[Minks]

Hi

I have a 6 month old kitten who we found wandering in our garden.

She is a tabby and has a very nice little face.

She has the best temperament. My 3yr old brother carries her everywhere and she doesn't care!

I'd like to have a litter of kittens with her. What age is best to breed?

 

[Tiber]

well i dont know if this holds true for cats, but i heard for dogs, that its best to wait till at least AFTER their first heat.....

 

[Bengalsownme]

I don't know if you have bred animals before but it really isn't fun at all. Yah kittens are very cute! But they poop all over the place. Mom and babies will need good quality medical care. Shots worming food litter. It's quite messy. If your breeding just because you want kittens with her temperment that isn't very fair to her. Breeding your female will increase the risk of breast cancer and uterine infections. She could have complications with her pregnancy and delivery and even after could get an infection in her uterus or breast. I breed bengals and on my first litter we came accross so many problems. If you are serious about doing it are you financially prepared to provide emergency care and shots and checkups for mom and babies? Do you already have homes for the kitties? Do you have a male? You don't want to just let her go outside and get bred because chances are the male could have a deadly virus or worms that will be passed to mom and the babies. Theres alot to look into. I researched breeding and genetics a year before I had my first litter. I am still learning so much that I thought I wouldn't have to deal with. It's really not fun and I do it as a hobby and I love this breed. I just don't see any justification on breeding domestic cats because there are already so many that are put to sleep because they don't have homes.

Cats shouldn't be bred before they are a year old. It's just not healthy for them any earlier. She will probably go in to heat before that. When cats go into heat they could spray..yes even females... mine does! They cry out for a male ALL NIGHT LONG yes could bring you to insanity! Very annoying things that you have to deal with when breeding animals. I suggest doing somemore research about it before you get yourself into a mess.

 

[BlueAnimal]

I know I"m not the one that asked for breeding advice but its quite coincidental because I was going to ask a few days ago but I haven't been home much and I was afraid everyone would get mad at me. I know a lot of people just don't like the idea of breeding cats or even a lot of people don't like dogs because of the vast amounts of cats and dogs in pounds getting put to sleep. I also know how everyone says that "I just want one little how much more trouble is 4 or 5 kittens?" and everyone always sends messages back saying they are a lot of work etc. Well recently, almost three weeks ago, I got this beautiful kitten. I got her of course because I wanted a kitten and a pet/friend/companion. Although, a few weeks after I got her I loved her and everything. She's a great kitten and she has great markings. She's just one of the best kittens I've ever seen/had. She doesn't scratch anything, she doesn't bite or scratch people. She sleeps by me. She even follows me around a lot of times and well, she's just a great kitten so thats probably why I considered it. But I wanted to thank Bengals for her post because it helped me think about it more. I've been reading as much as I could find online for the last few days but didn't come up with anything extrodinarily great.

One day I thought I might want to breed her when she gets older. I know that the best time for them is after they are at least a year old. I love animals to death and I've bred several types of animals in the past. (hamsters,gerbils,mice,fish,even a few birds) and was lucky and didn't have much problem. Although when I talked to my mom about it she didn't want me doing it in her house because she mentioned all of the things that you mentioned (I'm only 17 but much differen't from the majority of people my agé). She said they are very messy and stinky and it costs a lot to feed and care for all the kittens and the mom etc etc. I didn't believe her so I was looking online. I haven't found a lot of information but after hearing someone else say how much goes into it, I will definatly read up a whole lot about it before I even think about it anymore. So I wanted to thank Bengals for the time she took to post that information and how nice she came across. I really appriciate it. I know you were trying to help the person that asked the question but maybe you helped two people at the same time. Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for your help.

 

[Tiber]

well another thing to consider is... each animal is a different as each human is. Just because the kitten is so wonderful, it doesnt necissarily mean her kitten will be. They'll all have different personalities. Yes a big part depends on how you raise them, but you wont be getting the SAME kitten. And with stray cats, it's probally really hard to ensure that the same markings and what not comes out in the kittens. There's just so much genetic variety in Strays.

