# Breed and breeding questions



## langsa (Aug 9, 2010)

Three months ago, my mother and I purchased two kittens from Susquehanna Cattery here in Pennsylvania. Though the breeder's methods were unorthodox and his home was in disarray, he was a kind soul and taught us all about breeding. It was so much to take in that we missed quite a bit, and I wanted to see if anyone here could fill in the blanks for us. 

- Attached is a picture of the two cats. Can anyone tell me what they might be? They are pure bred, but with all the cattery terms flying around, we're not entirely sure what their breeds are. The breeder was in a tight financial situation, and hadn't ordered the newer litters' papers because of this; we can pay him and get them made up at any time. But he mentioned head shapes, coloration, and actual breed...

- We plan to breed these two when they are old enough. How long should we wait? The breeder suggested waiting at least until the queen's second heat, but I want a second opinion.

Thanks in advance, 

Langsa


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## doodlebug (May 13, 2006)

Oh my...

OK, well, the first thing is that if this is brother and sister then they should not be bred. The likelihood of bad recessive traits emerging is very high. If they're not siblings, then...

First...are you aware that breeding purebred kittens correctly is an expensive hobby, not a money making business? If not, and you planned on this as a source of income, then I suggest you re-think it.

If yes, then, I'd recommend that you find yourself a reputable breeder to be your mentor (the place you got these kittens from is not reputable based on your description). There's a whole lot more to breeding than just allowing two cats to mate. You need to understand the ideal breed traits, the genetics behind producing quality kittens, the risks of pregnancy, and the costs associated with breeding. For example, Holly's breeder had a cat develop late stage pregnancy complications, she lost all of the kittens but one and required over $2000 in in surgery/medical care. Are you prepared for that? 

Also, the person you got the kittens from is best qualified to tell you what breed they are. And you need to get their registration papers if you plan to breed them. Otherwise you can't register their offspring and then they are considered nothing more than domestic short hair cats.


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## Heidi n Q (Nov 22, 2006)

Oh boy. Yeah. If you don't know what breeds these two kittens are *_right now_* ... then I think it would be a bad idea to begin breeding at all until you have more information and education about general health, veterinary requirements (_vaccinations and exams_), mating, housing a stud-cat, housing a queen, pregnancy, birth, raising litters, complications and worst-case-scenario responsibilities of, marketing and especially membership and procedures with an accredited breed registry. 

Both of those kittens look like standard domestic shorthairs. One has the homozygous recessive gene pair giving it colorpoints but both do not appear to be any recognizeable *breed* to me based on that photo. 
If you did not spend several hundreds of dollars on each kittten ... I highly doubt either of them are purebred. If they are and you spent that much money w/out receiving their registration documents ... I fear you may have been 'taken for a ride' that lightened your wallet.

Regardless, it appears the kittens have a much better home than the one they came from. I did a quick Google Search and could find no "Susquehanna Cattery" in Penn as a business.
heidi =^..^=


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

To me the kittens don't look purebred at all. I might be wrong, it could some novel breed that I don't know of but I doubt it.

If you don't have any papers on the kittens I'd recommend you to spay/neuter them and find a breeder who will sell you breeding cats of the breed you're interested in (don't just choose random breed) and you'll get the help needed to get started. Information about different registering bodies, about cat showing, genetics and so on.

For all you know... the darlings you have could be brother and sister. Your description of the breeder sounds more like one of a back yard breeder than of a serious breeder.

At the moment I have a cattery with 4 cats, a husband who's a musical instrument nerd and a 1½ year old son. I confess it can be a bit of a mess here (however, never dirty) but never in my life would I lose important papers regarding my cattery and if I did I sure wouldn't sell any cat before I had found the papers or gotten new ones from the registering body/vet.

You have two lovely cats but it's not a good idea breeding cats you know nothing about.


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## mimitabby (Apr 20, 2010)

and to answer your question, how long should you wait, they look big enough right now to get fixed. I guarantee it will be near impossible to keep her from getting pregnant on her first heat, which is perilous for her (because she will be tiny and immature) and may lead to vet bills and perhaps YOU feeding her kittens every 2 hours for 3 or 4 weeks. Likely, she'll produce more tabby kittens and maybe a few black ones for you, together with a colorpoint. but these are not purebred kittens; someone sold you a bill of goods.


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## catloverami (Jul 5, 2010)

I agree with previous posters that you should* not* breed these two cats. 

If you are really interested in breeding a specific breed, do educate yourself about what it entails. 

Here's a start: CFA: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)


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