The question comes up regularly when I speak to breeders who are thinking about their online presence: do I really need a website if I already have a Facebook page? It is a reasonable question. Facebook is free, most breeders are already on it, and their audience is there. The short answer is that you need both, and the reason is not about preference — it is about what each platform can and cannot do for you.
I have been building cattery websites since 2004 and I am a Full GCCF Judge. I see breeder online presences from every angle — as a web designer, as someone in the cat fancy who looks at breeders’ pages when evaluating lines, and as someone who hears what buyers say when they are looking for kittens. The picture is consistent: breeders who rely only on Facebook are leaving themselves exposed in ways they may not fully appreciate.
What Facebook is genuinely good for
Facebook has real strengths that a website cannot replicate. It is where your audience already spends time. It allows you to post casually and frequently — a photo of a new litter, a show result, a kitten leaving for its new home — in a way that builds a following organically over time. Facebook groups give you access to communities of buyers and breeders who are actively interested in your breed. And Facebook is free to use, which matters when you are running a cattery as a hobby or a small-scale operation.
For building a community around your cattery name, Facebook is the best tool available. Regular posts keep your name in front of people who are thinking about getting a cat. The engagement — comments, shares, likes — creates social proof that a static website cannot easily replicate.
None of that changes what Facebook cannot do.
What Facebook cannot do
Facebook pages do not appear in Google search results in any meaningful way. When someone types “British Shorthair breeders Hampshire” or “Siamese kittens for sale UK” into Google, a Facebook page will not rank. A website will. The buyer who finds a breeder through Google is a different buyer from the one who sees a post shared in a group — they are actively searching, which means they are further along in the decision-making process and more likely to enquire seriously.
Facebook also does not give you a permanent address. Your Facebook URL is on a platform that somebody else owns and controls. That platform has changed its rules repeatedly over the years and will continue to do so. Your website — your domain, your hosting, your content — is an asset you own outright.
And then there is the terms of service problem.
Facebook prohibits the sale of animals
This is not a technicality. Facebook’s Commerce Policy explicitly prohibits the sale, trade, or giving away of animals. This includes kittens. A Facebook page built around advertising kitten availability is operating in breach of the platform’s terms of service, and that means it is at risk of being removed without warning.
I have spoken to breeders who have had pages removed after years of building a following. All the posts, all the photos, all the enquiry history — gone. Facebook does not restore pages removed for policy violations. There is no appeal process that routinely succeeds. The audience that took years to build disappears overnight.
This is not a theoretical risk. It happens to real breeders, and the pattern has increased as Facebook has enforced its commerce policies more aggressively. Building your entire marketing presence on a platform that prohibits your primary activity is a structural vulnerability that can be removed at any time.
What a website gives you that Facebook cannot
A website is a permanent, Google-indexable record of who you are and what you do. It does not disappear because a platform changes its policy. It does not depend on an algorithm deciding whether your posts are shown to your followers. It does not limit how much you can say, how you present your health test results, or how you structure your kitten information.
A website also gives you a credibility signal that Facebook simply cannot provide. Serious buyers — the ones who have done their research and know what responsible breeding looks like — expect to find a website. A breeder who only has a Facebook page is, from a buyer’s perspective, less established than one with a dedicated website. That may not be fair, but it is the reality of how trust is formed online.
A well-structured website also handles enquiry filtering passively. A kitten page that explains your requirements, your process, your price range, and what you look for in buyers means that enquiries arriving in your inbox are already pre-qualified. Facebook does not provide that infrastructure.
How the two platforms work together
The most effective approach is to use Facebook for what it does well — building a following, sharing regular updates, staying visible in breed communities — while using your website as the foundation that Facebook points back to. Every Facebook post about a new litter ends with “full details and waiting list on the website.” Every show result shared on Facebook directs people to the adults page. Your Facebook page becomes a traffic driver to a platform you own, not a destination in itself.
This means that if Facebook ever removes your page — for policy reasons, for a technical error, or simply because the platform becomes less relevant — your core presence is unaffected. Your website remains. Your Google rankings remain. Your enquiry pipeline remains.
The breeder who has both is in a fundamentally stronger position than the breeder who has only one. And the breeder who has only Facebook is one enforcement decision away from losing their entire online presence.
If you are ready to add a website alongside your Facebook presence, the cat breeders websites page explains what Cats Whiskers Web Designs provides and how to get started.
Frequently asked questions
Does Facebook prohibit breeders from advertising kittens?
Yes. Facebook’s Commerce Policy prohibits the sale, trade, or giving away of animals. This applies to kittens advertised on Facebook pages, groups, and Marketplace. Pages that breach this policy risk removal without warning and without the ability to recover the page or its content.
Can a Facebook page rank on Google?
Facebook pages have very limited visibility in Google search results. They do not rank for location-specific searches in the way a properly structured website does. A buyer searching for “Maine Coon breeders Cheshire” on Google will find websites, not Facebook pages. If you rely only on Facebook, you are invisible to this audience.
Is a cattery website worth it if most of my enquiries come through Facebook?
Yes, for two reasons. First, the buyers who find you through Google are different from the buyers who find you through Facebook — they are actively searching and typically further along in the decision process. Second, Facebook can remove your page at any time. A website is an asset you own permanently, regardless of what Facebook decides to do.
What should I post on Facebook versus what belongs on my website?
Facebook suits frequent, casual, time-sensitive content: new litter announcements, show results, kitten updates, photos. Your website suits permanent, authoritative content: your cattery history, your breeding cats and their health test results, your kitten requirements, your price range, your contact details. Facebook should point to the website, not substitute for it.
Can Facebook delete my page without warning?
Yes. Pages removed for policy violations — including the animal sales policy — are typically removed without prior notice and without a reliable appeals process. Breeders who have experienced this lose all their content, their follower list, and their message history with no recovery route. This is a genuine and documented risk, not a remote possibility.
Do I need to pay for both a Facebook page and a website?
A Facebook page is free. A cattery website from Cats Whiskers Web Designs costs £295 per year, which covers hosting, maintenance, SSL, and content updates. For a business that generates kitten sales, that cost is recovered from a single kitten placed with a buyer who found the cattery through Google rather than by chance through social media.
What happens to my cattery’s online presence if Facebook shuts down?
If you rely only on Facebook and it shuts down — or removes your page — your entire online presence disappears. A website means that your Google rankings, your domain, and all your content remain intact regardless of what happens to any social media platform.
