. None of these questions are confrontational, a breeder confident in their own program answers them the same way every time they're asked.
Our full kitten-choosing checklist covers this step in detail: ask to visit in person or, if distance makes that impractical, over a video call where you can see the kitten's actual living space, not a staged photo corner. A kitten raised underfoot in a family living room, exposed to normal household noise and handling, socializes better than one raised isolated in a cattery room, and a video call is enough to tell the difference. Reasonable biosecurity limits on in-person visits during an active litter are normal, a flat refusal to even video call is not. Watch for the same red flags that checklist names: multiple litters always available, payment only by wire transfer or gift card with no contract, or a refusal to let you see where the kittens are actually raised.
Pay attention to the adult cats during a visit or video call, not just the kittens. A mother cat that looks underweight, is kept separate from the litter outside normal weaning behavior, or seems fearful of routine handling is worth asking about directly. A well-run home program is usually happy to show you the parents, the space the litter is raised in, and, if the breeder keeps other cats, that the whole household looks healthy and well cared for, not just the litter currently for sale.
"Health tested" can mean very different things depending on who ran the test, when, and how thoroughly. Our health-testing deep-dive breaks down all three conditions that matter for this breed. HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) requires an echocardiogram read by a board-certified cardiologist, not a routine stethoscope exam, and breed-club guidance recommends rescreening breeding cats at 1, 3, and 5 years old since the condition can develop later in life, so ask for the date of the most recent scan, not just whether one was ever done. PK deficiency is a straightforward DNA test that does not need repeating once a cat's result is known. PKD is the condition that catches people off guard: the standard DNA test was developed for Persian lines, not Siberians, so a periodic kidney ultrasound is the more meaningful check for this breed specifically, and a DNA-only answer on PKD is a partial one, not a complete answer. Ask the breeder to walk you through all three conditions by name rather than accepting a general, vague "fully health tested" claim, the specifics are what let you actually verify the answer instead of just taking it on faith.
A written sales contract is standard practice, not an extra a good breeder tacks on. It should name a health guarantee period, typically one to five years, covering genetic conditions, and spell out exactly what happens if a covered issue shows up: a replacement kitten, a partial refund, or another specific remedy. Read the guarantee's exclusions as carefully as its coverage, some contracts narrow "genetic conditions" more than you'd expect. If a breeder cannot produce a written contract at all, that alone is worth walking away over, verbal promises are not enforceable and are not how a serious breeding program operates.
Beyond the health guarantee, a thorough contract also covers the deposit terms (refundable or not, and under what circumstances), any spay or neuter requirement and its deadline, and what the breeder expects if your circumstances change and you can no longer keep the cat, many contracts ask that the cat come back to the breeder rather than be rehomed independently. None of these terms are unusual, and a breeder who explains them clearly before you ask is showing you the same transparency you're checking for everywhere else in this process.
Expect roughly $1,500 to $2,500 for a pet-quality Siberian kitten from health-tested lines, sometimes higher for rare colors, including colorpoint patterns sometimes called Neva Masquerade, or show-quality cats. A price well below that range paired with thin or absent health testing usually means corners were cut somewhere, not that you found a deal.
The purchase price is also only the start. Budget separately for one-time setup costs and the first year's ongoing costs, since the two get blurred together in most people's heads until the bills arrive separately. One-time setup, before or right after homecoming, typically runs somewhere in the low hundreds to a few hundred dollars: a tall cat tree or wall shelving (the apartment guide covers why vertical space matters more than floor space for this breed), a litter box, a carrier, and basic feeding gear. Layer on an initial wellness exam, typically well under $200, and the first year's ongoing costs, food, litter, and routine vet care, commonly land somewhere in the hundreds to low thousands of dollars depending on food quality and how much preventive care you choose. None of that requires a large home or an unusual budget, it requires planning the full first year on purpose instead of budgeting only for the deposit.
Siberians benefit from extra time with their mother and littermates, so a responsible breeder sends kittens home at 12 to 14 weeks, not the 8-week age some other breeds use. A kitten offered earlier than that is a red flag worth asking about directly. On pickup day, bring a carrier and, if the breeder can spare it, a small piece of bedding that carries familiar scent, it helps a kitten settle into a new home faster. Set up a small, contained "safe room" before the kitten arrives, food, water, a litter box, and a hiding spot, rather than giving full run of the house on day one.
Keep the household quieter than usual for the first two days. Show the kitten its litter box as soon as you arrive and again every few hours, most kittens pick up the habit fast when the box is easy to find. Feed the same food the breeder was using, at least at first, sudden diet changes on top of a new environment can upset a kitten's stomach. Introduce other pets and children slowly and on the kitten's terms, and resist forcing cuddles in the first day or two, let the kitten come to you once it feels safe. Walk the room for hazards before homecoming day: secure loose cords and blind strings, remove small chokeable objects, and keep lilies and other toxic plants out of the house entirely, since lily exposure is a genuine emergency in cats.
Start the kitten in one small, contained room rather than the whole house. A bedroom or spare room with food, water, a litter box, and a hiding spot lets a kitten get used to one space before it has to navigate an entire home, and it makes litter box habits easier to establish since the box is never far away. If a piece of bedding or a toy from the breeder's home came with the kitten, keep it in that space, familiar scent is a real comfort in an unfamiliar place. Expand the kitten's territory gradually over the first one to two weeks rather than all at once, and if you have another cat already in the household, plan on a slower, scent-first introduction over days or weeks rather than a same-day meeting.
Schedule a wellness visit within the kitten's first week home, even if the breeder's own vet already saw the litter. Your vet will check overall health, screen for parasites, and confirm where the kitten stands on core vaccines, typically an FVRCP series starting around 6 to 8 weeks with boosters roughly every 3 to 4 weeks until 16 weeks old, timed so a late dose isn't blocked by lingering maternal antibodies. A rabies vaccine is usually given once, around 12 to 16 weeks depending on your state's requirements and your vet's own schedule, and most vets recommend spay or neuter around 5 to 6 months old, well past homecoming, so it is worth asking the breeder whether that is already covered in your contract or left for you to schedule.
From there, our full care guide covers the ongoing routine: grooming through twice-yearly coat blow, a diet built around real animal protein with portion control in mind since Siberians can run heavy as adults, and the play and enrichment this athletic, food-motivated breed genuinely needs day to day. None of this is complicated once it's set up, the work is almost entirely front-loaded into the first few weeks: the right vet visits booked, the right feeding routine established, and a litter box habit that sticks. A kitten that starts on the right footing in month one tends to stay on it.
A breeder who answers testing questions with dates and specialist names, a written contract offered before you ask for one, occasional planned litters, a waitlist rather than constant inventory, and an open invitation to video call or visit both kittens and parents.
Kittens always available across several breeds, payment by wire transfer or gift card only, vague answers about health testing dates, a refusal to let you see where kittens are raised, or a homecoming age under 12 weeks.
None of these ten steps requires expertise you don't already have, just a willingness to ask direct questions and wait for direct answers before you commit. A breeder confident in their own program will not mind the questions, and a kitten worth bringing home is worth the extra week it takes to ask them. Work through the list in order, resist the pull to skip ahead to pickup day before the earlier steps are settled, and you'll end up with a much clearer picture of exactly what you're bringing home and why you can trust it.
Every kitten featured on this site comes from parents this cattery states are HCM and PK-deficiency tested.
About the breedRead the full breeder-vetting checklist