There's a story of how these people CLONED one cat, and even with a CLONE, the kitten looked nothing like the mother, because of all the variety in the genes. when i have more time i'll try to find a link to that storie. So unless your working with purebreeds, being able to produce the same markings are hard, and i'm sure its not that easy when working with purebreeds as well!

 

[Bengalsownme]

Blue animal your welcome. I'm glad that helped you! That is so true what Tibber just posted that they won't likely have the same personality as the mom. I didn't think of that. If one day you are really interested in breeding find a breeder that will be willing to guide you. I bought several books on bengals and a cat owners Home veterinary handbook and read as much as I could online on the breeders websites. I talked to the top breeders and asked a whole lot of questions. Good luck to you!

 

[BlueAnimal]

Yeah, thank you both. (Bengals and Tiber) I really appriciate it. I know its the right/proper thing to do is spay/neuter animals. I just have always wanted to raise kitttens, for as long as I can remember. Although my mother always told me no and made sure she inforced all the responsibilty/messes/time etc that it takes. Go figure huh? lol. I know that with females its said the non-spayed females are as much as 50% or more times likely to get uterine cancer. That worries me. I'm also one of those people a lot of people get angry with because how weird I am about nothing hurting animals. I know that they are out and under during surgery and its probably not a whole lot of pain afterwards for very long and they forgive and forget but I've seen pictures of what supposedly happens when they get fixed and it made me go :shock: . I'll be sure to read and read and read and do even more reading before I make any further decisions. Right now I'm at the stage to which its best to live with the guilt of putting her through surgery/pain or to risk her getting cancer. I'll deal with if I ever want to breed her later. One step at a time is the best way afterall. I guess you would just have to understand how I am. I don't even like getting them shots. I turn my head, plug my ears, or I just leave the room. But I know that they need the shots for health etc. The few cat(s) we had in the past were all older cats and already neutered or spayed so I never had to worry about it. But yeah I thank you again for your time/patience/advice. You guys are great!

- Randy & Kali

P.s - I'm hoping to get Kali into the vet in the next few days for her kitten shots/check up. She just turned 11 weeks old Tuesday I think. It took me awhile to find a vet I would be comfertable with. Anyway I guess I'll keep you posted.

 

[Tiber]

i understand what you mean blue animal, i've done that with thigns to.. reasearch till it scares me to go out side (j/k!) but nearly! (and if you start researching vaccines it'll scare ya too, for humans, and animals.) But you have to consider the benifits vs the costs the short term and the long term.. ... ... and make as informed of a decision from learning about boths sides as possible.. I know you'll do what you think is best cause you love her so much!

 

[Sol]

I´m gonna be mean now

Don´t you all think that most people feel the same way about their cats as you do? The cat is cute (of course, cats are cute), wellbehaved, healthy etc. This is the majority of all the cats in the world.

I am totally against breedning just because one wants to have kittens. You should have a goal with your breeding.

When it comes to cats without a pedigree you don´t know what kind of diseases that are hidden behind your cat and you don´t know anything about the cats relatives which means that the male you chooses could be her brother, father, uncle, grandfather etc and inbreeding is not a good thing.

I´m a breeder and my first litter was born just yesterday. I´ve studied genetics, breeding, diseases and my breed of cat for three years! I know every relative (by the papers) all the way back to the very first registred devon rex (my breed). Knowing the relatives I could choose a mate that´s not related to her. Both the male and the female are good specimens of their breed (not all are, I was lucky to get one of the better once). I´ve had a lot of help from my cats breeder and the males owner, both breeders with a lot of experience.

Just to raise this litter will cost me at least 600$, if nothing goes wrong. The kittens could get sick or mama cat could get sick.

It´s not an easy thing to breed with brains and all other kinds of breeding is bad breeding.

