{"id":2707,"date":"2016-02-12T10:40:15","date_gmt":"2016-02-12T18:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/petcarefacts.com\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2016-02-12T10:40:15","modified_gmt":"2016-02-12T18:40:15","slug":"breeding-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/tips-and-how-tos\/breeding-cats","title":{"rendered":"Breeding Cats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2708\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pawversity.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/kitten-feeding.jpg?resize=650%2C432\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/kitten-feeding.jpg?w=650&amp;ssl=1 650w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/kitten-feeding.jpg?resize=300%2C199&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Imagine getting paid to play with newborn kittens every day before they ultimately find a good home. Breeders get to enjoy this privilege, making their job very appealing. However, deciding to breed cats is a serious commitment that should not be taken lightly. What most people don\u2019t consider are the risks, expenses and time investment involved. Here are some details about what breeding a cat entails, how a feline\u2019s reproductive cycle occurs and what a cat owner might expect from the experience.<\/p>\n<h2>Breeding Costs and Risks<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Pre-breeding physical exam costs and blood tests to make sure the cat is in good health.<em> (The exam should include testing for kidney disease, heart disease, hip dysplasia, patellar luxation, FeLV, FIV, internal parasites, ear mites, fleas and ringworm.)<\/em><\/li>\n<li>If you do not already own two members of the same breed and the opposite sex, you may have to pay a \u201cstud fee\u201d so the cats can mate.<\/li>\n<li>Cost of spaying and neutering each kitten before they are sold<\/li>\n<li>Paying for vaccinations for each newborn kitten<\/li>\n<li>Being prepared to pay for a c-section delivery if the cat is in distress<\/li>\n<li>Advertising for the kittens to inform prospective buyers<\/li>\n<li>Coordinating care with animal shelters and pet-adoption days if the animals do not sell.<\/li>\n<li>Breeding subjects the cat to a high susceptibility of contracting mammary cancer. Failing to neuter tom (male) cats will increase the likelihood for spraying around the house and a strong odor of urine<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Breeding Details<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Queens (female cats) are \u201cseasonally polyestrous\u201d which means they can give birth multiple times a year. When allowing nature to take its course, a cat can breed up to three times annually (an option that is only shared by rabbits). <em>Note: Just because cats can be bred that often does not mean that they should.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Felines may be breed once they have reached sexual maturity at around 6-7 months of age. However, most professionals suggest breeding a cat after her first initial heat cycle. The cat is fertile for around 6-9 years after that.<\/li>\n<li>A heat cycle for a queen includes a few stages: <em>proestrus <\/em>(the pre-mating stage when the cat will show signs of discomfort and agitation lasting for 1-2 days). <em>Estrus <\/em>(lasting about a week when the cat is able to mate with the tom cat). Once the cats have mated, the queen will groom herself for about 20-30 minutes, before the male may try to mate with her again. Breeding three times a day for the first three days of the <em>estrus <\/em>cycle will make the chance of pregnancy 90% more probable.<\/li>\n<li>Heat cycles begin around January and February, and continue through October or November. A cycle can last anywhere from 3-20 days, but on average a feline\u2019s heat cycle begins roughly every two weeks when in the breeding season.<\/li>\n<li>The gestation time for cats is 64-67 days, with a litter of anywhere from 3-5 kittens. The kittens are only ready to leave the mother when they are about 12 weeks old. (Note: because of the heat cycle, the queen may begin estrus again when the first litter of kittens are between 8-10 weeks old.)<\/li>\n<li><em>If you have other questions about breeding a specific feline breed, it would be important to connect with can fanciers in your region and find associated breeders who can offer support and advice. <\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine getting paid to play with newborn kittens every day before they ultimately find a good home. Breeders get to enjoy this privilege, making their job very appealing. However, deciding to breed cats is a serious commitment that should not be taken lightly. What most people don\u2019t consider are the risks, expenses and time investment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[23],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-2707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tips-and-how-tos","tag-cats"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/kitten-feeding.jpg?fit=650%2C432&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5xKys-HF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petrofile.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}