How do you find your kitty?

[SapphireJolla Resident]

Over time, I've established what works well for me as there are several factors that affect my buying decisions:

1. Auctions -- A great place to learn about what sells, desired traits, get to know breeders. Plus, so much fun to Kinja! When I buy at an auction, it's often the apparent breeding plan plus the kitty's traits that makes me decide. As a result of getting to know those breeders, it's their stores I visit more often than others. I only wish more sellers would use Pedigree Profilers during an auction.

2. Bid Boards -- Great deals can be found, too bad their usage seems to be down everywhere.

3. Love Shacks -- These are great opportunities to find and see live kitties that often have a lot to offer. A great way to throw in new lines and traits, but only after looking into their pedigree. Pedigree Profilers give a lot of detail and if these are activated for the kitty I'm considering, I often end up buying that kitty. If their in-world pedigree is off or no Pedigree Profiler is present, I do not buy that kitty.

4. Forums -- These offer a lot of information and a great place to consider the purchase of difficult-to-locate collectables.

5. In-world Groups & Notices -- I open some groups while I'm logged on as every once in a while a notice will catch my attention. NOTE: I mute all the inconsiderate bots and bot owners that spam endlessly, e.g. every hour. The bots that limit their notices to 1-3 per day, I leave on as their information can be useful and it's my way of "thanking" the considerate bot owners who respect my time and usage of that particular group. (TAKE NOTE all you over-aggressive bot owners listening/reading this!!!!!!!!!). It's work on my part to mute all the excessively spamming bots, but it permits the occasional and legitimate breeders/sellers to send a notice and I will check those out. Sometimes I end up with the most lovely kitty purchase! That's when I know that muting those ever-spamming bots was worth it.

6. Area Search -- If kitties are properly labeled, what a wonderful way to do specific searches in mere minutes!

7. Secondary Markets exploration -- This takes time, but getting to know stores and breeders can be an interesting component to KC-dom. What appeals to me personally is diversity in the buildings and stalls. It makes me want to explore. If everything looks the same, it's just not interesting to stay and wander around.

8. Store Decoration -- Whether extravagant or minimalist, what draws me in more often than anything is seeing at least one live roaming about. It doesn't matter if it's for sale or not. If the kitty/kitties are healthy and obviously loved by their owners, their mere presence is a singular invitation to come in and visit.

9. Specialized Areas -- For example, Mega and Teeny areas; also By Breed areas. Some furs show off better in different sizes and have even convinced me of starting breeding projects I'd otherwise not considered before.

10. Friends, Contacts -- We often share so many of our kitty breeding results that they are great resources for locating kitties with specific traits or even just locations to explore.

Where I will not buy a kitty from is Marketplace. A database search idea is an interesting one, I'd like to see that idea developed.