BREEDING ~ Do you want to be a Breeder?
Stud House
To begin, there is no profit in breeding cats. It can be a very rewarding hobby but it can also be heartbreaking. Some people think it may be a quick way to make money but you need to have deep pockets as you are always paying money out for something. Breeders are lucky if they break even at the end of the year. Most will be out of pocket.
There are those endless food bills and Veterinary costs associated with breeding cats including keeping vaccinations up to date, micro chipping, parasite treatments, testing for any known genetic disorders such as PKD before breeding with your cat and those occasions when things just go wrong. You also need to register litters and individual kittens and pay an annual fee to your governing body. Breeding cats need to be fed a well balanced diet in order to keep them in tip-top condition and will cost more to feed than a de sexed pet. They will also need to be housed appropriately. Males will need their own stud quarters.
It is never a good idea to purchase a pet kitten with the view of "letting it have just one litter". This is unwise and may lead to unexpected expense and heartache. Many things can go wrong during the birth. Sometimes kittens that are sold as pets may have a fault or even several. Breeding with those cats may produce more kittens with the same faults. Then we have more kittens that do not meet the standard! If these are sold as pets too and if bred from the cycle is repeated so that eventually many faults may be bred into the resulting kittens and you end up with a kitten that looks nothing like it should, to say nothing of the health issues the kitten may have. You have no way of knowing how long this cycle has been going on and whether the kitten you are looking at purchasing is anything like the breed in reality. This is why you should always buy your kitten from a Registered Breeder.
Registered Breeders work hard to improve the breed, only breeding with the very best cats that offer something to improve the breed and they insist that all kittens sold as pets are de sexed to uphold the standard of the breed. If you breed from these pets you are undoing all the good work the Breeder has done. It is better to become a Registered Breeder and do it right if you want to breed. If you speak to a Registered Breeder about breeding they will help you with the information you need to get started.
You will find most Registered Breeders have a closed cattery which means they do not offer stud service to anyone. Since you will need the services of a stud cat you will need to have your own stud cat and house him properly and keep three or four females to keep him happy.
If you did happen to find a Registered Breeder who would let you use their stud cat you would need to have your queen tested for various
diseases each time she was taken for stud service. (Of course the queen would need to be registered) You would have to pay a stud service fee which is usually equal to the price of a kitten or higher and if she did not fall pregnant the first time she would need to be returned for a repeat mating.
Once kittens are born and they are old enough these may be registered too and will need to be vaccinated, desexed and micro-chipped. This also will cost money.
As a Breeder you must be prepared for sudden unexpected expenses such as the cost of a caesarean operation if the cat is having trouble giving birth and the possibility that you could lose the kittens or even the mother in the process. You still have to pay the vet bill and if it is after normal business hours or weekends or Public Holidays this will cost around $2500.00. This is very expensive, especially if there are no surviving kittens.
You have to be able to get by on very little sleep when queens are due to give birth as they do not restrict this to daylight hours.
You may need to get up several times during the night to check on her and/or assist the queen in delivering her babies. Sometimes a trip to the Vet in the middle of the night is in order if things are not going well. You need to find an Emergency Vet that will meet you at any hour.
You can forget about having regular holidays away from home unless you are lucky enough to have someone to come in and look after the cats and do all the cleaning, grooming and feeding. This would need to be someone trustworthy. You would need to plan any litters around this.
These are just some of the down sides to breeding that you need to be aware of but there are also many moments that make it all worthwhile. There is nothing more rewarding to a breeder than looking forward to new kittens being born and watching them grow and develop. Then there is the excitement when you realize that one (more if you are really lucky) of your babies has show potential.
If you decide to show the kitten you will need to register it and spend time getting the kitten used to all that goes with showing.
You will need to purchase some quality and sometimes expensive grooming tools and items, like combs, brushes, shampoos and cosmetics, hairdryers and learn how to groom the kitten to show standard. After all, even though judging is done to the breed standard it is also a beauty contest.
If you have read this far and decided breeding is for you after all, that's great !!! Do it the right way and become a Registered Breeder. By doing so you will have the support of other breeders and be able to learn from their experiences. You should contact one of the Cat Registering Bodies in your State and apply for a Breeders Prefix. (Cattery Name) Once you have this you will be able to approach other Registered Breeders with regard to purchasing your future breeding cats. Registered Breeders will not sell you breeding cats unless you are also Registered.
Registered Breeders consider breeding as a hobby, it is not a money making business so as long as you breed for the love of the Cats and not for profit you should do very well.
Good luck in your new Hobby.
