# Cat breeding protocols?



## Padmja (Apr 9, 2013)

I was planning to breed my cat. I have found her a mate, he's a feral that a friend of my mother's adopted when he was around 5 weeks old.
My cat's 9 months old right now and her mate's about a year old. Are there any specific protocols that I should follow? I'm planning to wait until she's about a year old before I mate her. She's is a feral too.


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## Zephyriddle (Mar 28, 2012)

Are you joking? Why on earth would you want to breed feral rescues and bring more kittens into an already overloaded world? Spay you cat and have the other person neuter the male. That's just crazy. 


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

Please have your cat spayed, and urge the other person to neuter the boy. There is no good reason to "mate" these two cats and about a zillion reasons not to. 

If you want to raise kittens or "experience the miracle of birth" contact any rescue or shelter I'm sure you can have your pick of pregnant strays or orphan kittens to foster. This is the time of year the people who work in rescue are overrun because of irresponsible people who don't spay and neuter. 

Please don't add to the overpopulation problem, while risking your cat's life. Just have her spayed.


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

The OP is in India. Not sure how many cats there are there, but I agree, I don't think India even needs more cats running the streets.


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## Padmja (Apr 9, 2013)

I'm not too keen on spaying her actually, (I've lost a cat because of some complications after they neutered him). But she doesn't go out at all, I live on the 17th floor of a building, I don't think she can. Most of the ferals are either put down or spayed/neutered by the government here, so that's was the only thing I could think of to get kittens. But maybe I can adopt a pregnant cat from a shelter instead and save everyone the trouble. Thank you for the suggestion, I could've never thought of it myself.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Most people on our forum work heavily in rescue and TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) so please understand the strong reaction.

Think of it this way, while you may have desire and knowledge to find good solid homes for these kittens, will THOSE owners? At least one of her kittens is likely to wind up pregnant and the owners will either toss the kittens out on the street or give them to someone who may not be so careful. For each litter your cat has at least some of her lineage will wind up on the street to either starve to death or be put to sleep by the government(think of the terror in a feral of being trapped, trapped inside a government vehicle, taken to a shelter/society, shoved into the chamber to be gassed or pinned down so they can stick them with a needle). 

The only way to stop the death of these beautiful animals is for all pet owners to act responsibly and be sure their pet doesn't add (even years down the line) to the over population. Take a long look at her, is this what you want for her grand babies, great grand babies...to be wandering the streets, scrawny, starving, and desperate for food? 

If you don't want to spay her, that's fine just be careful she doesn't escape and take off at some point when she comes into heat. Cats in heat are pretty desperate(and often loud and obnoxious) and have a VERY strong instinct to breed and will do just about anything to escape to achieve that end result. Not to mention that for years she'll have to endure that desperate drive and instinct to procreate and won't be able to... because really, if you bred her EVERY time she came into heat you'd just never find enough homes for all those kittens.

All that said, welcome to the forum and we hope to hear more wonderful stories about your beautiful girl.

ALso, I just did a google search on 'kitten adoption in mumbai, India' and got a TON of hits for people wanting to give away kittens. Take a little female of those instead and you can have the wonderful kitten experience.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

I agree with the other posters, but I also want to mention something you might not be aware of.

Female cats in heat have an instinct to mark in order to attract a mate. Basically she may start peeing on your things.


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## Arkona (May 7, 2012)

Sadly in a lot of other countries, people aren't very keen on spaying their animals, and they breed their pets for no reason... I mean even here in the US that happens, but I think there is a general awareness that there is an overpopulation problem and that by not spaying/neutering, we are contributing to it. But for example in Brazil where I am originally from, most people I know who own pets do NOT spay/neuter. 




Padmja said:


> I'm not too keen on spaying her actually, (I've lost a cat because of some complications after they neutered him). But she doesn't go out at all, I live on the 17th floor of a building, I don't think she can. Most of the ferals are either put down or spayed/neutered by the government here, so that's was the only thing I could think of to get kittens. But maybe I can adopt a pregnant cat from a shelter instead and save everyone the trouble. Thank you for the suggestion, I could've never thought of it myself.


 Adopt a pregnant cat, if you can. That's a great idea. You'll be saving their lives instead of contributing to the problem. Think about the strays and ferals who have to be put down, simply for existing. Why do you think that is? It is largely because of people who abandon animals, and who don't spay/neuter.


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

librarychick said:


> I agree with the other posters, but I also want to mention something you might not be aware of.
> 
> Female cats in heat have an instinct to mark in order to attract a mate. Basically she may start peeing on your things.


Yes. And other behavior problems. And it's a miserable life for a cat, going into heat every 2 weeks all her life. She will be at high risk of pyometra and uterine cancer. Every heat cycle increases the risk of mammary (breast) cancer.

I do hope you decide to get her spayed, to spare her all that.


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## Padmja (Apr 9, 2013)

So my original plan was to get mate her and keep all the kittens, doesn't matter how many. I've tried keeping other cats and she doesn't quite seem to get along with any of them. So just so she didn't get lonely when there's no one home. But also, I don't think I can have any of her babies on the streets because I remember what she was like when I found her. So maybe I'll just scrape the whole idea of making her have babies and just go get another beautiful little girl.


