Hotchoclate

To breed or not to breed

So you think you want to breed a litter of kittens. There are some important questions to ask before you take that first big step. The first, and perhaps most important, question is "Why?". The answers will be as varied as the people who own cats. Do you want to have a kitten "just like" your cat? Do you want to breed your cat because people have told you how they would love to have one of the kittens? Did you pay a substantial amount of money for your kitten and believe that you can recoup some of that money? Do you want to make some money? Do you want your children to experience the wonders of birth and nature? Do you believe that breeding your cat will make a significant contribution to the breed? These are some of the reasons given for breeding.

"I want to breed so that I can have another cat just like this one!"

Chances are you will not get a kitten "just like" yours. Remember that your cat is only one-half of the genetic make-up of the kittens. Your cat is the result of genes from both his/her dam and sire and the possibility that the kittens will turn out just like yours is remote unless you have carefully researched the parentage lines behind your cat and the proposed stud and understand the probabilities of what type of offspring should be produced from them.

"Everyone tells me how much they like my cat and would love to have a kitten from her/him!"

Most people will change their minds when actually confronted with that furry bundle and the promises to buy one will evaporate. Try taking deposits before you breed and see what type of response you have. As a first-time breeder, you will not have established a reputation and will not have referrals or references for your kittenss. That little four-legged bundle of fur is not "just like" your cat. Your friend then returns the kitten, saying they just don’t have time for a cat and you now have a six -month old kitten not quite as cuddly as it was, that you have to try to re-home.

"You can always sell purebred kittens and make some money."

You’ve paid £180 for your kitten and got him at quite a bargain because lots of those breeders with established cattery names were asking £300+ for their kittens, so you just know that you’ll be able to breed your cat and sell the kittens for £200 each and make a substantial amount of money. So, with money racing around in your head, you set out to breed your cat,. Let’s not even consider the substantial medical testing that one should do prior to breeding to make sure that no genetic tragedies are passed along, we’ll just consider the bare minimum of expenditures. First, there is the stud fee. If your cat is worth £200+ and you’re going to make all this money selling kittens, it’s fair to say that the owner of the stud cat will probably consider him to be worth at least £100+ or more for his services. then there is the cost of blood grouping your queen before mating - £50. this is not an option unless you like watching kittens die from incompatible parents or tips of ears and tails droping off, you can use a blood group B male if you havent blood grouped your queen and the kittens will not die or have any problems, be sure to ask the stud owner for proof of blood grouping. other blood test are required for stud services like felv/fiv etc £50.

Now, we’ve paid out the stud fee and blood test's and it’s getting close to the time that the kittens are due. Your expectant female has been eating a lot more lately (normally about 30% more from about the fourth week of pregnancy and about three times the normal amount after the kittens are born until they are about four weeks old). There’s the blankets and towels that the kittens lay on; all the food that they eat after they are weaned and before they are sold; advertising to sell the kittens, worming several times before they go, vaccinations cost at £50-£80 per kitten depending on area/vet etc, registration cost if planning on doing things correct and that is not taking into consideration any problems that might arise requiring veterinarian attention during the birth or for any problems with the mother or sickly kittens after the kittens are born. All these things are expenditures before even the first kitten is sold. For a very realistic look at the various costs of raising kittens ask a breeder the name of the bank manager as they are normally on first name terms!.

"I want my children to see the miracle of birth."

This can be a very expensive and traumatic lesson for the children. Remember that birth can also be very tragic. Your children may be seeing the joy of new life at 3 o’clock in the morning while their precious pet is on the surgery table cut open and haemorrhaging. Or they may be listening to her scream as she tries to give birth to a kitten that is too large and is turning to bite/scratch at the kitten and you in her pain. Then there are the still-born kittens, mummified kittens (something went a wry in development and instead of the kitten being aborted naturally, it shrivelled up and dried, being born black and ready to rot; these kittens can be the result of poor prenatal nutrition and quite often the queen will then have uterine infections after giving birth), "water kittens" (these are kittens that seemingly have no skeletal development and seem to be gel-filled; these may be linked to a viral infection that the queen had during pregnancy – remember that medical care before birth is another expense); kittens with birth defects that either die soon after birth or must be humanely destroyed. Or the birth may have gone great and the mother suddenly develops eclampsia (a calcium deficiency linked to the demands of lactation and can be severely predisposed by prior calcium supplementation), running a high fever with muscle spasms, unable to stand and eventually having seizures. While planning for the children to witness the miracle of birth, be sure to take them to the local shelter on euthanasia day so that they can witness the reality of death for the scores of cats who have no homes.

"I believe that the kittens resulting from the breeding will be an asset to the development of the breed."

 This is, in my opinion, the only reason that any one should consider breeding a litter and even then there are serious questions to consider. You should have spent a few years studying the breed, been to cat shows, have a substantial knowledge of the history of your breed and its standard, have looked at as many different lines and specimens of your breed as possible (you will learn as much looking at poor specimens as you do with outstanding specimens, provided there is a balance between the two), and talked extensively with the old-timers of the breed about their experiences and where they see the breed going (even if you don’t necessarily agree on all issues, these people still have a wealth of information). Your cat should closely match the breed standard and free of any temperament problems or serious health or genetic defects. Look at your cat with critical eyes, seeing all the faults as well as all the good aspects; a critical eye is mandatory if you seriously want to breed better cats. And, after taking all this into consideration, you need to ask yourself if you can ensure that the kittens produced go to the types of homes that you would want to live in.

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