Archive for the ‘Cat Breeding’ Category

Have you decided to let your kitty give birth to little bundles of joy?

Firstly, If your cat is under a year old it may pay to seek advice from your vetenarian as cat mothers of a young age increases the possibility of giving birth to deformed kittens.

Female cats have many heat periods over a year, and each heat period can last around 6 days if a male mates with her, but if she is not mated, then the period of heat will last longer and will recur regluarly (This is known as ‘polyestrous’). She can give birth to an average 3 kittens 3 times a year and being ‘superfecund’ meaning that each of the kittens in her litter can belong to a different father each!

So make sure you book an appointment for after the birth to neuter your kitty to prevent future pregnancies. The world’s cat population is vastly increasing with over 100 different breeds recorded, and so many inhumane people out there you will find feral cats come in abundance in most big cities. Spaying her before the first or second heat will vastly reduce threats like uterine disease and mammary cancer, so get onto it straight away! Your kitty will not miss the joy of motherhood, or she does not have to have at least one litter to be healthy either.

Female cats can start mating around 6 months old, but male cats can start around 8 months of age. Pregnancy usually can last for around 58 to 65 days (9 weeks approximately). If you are not looking to raise a litter of kittens or turn your male kitty into a roaming tom is it advisable to neuter her and him around 5 months. Neutering him can mean a lot of time saving on the spraying (marking his teritory) which he will do around your house and stop him fighting with other males over females or otherwise. It also make him live longer as a calmer and nicer kitty for you to enjoy!

You will need to make sure mother is warm and safe at all times. Feed her small meals throughout the day, as she is can carry around a few kitties in her belly, her stomach will be crampt for space! Make sure you change her to a special diet full of vitamins and minerals to put her in top condition for pregnancy and always have plenty of water available.

Find an out of the way place, such as a warm cupboard for mother to be able to escape away before and after birth with the kittens. This will make her feel safe and not have the need to transfer her litter to another quieter spot, which can put the kittens in danger at this very young age!

Kittens at birth will weigh about 85 grams. It can take around two weeks before they are able to hear well so it is important that they are safe. You will find their eyes will usually open around eight days.

The hordes of homeless and feral cats everywhere are growing by leaps and bounds, and finally people are beginning to wake up to the necessity of neutering their cats.

Population Explosion

Because cats can reproduce several times a year, and kittens mature quickly, just 2 feral cats (the wild offspring of domestic cats) can quickly become 2,000. In fact, the feline reproduction statistics are staggering. 2 uncontrolled breeding cats produce: 2 litters a year, at a survival rate of 2.8 kittens per litter. Continued breeding will produce 12 cats the first year, 66 cats the second year, 2,201 cats in the third year, 3,822 cats in the fourth year, 12,680 cats in the fifth year, and on and on . . .

Unaltered Cats Spread Disease

Many of these feral cats are actually unaltered pet cats (or their offspring) that were released by owners who could no longer care for them. A colony of feral cats can spread diseases among pet cats and dogs in the area.

Even when these cats are fairly healthy, they are usually infested with fleas. Hungry cats will raid trash cans, and playful kittens will destroy shrubbery and soil lawn furniture.

Noise Pollution From Cats In Heat

When female cats are in heat, the colony can keep neighbors awake all night with their fighting and howling

Spaying and neutering cats provides several important benefits in addition to reducing the number of unwanted cats. If you have an un-neutered female cat at home, the sound of her mewling pitifully at the door will soon be joined by the yowling and shrieking of every tomcat in the neighborhood.Both indoor and outdoor tomcats will try to mark everything in sight with their odorous spray.

Reproductive Cancers In Unaltered Cats

Certain types of cancer are much more common in unaltered cats. These cancers of the reproductive organs are very rare in cats that are altered prior to 1 year of age. Unaltered cats can also develop a number of reproductive diseases that are contagious.

Help Make Every Cat A Wanted Cat

Kittens can be altered at quite a young age. Some humane societies routinely alter kittens at 8 weeks. While some veterinarians feel that it is better to wait until kittens are 5 or 6 months, that is often simply not a option. Certainly for feral kittens who are trapped for altering, then released back into their colonies, or for those who share a home with other unaltered cats, neutering at the earliest opportunity is critical.

