Pros and Cons of Buying a Kitten or Puppy from Ukraine

The trend of buying purebred kittens and puppies from Ukraine is gaining popularity worldwide. There are many reasons to do so: low price, decent quality of pets, and proximity to Europe, from where delivery is possible anywhere in the world. Even the war could not stop this practice. We’ll tell you about the reasons to buy a kitten or puppy from Ukraine, and what are the hidden dangers in the purchasing process.

Benefits of Buying a Pet from Ukraine

Low prices with decent pet quality

The average price of purebred kittens and puppies from Ukraine is $1000 plus shipping. In Western countries, a similar kitten will cost 2-3 times higher. The low cost of Ukrainian pets is not related to lower quality, but to the fact that, in general, the cost of living in Ukraine is lower:

• cheaper vet services;
• cheaper food and veterinary medicines;
• breeders charge lower wages than breeders in rich countries.

Therefore, the cost of a pet is lower.

The breeders of the Lapa Association (“Lapa” means “paw” in Ukrainian) work according to international standards and breed only cats and dogs that have received expert evaluations at exhibitions and have excellent bloodlines.

When you buy a pet at Lapa.shop, you get a pet with good breed data and pedigree. All kittens and puppies are vaccinated, dewormed in time, and socialized in the families of breeders. Our kittens and puppies live in breeders’ families and go to their new homes from them. Pets receive a special diet: most often it is a mixed diet (professional pet food + meat). Breeders check their pets for infections and various diseases. Therefore, the quality of pets is of a higher quality than in many countries that offer low prices.

Just look at these beauties!

Russia’s war against Ukraine took its toll: pets with weak hearts, not resistant to infections and stress, died at the beginning of the war. There were cases where kittens and puppies died because their hearts were ruptured by the sound of shelling. Only the toughest individuals survived. You could say that Ukraine’s pets were screened for resilience. For example, not so long ago, kittens who were born in besieged Mariupol went to new homes. They survived without vaccinations, without proper nutrition, and in the cold. However, the kittens didn’t get sick and grew up strong. And after the evacuation, with great joy, they ate everything they were offered, were vaccinated, became big and fluffy Maine Coons, successfully passed health tests, and went to their new mothers and fathers.

These are our strong Ukrainian pets! Ukrainian pets are of high quality at a reasonable price.

But now, of course, all our breeders whose kittens and puppies are sold on lapa.shop are already in more or less safe places. We don`t offer you pets of breeders from the frontline and occupied territories. We care not only about the happiness of pets and breeders, but also we care about the safety of shopping at lapa.shop.

The administration of lapa.shop is located in Lviv (West of Ukraine, near Poland). This is a relatively safe area. The only inconvenience: we can`t always respond to your messages quickly, because sometimes we have blackout for several hours.

We are here

The administration of Lapa works in the beautiful city Lviv, which remains beautiful even during the war. Now Lviv has become not only the cultural capital of Ukraine, but also a humanitarian hub, center of indestructibility and love of people.

When you buy at Lapa.shop, the price is even lower

The Lapa.shop website is not the only service in the world that sells Ukrainian kittens and puppies. But they are cheaper here. The reason is that Lapa.shop is a Ukrainian service: you buy directly from Ukrainian breeders and not from intermediaries in other countries. Other websites with administrations in rich countries require breeders to pay big fees for selling kittens and puppies, which affects the final price. So why pay more for the same pet?

Your support for Ukraine

When you buy a pet from Ukraine, you are not only gaining love for many years, but also doing a good thing. Because of the war, breeders in Ukraine found themselves in a very difficult situation. Many have evacuated to Europe, but most have stayed and are trying hard not to lose their life’s work and not to lose the genetic pool they have built up over the years. Help the breeders of Ukraine to survive in wartime and support Ukrainian breeding as a science!

The Cons of Buying a Pet from Ukraine

You need to know who to buy from

In Ukraine, as well as in any country, the black market of the pet trade is well-developed. So, when buying a pet through the usual ads sites, you take a big risk. Most often, outbreeds or crossbreeds, or even sick pets are sold there under the guise of purebred cats and dogs. Of course, no one is sure that a perfectly healthy cat will not pick up an infection on the way to you. But if you buy from an unfair illegal breeder, you take the risk of facing much more serious problems. These include a bunch of infections, genetic diseases, lack of vaccinations, etc.

Another risk is to meet scammers who will take your money and send you an ordinary street cat instead of a purebred, or will not send anyone at all.

It is difficult to check all sellers, especially if you are in another country. But if you buy at Lapa.shop, we take this problem off your hands. Only legal and reliable breeders, who have received an official certificate giving them the right to breed pets, sell on our website. Plus all of them are additionally checked by us.

Long-distance delivery

Buying a kitten or puppy in Ukraine, you should understand that the pet will take a long trip. In addition, it does not cost cheap. Usually, the cost of delivery is more expensive than the puppy or kitten. Delivery price can be up to 2000 dollars, depending on the distance. The average delivery price is: 300 euros to Poland, 500–800 euros to Europe, and $1200-1500 to the U.S. or Canada. But combined with shipping, you will still pay less for the pet than in your country.

As for the tough flight, of course, the pet will get stressed. It always gets stressed when moving, even when it is a trip to a neighbor’s house. In the case of a long journey, the stress will be longer. However, couriers do everything to minimize the stress: they put it in a comfortable box, warm it up, and cover it to isolate the pet from the outside world as much as possible. If the kitten or puppy travels with a person or in the car, it is an additional advantage.

Quality delivery at a reasonable price

Most babies handle an airplane flight just fine in the pet compartment. The exception is brachiocephalic breeds of cats and dogs with short faces (Persian Cats, Exotics, Pugs, Bulldogs, etc.). They may have problems during transporting on airplanes, and it is prohibited by many airlines. However, many airlines allow this: most brachiocephalic cats and dogs fly without problems.

About a week after the kitten or puppy arrives at its new home, the stress should pass. This will not affect the health of the pet in the future. We, for our part, will give you advice on how best to adapt the pet to its new home.

See how pets got used to new places in the first week

Working under war conditions

Working under military conditions is difficult. As already said, we temporarily do not sell kittens and puppies of breeders who find themselves in the occupation and frontline regions. Because the infrastructure of these cities was destroyed by Russian missile strikes, the catteries and kennels are left without basic conditions such as electricity, water, and heating. Such breeders are unable to conduct professional activities. But you can help them by making any contribution you are able via this link.

Breeders of Lapa Association are in relatively safe regions. And we have a plan of action in case of force majeure. If anything irreparable happens to a breeder or a pet, the reservation is returned to the buyer in full or another pet is chosen as a replacement. It is up to the buyer to take the money back or choose another pet.

Also, because of the war, shipping to some countries has been complicated. All flights from Ukraine have been canceled. It used to be possible to send a kitten or puppy by plane from Kyiv. But now we have to take it to Poland or Romania and put it on a plane from there. This makes the trip longer and more expensive. Breeders decrease prices for kittens and puppies to compensate buyers for the difference. So it still ends up being cheaper than buying purebred pets in your country.

Here is a map of the places where we delivered pets during the war

When you buy kittens and puppies from Ukrainian breeders, you support them financially and morally! We are very grateful to our customers, and we will always be there for you!