 

[treehugger]

hey here's anm idea... why dont you go to your local animal shelter and see if they have foster plans! Where you can take home a prgnant mother and raise the kittens with her until they are ready to be adopted. This either works that you keep them at your home and they advertise them at the shelter OR you take them back to the shelter when they are older. This is a wonderful program because you get to experiance having a litter of kittens around and you arent adding any animals to the already over populated world!! These kittens are concieved and are coming and need a safe home to be raised in! Also this way your friends will see them (JUST like they would see your cats kittens) and maybe fall in love iwth them and want to adopt them! SO its good advertsing for the shelter!
I worked at the SPCA for too many years and I had to euthanize WAY TOO MANY KITTENS that i know the importance of spaying and neutering! When people breed pedegrie cats the ones to buy them are people who really want this breed and for whatever reasons are going to spend the big bucks to get exaclty the cat they want and probably wouldnt be going into a shelter anyways.. that is how i can justify breeding ( I realize a lot of people on here are breeders and hey im not down talkin pedegrie breeding at all, although I'm proabably spelling pedegrie wrong..) ... but people who are going to get your run of the mill shorthaird cat.... and who WOULD have gone to the shelter and get one of these kittens that you have made ... well thats one more kitten that has to be put down. I always thougt it would be fun to have kittens with my cats but it makes you understand where to lay your priorities and what makes you realize spaying and neutering is the way to go is when you have to be the one who has to take a happy healthy kitten from its cage and hold it and you CANT explain to it why you have to take it to the back room and you have to kill it. IT is somthing I wish didnt have to happen but because people dont 'fix' their animals we had to destroy these babies. Very very sad thing to have to do. It makes me cry now just remebering.
IM sorry for being depressing and graphic.. but thats the real world! There is WAY WAY WAY too many kittens born into our world and the less kittens we bring into the world the less suffering there is going to be.
I know no one can mnake up your mind for you but i would reccomned to ANYONE who just wants to let their cat get pregnant... EVEN if you have homes lined up..... send them to a shelter and have there homes filled with these already existing animals! the adoption fees ARE TOTALLY worth it! So thats my advice... I have 8 animals all from shelter and recue assosiations and I would recomend adoption from theses place SOO much. These animals are SO full of love and when you spay and neuter you know you are ending the cycle in these animals cases ... animals who were only born because their owners didnt spay (or in one case was from a race track...)
Anyways... seriously... look into the foster parent program! Its lots of fun plus you know you are doing a very good deed and helping animals in need!

 

[Wayne]

Minks, welcome to the Cat Forum. Do you live near an animal shelter? If you do, I would go there and look over any kittens that they may have. Since your cat is a stray, did you take her in to your local vets' and have her checked for FeLV ( feline leukemia virus) This is a very important thing to do. Also, she should receive her shots to protect her from any communicable diseases. If you have kittens by your female cat, all of the expenses that you have incurred on your original cat will have to be applied to the kittens as well. To answer your question, I would wait until she is at least 1 1/2 years of age before breeding her. Also, do you have a male already picked out for her. I have found that a friendly female may bring into the world kittens of similiar personality traits, but much depends on the male. There are so many variables you are dealing with here. Personally, I think the foster program for a queen-to-be would be best for you. Many kill shelters in this state, do not euthanize cats, but instead they are taken to pre-arranged foster homes until they are adopted. I am not familiar with Austrailia's animal adoption system, however I think it is similar to the 'states.

 

[phoenixcat]

I'd go through ther dillema you're going through if I didn't get my cats at shelters that neuter your pets regardless of whethe you want them to or not (I love my shelters). I once did rasie a small litter of kittens (3), and it was one of the best experiances I've ever had, and ome of the friendliest kittens, but if I wantedto do that again, I'd definently foster. I wish I could thank the people who fostered the kittens I now have....it really helpsout with finding homes for the kittens cause they get to be socialized correctly.

Definently consider fostering, if you want kittens! Many shelters are probably in need of someone like you!