Out-of-state adoption
Ragdoll Kittens Nationwide
We have placed kittens with families well outside the Pacific Northwest. Here is exactly how it works, what it costs, and where the timing gets tight.
Out-of-state adoption
We have placed kittens with families well outside the Pacific Northwest. Here is exactly how it works, what it costs, and where the timing gets tight.
Most breeders either refuse out-of-state families outright or say "we ship nationwide" and leave you to discover the details later. Neither is much help when you are trying to work out whether this is realistic from Texas, Colorado, or Florida.
So here is the whole process, written out. If after reading it you decide the logistics are not for you, that is a perfectly good outcome and you will have saved us both some email.
You book a ticket to Portland, spend some time at our home in Vancouver, Washington, and fly back with your kitten in the cabin under the seat in front of you. Airlines charge an in-cabin pet fee on top of your fare, usually around $95 to $150 per segment.
This is our favourite option and usually the cheapest. You see where your kitten was raised, we get to meet you, and the kitten travels with the person it is about to live with rather than a stranger. PDX is roughly fifteen minutes from our door.
A flight nanny books a seat on a commercial flight and carries your kitten in the cabin as their carry-on. They collect the kitten from us, fly with it, and hand it to a named person at your destination airport.
We should be upfront here: our family also runs PDX Flight Nanny, a cats-only service flying out of Portland International. It started with our own litters going out to families. Most routes land between $600 and $2,000 all in, covering the airfare, the airline's cabin fee, and the day itself. You book and pay that separately from the kitten, and you are welcome to use any nanny you like. We mention it because it means one person can handle the whole journey, and because you should know the connection rather than find out later.
A twelve-week-old kitten does not belong in a cargo hold, and we will not put one there. If you are comparing breeders and one offers cargo shipping as the standard option, that tells you something worth knowing.
Crossing state lines with a cat can require a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection, usually called a CVI or health certificate. Requirements vary more than people expect: some states ask for nothing at all for cats, some want one only when the animal is changing owners, which a sale is, and airlines set their own rules on top. Tell us your destination early and we will tell you what we know about it.
Where one is needed, three details catch people out:
Budget roughly $200 to $400 for the exam and certificate together where your state requires one.
Rabies vaccination is usually given at around three to four months of age, and many states require it for an incoming cat. Our kittens go home between 12 and 16 weeks, which lands right on that boundary.
The practical consequence: a kitten ready to leave at exactly 12 weeks may not yet meet your state's entry requirement. Sometimes we wait two weeks. Sometimes your state has an exemption for young kittens. It depends entirely on where you are, which is why we ask for your destination at the start rather than the end.
Every Lapdolls kitten is $2,300, the same price for every kitten regardless of colour, pattern, or sex, with a $500 deposit to reserve. Travel is separate and depends on how the kitten gets to you:
Get in touch and include your state. We will check the entry requirements for your destination before anything else, because that determines the earliest your kitten can travel.
A $500 deposit via Zelle holds your kitten. We will video call so you can see your kitten and ask anything you like before committing.
Fly out yourself, or use a flight nanny. Our family runs PDX Flight Nanny, so we can handle the whole journey, but you are free to book any nanny you prefer. We will be honest about which we would choose for that particular kitten.
If your destination requires a certificate, you book the accredited vet appointment inside the 10-day window and send us the date. We confirm the route around it. You pay the balance before travel.
You collect your kitten at your airport. Have a quiet room ready with food, water, and a litter box. Book your own vet visit within 72 hours.
We are placing a living animal with someone we may never meet in person, so we ask for a bit more than a card number. A phone or video call, honest answers about your household, and a willingness to stay in touch afterwards. We would rather turn down a sale than send a kitten somewhere that does not feel right.
In return, you get the same three-year genetic and personality guarantee as every other family, the same lifetime support, and someone at the other end of an email for the next fifteen years.
We have placed Ragdolls with families beyond Washington and Oregon, and out-of-state adoption is a normal part of what we do rather than an exception we tolerate. If you are wondering whether your state is workable, ask. The answer is usually yes, with a conversation about timing.
Closer to home? See our Oregon page or our Seattle and Washington page for local pickup details.
Tell us where you are and we will walk you through the options honestly, including if we think it is a bad idea.
Get in touch Available kittensFurther reading: flying a kitten home, in detail and what a Ragdoll costs in year one.