Written by Caloola Silvers 2006
First published on CCBA Website 2006
Copyright Caloola Silvers 2006
Copyright Caloola Silvers 2001-2017
All Text and Photos on this website
are Copyright of Caloola Silvers and not
to be copied in any manner without
written permission from Caloola Silvers
There are those endless food bills and Veterinary costs associated with breeding cats including keeping vaccinations up to date, micro chipping, parasite treatments, testing for any known genetic disorders such as PKD before breeding with your cat and those occasions when things just go wrong. You also need to register litters and individual kittens and pay an annual fee to your governing body. Breeding cats need to be fed a well balanced diet in order to keep them in tip-top condition and will cost more to feed than a de sexed pet. They will also need to be housed appropriately. Males will need their own stud quarters.
It is never a good idea to purchase a pet kitten with the view of "letting it have just one litter". This is unwise and may lead to unexpected expense and heartache. Many things can go wrong during the birth. Sometimes kittens that are sold as pets may have a fault or even several. Breeding with those cats may produce more kittens with the same faults. Then we have more kittens that do not meet the standard! If these are sold as pets too and if bred from the cycle is repeated so that eventually many faults may be bred into the resulting kittens and you end up with a kitten that looks nothing like it should, to say nothing of the health issues the kitten may have. You have no way of knowing how long this cycle has been going on and whether the kitten you are looking at purchasing is anything like the breed in reality. This is why you should always buy your kitten from a Registered Breeder.
Registered Breeders work hard to improve the breed, only breeding with the very best cats that offer something to improve the breed and they insist that all kittens sold as pets are de sexed to uphold the standard of the breed. If you breed from these pets you are undoing all the good work the Breeder has done. It is better to become a Registered Breeder and do it right if you want to breed. If you speak to a Registered Breeder about breeding they will help you with the information you need to get started.
You will find most Registered Breeders have a closed cattery which means they do not offer stud service to anyone. Since you will need the services of a stud cat you will need to have your own stud cat and house him properly and keep three or four females to keep him happy.
If you did happen to find a Registered Breeder who would let you use their stud cat you would need to have your queen tested for various
diseases each time she was taken for stud service. (Of course the queen would need to be registered) You would have to pay a stud service fee which is usually equal to the price of a kitten or higher and if she did not fall pregnant the first time she would need to be returned for a repeat mating.
Once kittens are born and they are old enough these may be registered too and will need to be vaccinated, desexed and micro-chipped. This also will cost money.
As a Breeder you must be prepared for sudden unexpected expenses such as the cost of a caesarean operation if the cat is having trouble giving birth and the possibility that you could lose the kittens or even the mother in the process. You still have to pay the vet bill and if it is after normal business hours or weekends or Public Holidays this will cost around $2500.00. This is very expensive, especially if there are no surviving kittens.
You have to be able to get by on very little sleep when queens are due to give birth as they do not restrict this to daylight hours.
You may need to get up several times during the night to check on her and/or assist the queen in delivering her babies. Sometimes a trip to the Vet in the middle of the night is in order if things are not going well. You need to find an Emergency Vet that will meet you at any hour.
You can forget about having regular holidays away from home unless you are lucky enough to have someone to come in and look after the cats and do all the cleaning, grooming and feeding. This would need to be someone trustworthy. You would need to plan any litters around this.
These are just some of the down sides to breeding that you need to be aware of but there are also many moments that make it all worthwhile. There is nothing more rewarding to a breeder than looking forward to new kittens being born and watching them grow and develop. Then there is the excitement when you realize that one (more if you are really lucky) of your babies has show potential.
If you decide to show the kitten you will need to register it and spend time getting the kitten used to all that goes with showing.
You will need to purchase some quality and sometimes expensive grooming tools and items, like combs, brushes, shampoos and cosmetics, hairdryers and learn how to groom the kitten to show standard. After all, even though judging is done to the breed standard it is also a beauty contest.
If you have read this far and decided breeding is for you after all, that's great !!! Do it the right way and become a Registered Breeder. By doing so you will have the support of other breeders and be able to learn from their experiences. You should contact one of the Cat Registering Bodies in your State and apply for a Breeders Prefix. (Cattery Name) Once you have this you will be able to approach other Registered Breeders with regard to purchasing your future breeding cats. Registered Breeders will not sell you breeding cats unless you are also Registered.
Registered Breeders consider breeding as a hobby, it is not a money making business so as long as you breed for the love of the Cats and not for profit you should do very well.
Good luck in your new Hobby.
Written by Caloola Silvers 2006
First published on CCBA Website 2006
Copyright Caloola Silvers 2006
Copyright Caloola Silvers 2001-2017
All Text and Photos on this website
are Copyright of Caloola Silvers and not
to be copied in any manner without
written permission from Caloola Silvers
