Breeding cats

Breeding
This page informs you About the breeding of purebred cats and everything you need to know concerning this matter. Unfortunately, a lot of people think breeding is very easy and therefore innumerable catteries arise without knowledge or breeding goal.

How do you start?
First of all it is very important that you choose a breed which you like. Not only appearance is important. Much more important is, if the breed’s character fits you. The most important thing is that you get enough information. Read some good books (see “care” for a number of book tips). Have breeders and cat/pure bred clubs inform you. On this page I assume that you have chosen your favorite breed. It is not wise to start breeding when you have just purchased your first cat. First check if having a cat likes you. Often people start to think about breeding when they have a cat for some while and want to cover it. Your goal is important: Why do you want to breed? Many people will answer this question by saying: “It is such fun to have a nest” and unfortunately people also think of the money it might bring in. Concerning the first reason, you are completely right. Having a nest with kittens is extremely nice, but, it also includes a lot of care, expenses and problems. Concerning the money, you can wake up: breeding purebred cats in the Netherlands is not a profitable activity. It is an expensive hobby. I will now tell you what the real goal should be: conserving and improving a breed. That is what it should all be about if you wish to start breeding. Of course you will also do it because you like it, otherwise nobody would start breeding. It is important to choose one single breed, get absorbed in that breed and make good female cat/tomcat combinations with great care. Having genetical knowledge is very important when you start breeding. You can obtain this by reading many cat books. The basis genetics isn’t that hard as it might seem. Finally, you must know how you breed a certain color in order to get it as beautiful as possible and you must know which colors you get out of certain color combinations. You must also know which color combinations are fully wrong. Internet can help you a lot and can teach you genetics without effort. Check a lot of breeder’s pages. Observe which colors they get out of which combinations and try to remember them. Then, open your cat book and think of which colors also could have been in the nest and which not. Even more important than the colors is the cat’s standard. This mentions what the cat should look like. You must try to come close to this as much as possible, preferably completely. By choosing a good tomcat for your female cat you can come close to the desired standard. If your breed for example needs to have small ears, it is not wise then to choose a tomcat with large ears, unless this tomcat possesses something which can neutralize a failure of your female cat. You must balance this. In order to be able to know if your female cat can be a good breeding female cat it is wise to show the cat to experienced breeders, or visit a cat show.

Actual start
We assume that you have a female cat which is suitable for breeding. You know what you wish to improve and which colors you wish to breed. It is about time then to request your membership for a cat’s club. You contact the membership records of a club for this. In Holland the clubs have been divided in two groups: the clubs joining the FIFE (this is a coordinating organization) or an independent club. The clubs joining the FIFE are for example Felikat and Mundikat. The independent clubs are for example Neocat, the Dutch cat breeding club and the Dutch association of cat’s friends. There is no quality difference between the two groups. It is just a matter of choosing which policy suits you best. You can ask for the statutes and regulations in order to be able to make the right choice. In order to get registered you must invent three cattery names. These should be original names, since it isn’t allowed in the Netherlands that two names resemble each other. Pick something which you can remember easily and which you will continue to like. Your cattery name will be remembered better than your own name! The cattery name becomes a kind of family name for the kittens which will be born. If you don’t become a member of a club you cannot obtain family trees! Many clubs have purebred clubs which you can join.  

Find a tomcat
In the meantime you have a cattery name and you have joined a club. Your female cat is about more than one year old and has been in heat a couple of times now. You must now find a suitable tomcat. Have other breeders and clubs advise you. Many clubs have breed advisors. As soon as you have found a good tomcat you contact the tomcat owner. You tell him/her that you wish to have your female cat covered during the next heat. You ask the tomcat owner which tests he demands and what it costs. If you haven’t seen the tomcat yet, first go see him. Observe the tomcat’s accommodation, since your female cat has to visit him later on. Ask for a copy of the family tree so that you can investigate it later on. If everything has been arranged and the appointment has been made, you go see a veterinarian. Most cover cat owners accept a FeLV and FIV test (cat’s aids and leukemia) but there are owners who wish a FIP test. A certain breeds (like the British short-haired) it is important to know the blood group. A female cat with blood group B may not be covered by a tomcat with blood group A. The other way around is possible. Read the item “Blood groups” on this site for more information. So, you have the female cat tested. Also make sure that your female cat is vaccinated, wormed and fled in time! Everything is ready now for the cover tomcat. You will soon notice when your female cat is in heat. As soon as she is, you will call the tomcat owner. He can inform you whether the tomcat is “busy” or not. By informing the owner in time that your female cat is in heat, you will not surprise the tomcat owner. You can make an appointment now and bring her. Before you bring her you cut her nails. Take the cat’s papers (test results, vaccination certificate, and family tree) with you. You don’t have to bring food. First of all the female cat won’t hardly eat when she is around a tomcat and secondly the food is included in the price. If your female cat has a special diet you might contact the tomcat owner concerning this. When you arrive at the owner’s house, he will observe the female cat and check it on parasites and other external problems. The female cat is then often separated from the tomcat for a little while. In this way they can see each other but cannot touch each other. After a while (perhaps you have already left), the female cat is placed with the tomcat and the party can start! After about 4 days the tomcat owner will contact you. He will inform you whether a successful cover has taken place or not and he will make an appointment with you for picking up the female cat. If you pick up the female cat you will bring the cover proof or your club and the agreed money (this varies per breed). The cover proof is filled out, partly by you, partly by the tomcat owner. You will then take your cat home.

