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I contacted the ReikiRex cattery in Brooklyn, NY back in early January of this year, and was invited to come meet her cats. When I arrived, the owner, Llona, only had 1 adult cat plus the 2 kittens (who apparently were promised to other families). At that point she hard sold me on contacting her friend from Russia who just happened to have several kittens available for near-immediate sale. I went with it since this breed seems especially hard to secure and the owner of Reiki Rex(Llona) kept stressing how it took her 2 years to finally get her own Rex cat.
Anyhow, when I contacted this friend in Russia, I was asked to wire money via Western Union. When I tried to have the conversation about what kind of diseases the kitten would be tested for (since I was not only paying for the kitten, but about $600 worth of international shipping and handling fees), I got LOTS of flack. And Llona at this point started writing horrible messages about me that I had "a lot of nerve" to question the health of her friend's cats, etc. and she further wrote the Angle Waves cattery who I was also in touch with to tell them not to do business with me!
Anyhow, I should also mention that while I was visiting Llona's home, I was surprised to find that she knew nothing of the periodontal disease (or any other for that matter) that Rex's are prone to (I noted she only provided soft cat food) and that she didn't seem to be aware that the cats will overeat when provided food around the clock (which she does). When I mentioned that, she said she is a new breeder and still learning some basics about the breed!
Anyhow, the Russian lady seemed that she still wanted to go ahead with the sale, so at that point I asked if she could send me a purchase agreement before wiring the money. She refused. And finally, when I asked her to please offer some referrals of others she had sold cats with, after nearly a month of negotiation, she sent me a single line saying "I sold cat. No more kittens, " with LLona cc'ed for effect I suppose.
Anyhow, this whole experience has really soured me against cat breeders-- I found the experience coercive, crooked and even abusive.
My partner and I have had horrible things happen to our cats we purchased from the Russians, Strep G... lost kittens up to four months of age before we found out why, Paper thin chambers of the heart, kitten dropped over dead within two weeks of arrival. Should I go on? It is a BIG business for the Russians selling their Cornish to the USA and the funny thing is if you look at the pedigrees greedy Americans sold the Russians breeding stock forgetting they would sell them back to the USA.
I would be cautious about dealing with this breeder based on your comments, but I disagree with your statement about free-feeding. I owned a Cornish Rex for 18 years, until recently. She was on free-feeding her entire life. She never overate and her weight was stable at 6.5 pounds for her entire adult life.
I applaud you for not following through with the Russian and the Western Union (and Reiki Rex)! We never send money that way to a person that we don't personally know. You did part of your homework on the Cornish Rex breed, but you didn't look into Cornish Rex breeder websites like: Cornish Rex FBRL or Siggy's Paradise : Cornish Rex Breeders in the United States. There are reputable Cornish Rex breeders- do your homework!