Ayshazen Burmese & Tonkinese - Advice for Potential Breeders

Considering Breeding?

Advice to potential breeders.

(mm/dd/yy)

If you are considering breeding cats, please be aware that if you go about it in a responsible manner, you are NOT going to make money. On the contrary. Cat breeding is a hobby, a very expensive hobby. If you are lucky, your kittens will help to offset the cost, but motivation to breed must come from your love of your cats and the breed. I, and most other breeders find, time and time again, that for a while things can go well, and then you hit a brick wall of problems which can destroy you financially. C-Sections, vet fees, sudden illness which can go through your cattery like a dose of salts, and much more.

There is an excellent (albeit Americanised) account of the costs involved in breeding cats here http://home.earthlink.net/~sarsenstone/brdcosts.html The amounts are in dollars and at 1999 prices, but I think it serves as a wake-up call for those who think we make money!

Please be aware of what you are letting yourself in for. First and foremost, you have to be a very dedicated cat lover. Research your breed well. PLEASE do not attempt to breed without the guidance of another breeder (a mentor), there are many pitfalls along the way.

Join a cat club for the cats you wish to breed, visit their website and download the Standard of Points to research and ensure that you are breeding "true to type". Go to cat shows to see the correct type for yourself, you can meet other breeders there too, most of whom are happy to help and discuss the breed and their cats.

Find a GOOD vet, one who will support you (not all vets are breeder-friendly).

There are many mailing lists on the Internet where we breeders hang out. One of which is Novice Breeder Advice on Yahoo Groups. this group is populated by experienced and novice breeders alike, and you can ask whatever you like without feeling silly. The group has become so popular that it has turned into an offline cat club in its own right. The link to the NBA Cat Club is here.

Click to join the NoviceBreederAdvice Yahoo Group

I have included below a couple of articles, not written by me, which I have found along the way, and have found immensely informative. Please read them and decide if you still want to breed. Then go and read the GCCF advice on breeding from you cat

COST OF BREEDING

FOR EVERY LITTER: Pre-mating vet check up, worming & vaccination booster FeLV/FIV testing. Travel taking queen to stud (return fare). Travel collecting queen from stud (return fare). Stud Fee. Premium food & conditioners for queen during pregnancy. Possible complications at birth, e.g. caesarean, uterine inertia, hysteria, milk failure, damaged/malformed kitten/s. Kitten milk replacer for weak kittens/hand-rearing. Common kitten ailments, e.g. sticky eyes, stomach upsets (the latter can spread to all your cats and be very pernicious as well as surprisingly expensive to eradicate). Purchase and preparation of weaning foods for kittens at 3-5 weeks. Extra, premium, food for queen during lactation (she will eat as much as 3 or 4 adult cats for more than a month). Extra cat litter (all that extra food has to go somewhere!) Feeding kittens from weaning-13 weeks (at 13 weeks, 4 kittens eat about as much as 4 adult cats). Even more extra cat litter for kittens (trays twice a day from 6-13 weeks). Extra cleaning - the household, not just the trays! Washing of bedding.

Breakages, e.g. ornaments, house-plants, torn curtains, upholstery (all too common with Foriegn and Oriental kittens). Having 5, 6 or more little monsters under your feet & ripping through your home for 2 months. .Toys for kittens. Advertising. Registration. Vaccination. Insurance. Microchipping. Worming every 2 weeks. 9 and 12-wk vet check. Keeping off-colour or small kittens for longer time Keeping kitten/s to honour new owners' vacations etc. Cancellations. Refunds & taking kittens back if new owner changes mind. Re-advertising cancelled or returned kittens. Extra heating costs for kittens in cold weather. Giving away or selling for less to special friends and relatives

Not being able to go on holiday or stay over for a night anywhere. Being available for phone calls, visitors and enquirers Time spent handling, socialising & playing with kittens (every day). Staying in for a week when your queen is due to give birth, and possibly assisting furing the birth. Hours spent feeding and toileting weak kittens.

Sleepless nights and frayed nerves while queen is calling (every month or less between litters) Annual subscriptions to cat associations & registering bodies Subscriptions to cat magazines. Books .Time off work for birthing and when cats are sick Annual vaccinations, testing & health checks for breeding queen & your other cats. Equipment, e.g. litter trays, carriers, cages, bowls, beds, blankets, heat pads, scratching posts, cat trees

ALL THIS IF YOU OWN JUST ONE BREEDING QUEEN! and of course, that queen might have only one kitten in her litter.

If you also own a stud cat: Stud house and run, & its annual maintenance. Regular FeLV/FIV testing. Advertising stud services. Responsibility of handling other people's queens (insurance too) Being available at very short notice for stud services Extra time for "loving" a stud cat kept outside. Knowledge of genetics to advise owners of queens what colours/patterns to expect from the mating. many of these owners are novice breeders, some without mentors. You will need to provide guidance. If there is one thing that requires more thought and considerably more experience than obtaining a breeding queen, it is obtaining a stud. Obtain a copy of "Keeping a Stud Cat" leaflet from the GCCF

If you go to cat shows: Subscriptions to more cat clubs. Travel to meetings & symposiums. Travel to shows as visitor. Show catalogues & door entry fees Entry fees for shows when exhibiting. Travelling to & from shows (can be very long distances). Hotel accommodation. Grooming and conditioning products. Time off work to attend shows. Show cages, drapes & furnishings. Extra time for training & handling show cats. Extra veterinary checkups before shows.
(from the fanciers list - thanks guys)

WHAT IS A BREEDER?

A Breeder (with a capital B) is one who thirsts for knowledge and never really knows it all, one who wrestles with decisions of conscience, convenience, and commitment.

A Breeder is one who sacrifices personal interests, finances, time, friendships, fancy furniture, and deep pile carpeting ! She gives up the dreams of a long, luxurious cruise in favour of turning that all important Show into this years "vacation".

The Breeder goes without sleep (but never without coffee!) in hours spent planning a breeding or watching anxiously over the birth process, and afterwards, over every little sneeze, wiggle or cry.

The Breeder skips dinner parties because that litter is due or the babies have to be fed at eight. She disregards birth fluids and puts mouth to mouth to save a gasping newborn, literally blowing life into a tiny, helpless creature that may be the culmination of a lifetime of dreams.

A Breeders lap is a marvellous place where generations of proud and noble champions once snoozed.

A Breeders hands are strong and firm and often soiled, but ever so gentle and sensitive to the thrusts of a kits wet nose.

A Breeders back and knees are usually arthritic from stooping, bending, and sitting in the birthing box, but are strong enough to enable the breeder to Show the next choice kitten to a Grand Championship.

A Breeders shoulders are stooped and often heaped with abuse from competitors, but they're wide enough to support the weight of a thousand defeats and frustrations.

A Breeders arms are always able to wield a mop, support an armful of kittens, or lend a helping hand to a newcomer.

A Breeders ears are wondrous things, sometimes red (from being talked about) or strangely shaped (from being pressed against a phone receiver), often deaf to criticism, yet always fine-tuned to the whimper of a sick kitten.

A Breeders eyes are blurred from pedigree research and sometimes blind to her own cats faults, but they are ever so keen to the competitions faults and are always searching for the perfect specimen.

A Breeders brain is foggy on faces, but it can recall pedigrees faster than an IBM computer. It's so full of knowledge that sometimes it blows a fuse: it catalogues thousands of good bonings, fine ears, and perfect heads... and buries in the soul the failures and the ones that didn't turn out.

A Breeders heart is often broken, but it beats strongly with hope everlasting... and it's always in the right place !

Oh, yes, there are breeders, and then, there are BREEDERS !!
Author unknown.

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