The difference between price and worth
Why Mekhala is worth her weight in gold
Forgive me, readers, but today I’m putting in a photo of another of my cats. Some of you may remember Mekhala, the queen of the household.
Mekhala is a purebred khao manee, a breed of Thai cat known for its white fur and extraordinary eye colour. In some khao manee, the eyes are blue; others are gold (like Mekhala’s); and some are two-coloured - one blue eye and one gold eye.
Just a half-year ago, I thought she was dying. Infected with the feline Aids virus (Fiv) and growing sicker daily, she was showing all the terrible effects of this disease.
Thanks to advances in treating Fiv, Mekhala is much better. These treatments have strengthened her body enough to handle infection - but they won’t cure Fiv. In the end, that virus is going to win.
Right now, she’s looking good, and I’m so very proud of her.
A recent article I found on the CNN website lists the world's most expensive pets, such as the photo I ran in the column a few weeks ago of an 11-month-old red Tibetan mastiff who sold for US$1.5 million (about Bt45 million).
In the same article, the reporter listed the khao manee as among the world’s most expensive cats.
I suppose price depends on what the market will bear. The khao manee is expensive. Even breeders in Thailand ask Bt20,000 and even more (one breeder demands Bt60,000) for a khao manee. Compare this price to the Siamese (vichien maas), which goes for Bt6,000 up to Bt10,000.
On the Internet, prices for a khao manee go wild, with some on-line breeders asking Bt240,000 (or more) for a cat, one with two-colour eyes being the most expensive.
I understand that breeders need to cover the expenses of raising their animals. Breeding is not a sure way to earn money; a good breeder simply hopes to break even.
There are breeders who have become well off from their animals, but to earn the money, they’ve cut down on their expenses, giving their animals low-quality food and not providing proper medical attention.
With the khao manee, there’s a vicious circle, I think. The breed is expensive because comparatively few are available, and few are available because demand is low, the price being so high.
As for Mekhala, a breeder initially bought her, mainly because the original breeder was asking only Bt10,000 for her. The price was too low, and I warned the buyer, but she was excited because she thought she had found a bargain.
Some bargain. When testing revealed that Mekhala had Fiv, the breeder gave her to me. I’m not a breeder myself, and I had the cat neutered. Although an Fiv cat won’t give the virus to her children, she can give it to her boyfriend, should he bite her. Besides, neutering would reduce stress on her body.
Thus I acquired this expensive cat for free - but in terms of worth, she’s up in the millions of baht easily, to me.
