There's a little background to this story here, so bear with me.
I recently contacted two cat breeders of Birmans. I told them about myself in the required amount of detail. I explained that I wanted their expertise on this pedigree, and also whether adopting a kitten or an adult would be better in a home when there is a resident dog.
Breeder "A" and Breeder "B", both breed pet and show Birmans. They live very close to one another as well. Breeder "A" even has a cat from Breeder "B" in her breeding program, as evidenced by the cat's official name on Breeder "A"'s website.
As it happened, I made contact with Breeder "A" first. In the email and in the followup phone call, she was gracious and helpful. Breeder "A" thought that adults might be better in a home with a resident dog. She had two adults that could be adopted, and one kitten. (Subsequent to this conversation, I emailed her and found out that she now has only one very shy adult left).
Move on to Breeder "B". In the first email, Breeder "B" listed the cats she had available (two adults, three kittens), and suggested I phone for more info or book an appt. This was a different experience from dealing with Breeder "A", so I emailed her back again, asking for her opinion on the kitten vs cat thing. Breeder "B" replied that kittens would be better, and added that her adults hadn't been exposed to dogs. As if reading my mind, Breeder "B" also told me that "my dog wasn't welcome at her home" and that I knew my dog better than anyone in terms of what he would be like around cats. (Breeder "A" was ok with dog visits). She added that, based on previous adoptions, her kittens got along with dogs, "no matter what type of dog". She did say she had two kittens left.
Ok. Here's one of my stuck points. I deliberately didn't mention that I knew about Breeder "A" to Breeder "B", and vice versa, because I didn't want them to feel as though I was playing them off each other (you know, like "I spoke to Susie and she's selling her cats for $100 less" kind of nonsense). However, why didn't
they mention one another to me, instead of me going back and forth?
They live like 30 minutes away from each other.
Here's the other one. I don't want to adopt a cat that I can't put in the same room with my dog before adoption, no matter how briefly. I know from experience that Buddy reacts to certain cats strongly (they're the ones I don't want to adopt).
So--both breeders have their drawbacks.
See my dilemma?