Pregnancy
In case your female cat has been covered successfully, you will observe some changes after about three weeks. The cat will sleep and eat a lot. You will observe that her teats get darker and sometimes larger. Your cat is probably pregnant. It is important that you give her good food during her pregnancy. Pay attention if you use cleansing means, parasite control and medicines. Not everything may be used for the pregnant female cat! About 65 days after covering the cat will start to deliver. Make sure you are at home during that time, a purebred cat which is used to be around people, might find a delivery alone very hard. A couple of days before delivery the cat will start looking for a suitable place for the delivery. It is convenient to have some boxes around. The chips boxes at the supermarket for example are very strong and suitable. Never use fruit/banana boxes. These might still contain poison rests. If you intend to have more nests in the future, making a drop box might be very handy. Make it about 50x50 cm and that high that your cat can stand in it. Preferably with a cover which you can open and close and which you can perfectly clean. Place a thick layer of towels and a flannel cloth in the box/case. Little kittens which aren’t able to retract their nails often get stuck in towels. The female cat will often dig in the box in order to make it a perfect nest. At the time the delivery starts, she will get agitated. She might already loose some moist now. Delivery almost starts as soon as the membranes rupture. Stay close to your cat. At a certain moment she will get contractions. After some time you will see a membrane with a little head (in some cases a tail, breech presentation). After some pushing the kitten is born with a membrane around him. Make sure that the mother cat stays in the box! In case the kitten isn’t attached to the placenta anymore or if the placenta has already come out you take the kitten. You rub the kitten dry in a towel, start with the beak and the noose. Rub the kitten dry pretty firmly. We always work with the mucus sucker (You can order it with Spat) and suck the amniotic fluid out of the noose and the mouth so that the respiratory routes are free. After you have rubbed the kitten it is still stuck to the placenta by means of the umbilical cord. This umbilical cord can be removed by “biting” with your nails on about 3 centimeter from the kitten’s belly. Be careful! Since I am a nail-biter, I ordered an artillery clamp at Spat. With this you can first nip off the umbilical cord and then cut at the side of the placenta with a disinfected sharp pair of scissors. You then place the kitten near its mother who will probably start washing the kitten, unless she has new contractions. If mother is quiet, the kitten will probably immediately go to the nipple. The first milk is very important for the kitten. If the contractions continue without a kitten being born don’t wait too long and call a veterinarian. Pay attention to it that each kitten is followed by a placenta. If not, the placentas have to come out later on. Should this not take place within a couple of hours after the delivery, then also call the veterinarian. If you have doubts concerning the well-being of the mother or the kittens, always contact the veterinarian. A kitten should gain 10 grams a day (huge nests a bit less). So buy a scale which can weigh grams precisely. As soon as a kitten doesn’t gain weight well or even looses weight, this might indicate a problem. Call your veterinarian in such cases. If everything goes well the only thing you have to do then is make sure that the nest for mother and the kittens is clean, weigh the kittens and enjoy it! After some days their eyes will start to open. Keep paying attention to the weight. In case of a huge nest it might be possible that you need to give additional feeding. Excellent kitten milks exist like K.M.R. (at the veterinarian) and Litterlac (at Spat). At Spat you can also buy very good bottles with nipples especially for kittens. After 4 or 5 weeks you can start feeding porridge. We always start with Bambix with kitten milk (see brands above). We place the kitten on the table and carefully feed him with a little spoon. Gradually, after a couple of days we keep the spoon closer to the Bambix plate until the kitten starts eating out of the plate itself. As soon as they are able to do this you can start mixing a small quantity of canned food for kittens through the porridge. Very gradually. Each couple of days you mix more and more meat through the porridge, just as long until meat is the only thing left. You now start mixing the canned food with soaked cat chunks. More and more chunks, less meat. If the kittens are 12 weeks old, they almost all eat hard cat chunks. If your nest is about 2 weeks old you must start inventing names for the family trees. You fill out the club form for requesting family trees and send it. You will receive the family trees per post.

Kitten purchasers
You announce your nest on the internet, in magazines etc. You will be phoned by prospective buyers who would love to purchase a kitten. Ask these people all you wish to know, why they want a cat, did they have a cat before, what is their opinion concerning having a cat etc. Of course you mention the price of the kittens (ask the club and other breeders for the average price for this breed). You invite the people to come and see the kittens when they are older than 3 weeks (younger than 3 weeks is a risk! Kittens are very susceptible to diseases and bacteriums). When the people visit you always ask them to wash their hands first. They may see the kittens and you can tell them everything concerning this breed. Also tell them the disadvantages! If you don’t feel at ease with the people, don’t sell them a kitten then! This might be unpleasant for the people but they are your kittens and you are responsible for it that they will have a good home. We assume that the people are ok and you make an appointment for a next visit. In the meantime you make sure that the kittens get vaccinated when they are 9 and 12 weeks old and that the veterinarian checks them. Almost all clubs have the rule that a kitten may leave the house when they are 12-13 weeks old. This is important for the well-being of the kitten. If the kitten may leave the house, I advise you to bring the kitten to the people. In this way you will be able to see the accommodation of the people and you can give the people in their own house some additional advice. You take the family tree, the proof of ownership, the vaccination certificate and a trial package or little bag with the food your kitten is used to with you. You have already told the people, when they visited you, what they need to have for the kitten. You give the people the papers and receive the money. Should you have any doubts concerning the fact if this is a good place for your kitten, take it home immediately! Good luck with your nest! This article has been written based on own experiences. Every rule has an exception and many breeders will handle differently than we do. We have however tried to give some directions to the starting breeder.