Reserving a cat

Asking is a message

Pressing Ask to reserve sends the seller a message: that you would like the cat, roughly when you could come and meet them, and anything else you want to say. If you have already messaged them about that cat it goes into the same conversation.

It does not hold the cat. It changes nothing on the listing at all.

That is deliberate. A hold is a promise about an animal, and only the person who has the animal can make it.

Only the seller reserves

When a seller decides a cat is yours, they mark it Reserved and name you. Then:

• The listing shows as Reserved to everybody else.
• Your conversation says it is reserved for you.
• Other buyers can still message them, and a cat reserved for somebody else can still be asked about. Arrangements fall through, and the person who ends up with the cat is often the one who asked while it was still reserved for someone else.

There is no timer. A seller may note a date they are holding until; we remind them on that day and change nothing. When they put the cat back to available, you get an email.

Signing the agreement

A seller may have a sale agreement on file. If they do, you are asked to sign it when they reserve the cat for you, or when you collect the cat, whichever they chose. You get an email, an alert, and Review and sign the agreement at the top of your conversation.

The agreement shows this cat's details from its listing: its name, breed, sex, date of birth, price and go-home date. Read it, type your full name as it is on your Purry account, and check the box to agree. If the seller asks you to sign before paying, Pay waits until you have signed.

You cannot edit the agreement. If something in it is wrong or you want a change, Write to the seller before you sign. Once you sign, you both get the signed PDF by email, and it stays in your conversation.

Purry is not a party to the agreement. It keeps the signed copy for you and the seller as a record. Nothing in it limits your rights under the law where you live.

If the listing changes

While a cat is reserved for you, the seller cannot change what you agreed to: the price, breed, sex, date of birth, parents and registration. They can update the rest (photos, the description, the ready date, vaccinations), and when they do, you see what it was and what it is now at the top of the listing and in your conversation, under Updated since you reserved.

"Deposit received" is the seller's note

A seller can check a box recording that you paid them a deposit. It is a note about something that happened between the two of you, in person or however you arranged it.

A payment through Purry is a request from the seller. A seller who has connected their own Stripe account may send you a request for a deposit or the full price in your conversation; you pay it on Purry's pay page, and it is processed through the seller's own Stripe account. Purry never holds the money and there is no escrow. If anything else on Purry appears to ask you for money for a cat, it is not us.

Before you pay anybody

Deposits. Verified breeders often take a deposit to hold a kitten or a place on a future litter, and that's normal. Before you pay one: have a live video call where you see the cattery, the parents and the kitten if it's born; get a written contract that states the deposit amount and when it's refundable; and make sure the payment goes to the name you verified. Never pay with gift cards, cryptocurrency or wire transfer.

Individual sellers have had their ID verified, but no registry checks them. Don't send money before you have met the cat in person.

If anyone pushes for money before a live call, adds fees after the deposit, or insists on a payment method you can't reverse, stop and report the listing.

A seller with nothing to hide will show you the cat where it lives, with its mother if it is a kitten. Be wary of a seller who will not.

Transport estimates

When a listing's Getting home includes arranging a pet transporter yourself or a flight nanny, it shows how the cat could reach you. If the seller works with a transporter, the listing names them: ask the seller about a quote once you are talking to them. Otherwise it shows an estimate from the seller's city to yours, by ground and by flight nanny, from typical rates, not a quote; your profile's city fills it in, and you can type another. Between different countries (other than the US with Canada or Mexico) there is no ground figure, only a flight nanny or an IPATA pet shipper, and the import guide says what the trip needs. Once the cat is reserved, the conversation says who arranges the trip; if it is you, Get transport quotes opens a transport marketplace Purry may earn a referral fee from. Transport costs are agreed with the seller and paid to them directly. Getting a cat home explains the three ways a cat comes home and estimates any trip.

Waitlists

For a cat that is spoken for, a seller may put you on a waitlist and tell you where you are in the line. You will see it on the listing and in Reservations and waitlists, along with anything else a seller has agreed with you.

Expected litters. A seller can list a litter before it is born, with a due date, the parents and the expected colors. You can ask to reserve from it the same way as a listed cat: the conversation opens, and the seller can add you to the litter's waitlist, in order, and record a deposit if you agree one. When the kittens arrive the seller lists them individually and assigns them to the waitlist, and your place becomes a reservation on a specific kitten. Every kitten is its own listing, with its own price and photos, and the litter's page shows them together.

Being on a list is not a payment to Purry. If a breeder takes a deposit for your place, the rules above apply to it exactly as they would to a kitten.