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

Great decision, not only that but think about all her babies running around the house.... if some are males and some are femaled there would be a WHOLE lot of inbreeding going on. Cats are not going to care about such boundaries.

I'm thrilled you've decided to adopt another little girl to keep her company. You'll be saving another angel from the streets as you did her.


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Padmja said:


> So my original plan was to get mate her and keep all the kittens, doesn't matter how many. I've tried keeping other cats and she doesn't quite seem to get along with any of them.


Just because she gives birth to them doesn't mean she will get along with them as they mature and become adults. I'm glad you're changing your mind.


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## Carmel (Nov 23, 2010)

I'm sorry a previous cat had complications from neutering, but at least in North America, that is a very rare thing. There are a lot of benefits to having your cat spayed/neutered. A male cat in particular often starts marking (spraying pee) all over the house. It is a terrible smell and destroys a home. Female can do this as well if they are not spayed. Their risks for certain cancers also go up, and in the case of females, they end up going into heat frequently, which I can't imagine is any fun at all. It would be like sever PMSing constantly. Ack!

If you get a pregnant female, I hope you are prepared to spay and neuter all her babies, because they will breed with each other at as young as 6 months of age.

Overpopulation is the main problem, cats can start breeding before their bodies are even mature and even after having kittens can go back into heat before their litter of kittens are even fully weaned. There are up to an estimated 80 _million_ feral cats in America alone.

Here's something I found online outlining it with the numbers involved:
_Cats can have up to 5 litters a YEAR. It's usually more like 3 or 4. Each litter can be from 1 kitten to 10 or more. The average is 4-6 kittens per litter. Cats have kittens as long as they live. Each kitten in a litter has kittens. Each of those kittens has kittens. According to humane sites one un-spayed female cat and one un-neutered male cat and their offspring results in 420,000 kittens in 7 years. _


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## 3gatos (Nov 28, 2012)

If you aren't going to spay the mother, if any kittens you bring into the home are males and they aren't spayed, by 6 months of age you'll have litter after litter. 

There was an episode of Animal Hoarders that I was watching that had that exact problem… She had 68 cats! And none were spayed/neutered, and by the time they shot the footage, there were already 3 more litters! They were all sick and the owner couldn't keep up with the food bill. If you do decide to get a pregnant female, please make sure all of the animals are spayed/neutered to prevent your home from getting out of control.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

I think the question I have for you is exactly why you want your cat to have babies. Is it because you want to experience raising kittens or do you just want to have your cat have babies so she was other cats to interact with? An unspayed (neutered) female is a very territorial creature. She guards her territory and the food within the territory jealously so she can produce babies which may have a possibility of passing on her genetic wealth. A spayed female with eventually get along with another neutered (male or female, but more easily a female) cat. You do not have to breed her to have multiple cats in your home; you just have to plan carefully, learn how to introduce to cats to one another gradually and take the time to allow the cats to find one another and make friends.

Myself, I have thirteen cats, all spayed or neutered; four males and the rest females. Female cats will live in exclusively female groups to help protect the kittens of the females in the pride from the un-neutered toms that also live in the area. Un-neutered toms will make raids into the female prides and deliberately kill kittens to bring the females back into heat so they can mate with them and replace the dead kittens with their kittens. Many people do not understand the domestic cat behaves and lives more like the lions of the savannah than the tigers of the Sunderban.

I am sorry you lost a cat to a desexing surgical complication. That is definitely a terrible experience. But no matter if you decide to let your female have kittens and then neuter everyone so they live in a pride in your home, or if you decide to introduce other cats to your cat as friends, you will have to deal with the trauma you experienced to losing a cat to surgical complications. It is the only way humans have right now to control the breeding of cats so the felines can be managed in a human dominated world.

Think about your choices and let us know what you decide. I am hoping you do not breed; that you will just adopt more cats and have them neutered and expand your pride of cats in that way. Breeding those little lives can create so much pain, suffering and sadness the breeder does not intend; where as adopting other cats from a shelter rescues lives and eliminates the pain, suffering and sadness of at least those individual cats you rescue.......


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## Padmja (Apr 9, 2013)

I guess neutering is an unavoidable evil. I'd have to do it anyway, so why not before the babies, right? Plus I'd rather just adopt a kitten than put her through the whole process of a pregnancy.


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## lovetimesfour (Dec 1, 2010)

That's the spirit!


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## Jakiepoo (Jan 5, 2013)

That's a really good choice on your part! From what I've seen, complications during pregnancy seem to be more common than complications from spay/neuter surgeries!

Just make sure you put some research into your vet ahead of time so you know you can trust them with your precious girl!


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## Padmja (Apr 9, 2013)

Oh definitely. I don't want a repeat of what happened with my other one.


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## LaurulFeatherCat (Sep 16, 2011)

Padmja, I am extremely proud of you for making the decision to not breed your cat. You avoid whatever injuries the tom may cause to your queen during breeding, eliminate the problems and risks of pregnancy and save yourself from the pain of having to deal with possibly stillborn kittens and kittens that have to be euthanized due to birth defects. I have to admit, the worse experience I ever had as a cat owner was when I had to have a deformed kitten put down for its own sake.

Hope you find a great vet to spay your female. Once she is recovered and happy again, you can think about adding another cat to your beginning pride.


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