# Large Litter/Genetics?



## Mihoshi (May 24, 2005)

Apparently, my Mau girl had a false pregnancy, but she's pregnant now. The problem is, I can't tell how far along she is! My boy was reaching his sexual maturity when the false happened, and since we believed she was pregnant they've been allowed to be free together (our only other cats are spayed/neutered). 

She's gotten huge, so I took her to the vet to get an xray, and she's not even at the 45 day mark yet. Her nipples never stopped pinking so I can't go at all off of that. I guess I'll just check her nipples daily to see if she's producing and that will be the only way to know when they're about to be born. I hate that this happened, but nothing goes perfectly and I've learned from it. 

I've heard a lot of different theories with all of the people I've worked with over time, is the mother responsible for the number of kittens produced, or the father? Scientific reasoning leads me to believe the mother would since she drops the eggs, but most breeders I speak with swear it's decided only by the father. 

The reason I ask this is because mom is HUGE right now and we thought she was due any day now with 2-4 kittens. She was one of 8 (but both her parents were from small litters) and dad was one of 3 with a history of small litters. Eight is a very high number for a cat litter, but that area of reproduction genetic?


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## Tick-Tag (Jun 6, 2005)

Mihoshi said:


> I've heard a lot of different theories with all of the people I've worked with over time, is the mother responsible for the number of kittens produced, or the father? Scientific reasoning leads me to believe the mother would since she drops the eggs, but most breeders I speak with swear it's decided only by the father.


You are right, the littersize IS only decided by the female unless there's a problem with the males fertility, off course. It has no affect how many times the male mates her or any of those other myths, it is settled by the number of eggs she drops and she only drops them once and not every time, she is mated.

A lot of times the littersize of a female will resemple her mothers - but a female might also have inherited a tendency from her fathers lines.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

I'm with Tick-Tag, the size of the litter depends on the genetics on the mothers side. Look at the mother and you'll know quite a lot about your own female: how many days your female with be pregnant and how big litters you can expect.


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