Golden Charm Cattery
TICA, CCA & WCF Registered • Oakville, Ontario • May 2026

The price difference between a tested registered cattery and an untested backyard breeder pays for itself the first time your cat avoids a $10,000 surgery.

Genetic and viral disease screening is the work that separates ethical British Shorthair breeders from everyone else. Done properly, it covers six main conditions across two test methods, costs $500 to $900 per breeding cat each year, and protects every kitten produced from that cat for life. This guide walks through exactly what tests should be done, who should do them, what results to ask for, and what to do if a breeder cannot produce them.

What is Wisdom Panel and why does it matter for British Shorthairs?

Wisdom Panel runs in the same lab Mars Petcare uses for veterinary research. The test arrives by mail, the breeder swabs both cheeks of each breeding cat, the sample goes back in a prepaid envelope, and results come back online in two to three weeks. Every cat in our program at Golden Charm Cattery has a Wisdom Panel profile, and we keep all results on file to share with families on request.

The point of Wisdom Panel is not the certificate. The point is that every kitten produced from a tested clear parent carries no risk of inheriting two copies of those specific diseases, which is when the diseases actually cause symptoms. A clear-tested parent paired with a clear-tested parent produces clear kittens. There is no other shortcut to that confidence.

What is HCM and why does DNA testing alone not cover it?

HCM is the gap that lower-tier breeders use to cut corners. They will tell you their cats are "DNA tested for HCM" using a test made for Maine Coons or Ragdolls. That test does not work on British Shorthairs because the British Shorthair mutation has not been identified yet. A British Shorthair breeder who claims a DNA-only HCM screening is either uninformed or hiding a missing echocardiogram.

The correct protocol comes from the EveryCat Health Foundation and the Royal Canin Academy:

• First echocardiogram at one year of age, after the heart has finished growing
• Repeat echocardiogram annually for every breeding cat during the years they are actively breeding
• Performed by a board-certified veterinary cardiologist, not a general practice vet
• Result must be a written report with measurements, not a verbal "looks good"

Our breeding queens and studs at Golden Charm Cattery have clear annual echocardiograms on file. You can ask to see them at any point in the adoption process.

What is PKD and how is it tested?

PKD was discovered in Persians and is now monitored across all related breeds, including British Shorthairs. The mutation is autosomal dominant, which means a cat needs only one copy of the bad gene to develop the disease. This makes PKD one of the most preventable hereditary cat diseases in the world, because removing affected breeding cats from a program eliminates it within one generation.

Every Golden Charm Cattery breeding cat is confirmed PKD-clear by Wisdom Panel. This means no kitten we have produced or will produce can develop PKD from its parents.

What is PRA-pd in British Shorthairs?

British Shorthairs with PRA-pd are born with apparently normal vision and lose it slowly. By the time symptoms appear, the cat is often already a beloved family member, which makes the diagnosis emotionally devastating. Removing carrier and affected cats from breeding stops the disease before it gets passed forward.

PRA-pd carrier and affected status is tested as part of the standard Wisdom Panel screen. Every Golden Charm breeding cat is confirmed clear.

What is ALPS and why is it specific to British Shorthairs?

ALPS is rare, but its discovery in British Shorthairs is exactly why every reputable breeder in this breed should be using a thorough panel like Wisdom Panel rather than single-gene tests. A breeder running only PKD and HCM tests will not catch ALPS at all. A breeder running Wisdom Panel sees ALPS results on every cat as part of the standard report.

How are FIV and FeLV tested?

FIV and FeLV cannot be screened by DNA because they are infections, not inherited conditions. A cat can be born clean and pick them up later from another cat. This is one of the reasons we run a closed cattery at Golden Charm. No outside cats enter the breeding home, which protects every queen and stud from exposure.

All of our breeding cats are tested FIV-negative and FeLV-negative at their annual vet visit. Test results are signed and dated by the attending veterinarian and kept on file.

For the full disease background and prevention guidance, see our complete guide to genetic and viral diseases in British Shorthair and Longhair cats.

What does proper British Shorthair health testing look like?

How does a buyer verify a breeder's test results?

Here is what to look for on any British Shorthair breeder's website before reaching out:

• A dedicated health testing page or section, not just a one-line claim
• The DNA testing brand named (Wisdom Panel, UC Davis VGL, Optimal Selection)
• Each condition spelled out, not lumped under "DNA tested"
• Cardiac screening protocol clearly stated, with frequency
• Association registration listed: TICA, CCA, WCF, or equivalent
• A written health guarantee linked from somewhere on the site
• About page and Adoption Process page that read like a real person wrote them

What we do at Golden Charm Cattery: every breeding cat's Wisdom Panel status is documented and the relevant lab results are shared with the family of the kitten they are adopting once the application is accepted. We do this on our side so families don't need to send a list of questions to start. Our About page and Adoption Process page cover the registrations and the health guarantee in detail.

For a wider checklist on identifying the right Ontario breeder, see how to choose a reputable British Shorthair breeder in Ontario.

What does British Shorthair health testing cost a breeder?

That cost is built into every kitten produced by a tested cattery. A registered kitten priced at $3,400 from a fully tested program reflects roughly $200 to $400 of that price going to the breeder's testing program over the cat's lifetime. A $1,500 kitten from an untested breeder reflects testing that simply has not happened. The savings disappear the first time a treatable inherited disease appears, because the average cost to treat HCM in Canada runs $5,000 to $15,000 over a cat's life.

Testing is not a luxury for British Shorthair breeders. It is the baseline. Anyone breeding without it is either uninformed or cutting corners at the cat's expense.

What does Golden Charm Cattery do for testing?

Our written health guarantee is a lifetime warranty against genetic diseases. Every kitten also leaves with a full FVRCP vaccination record, deworming, a vet check by a licensed veterinarian, a signed health certificate, and 30 days of Trupanion pet insurance.

If you want to see the actual test records for the parents of a kitten you are considering, just ask. We send them by email the same day.

Golden Charm Cattery

TICA • CCA • WCF Registered

Home-based British Shorthair and British Longhair cattery in Oakville, Ontario (GTA). Specialising in golden shaded kittens with emerald-green eyes. Every breeding cat Wisdom Panel DNA tested and annually heart-scanned by a board-certified cardiologist.
goldencharmcattery@gmail.com