Most cats heal well and without incident after being neutered. However, a cat can contract an infection in the incision. Check your cat daily to be sure the incision area has not turned red and puffy. If you notice your cat licking or chewing at the stitches, your vet may suggest a surgery collar to keep the stitches out of reach until the incision is healed. While male cats can be active and bouncy without injuring themselves after neutering, female cats should be confined indoors for a few days after the surgery.

Feline “Zero Population Growth”

Unless you’re a cat breeder, your cat almost certainly would be better off neutered. The typical cost of neutering a cat is about $125 for a female and $65 for a male. If the cost is too much for you to afford, many communities have special funds available for neutering cats. Your humane society or veterinarian can give you more information.

<b>Chocolate or lilac Persians?</b>
Can it be possible? I, as an owner, breeding Persians and exots, pose myself such a problem quite recently. Of, course they exist, if to see from genetic point of view. These colors are included into standard, there is their description, but… Where are they? By all accounts from abroad, they have such animals but for some reason they are more often met in pedigrees of British cats as experimental partners for leading new color into the breed, but not like exhibition stars. It had to spent lots of time to answer the question: “What is the real situation with Lilac and Chocolate in the Persian group?”

The paradox came to light at once: there is enough big number of Points with Chocolate and Lilac masques and practically full absence of equally colored individuals. Probably, the fashion played its role in it. After all, from the genetic point of view Lilac-Point color is more difficult in receiving than, for example, Chocolate Solid (solid-monochromatic, “firm” colour). Now, thanks to fashion’s jokes, selectionists are forced to word for word take out Chocolate and Lilac either from Solid-carriers CRC (carriers of Color-Point gene) or to work simpliciter with color lines, making copulations Solids (moreover it is desirable of stronger type) with Colors and further interbreeding on the Color parents. Such copulations are made for a long time, but purposeful selection are begun recently in this direction.

<u>Only several breeding nurseries work today in this direction:</u>
<li>This is JUKI in Poland. It is world-famous nursery. But again they have Chocolate and Lilac not like purpose of selection, but like a side effect of Color-Points’ breeding of modern type.</li>
<li>This is Smaragd in Estonia, which specializes in Persian and Exotic cats of Lilac color and uses in the work cats from JUKI and Finnish nurseries.</li>
<li>Lilac cat of strong type, reached high victories by FIFE system. Pedigree program of the nursery is various and includes copulations with Chocolate sires.</li>
<li>This is Tair Polling in Ukraine, using also bloods of JUKI, but specializing, vice versa, only in Chocolates and Tabbys. You can see first kittens from this oldest Kharkov nursery in Moscow.</li>
<li>This is club Irbis (FIFE) in Krasnodar, working at the Colors’ bloods and carriers of Chocolate. Today the nursery Rarity of one sire, cat of Lilac color. Now you can see the first Lilac prosterity of show-quality.</li>
<li>The nursery Kelisa in Sochi is the nursery of Chocolate Persians. Prosterity of the same type, thought-out pedigree program. The nursery plans the receiving of Lilac Exots and the perfection of the type.</li>
<li>Several animals of Chocolate color appeared in Russia and Ukraine, but you can’t see the result of breeding yet. Or these cats still too young, or the pedigree program is not thought out, giving a soon result. Chocolate Exot of Kharkov bloods lives in Saint Petersburg (owner is Orlova S.), also the city on Neva can boast of Chocolate Color-Point, imported from Poland, one more Exot from Kharkov is purchased by the nursery Dimarsh (Moscow).</li>
<li>Ther are animals of modern type in Perm and Voronezh, but because of their remoteness from the capital or passivity of the owners we have a few information about them.</li>
<li>The nursery Alexander-Fred (Moscow) has three Chocolate Persian cats ( of different blood lines), one Chocolate Exot, Chocolate Cream cat, and also several cats-carriers of chocolate gene. The nursery plans the receiving of Chocolate and Lilac Bicolor cats. The nursery leads common pedigree program with Kelisa (Sochi).</li>
<li>Several enthusiasts in Moscow started the breeding of Chocolate and Lilac Persians, but probably they either didn’t have enough means to purchase interesting sires or purposefully decided to go all the way of coming-into-being of animals’ type, who originally received chocolate color by the way of interbreeding.</li>

It is necessary to understand genetic appropriatenesses of these colors to know the rules of breeding and receiving of Lilacs and Chocolates.

Black color of the hair equally with red is considered to be the basic color. Pigment melanin in black color – eumelanin, in red – pheomelanin. All the rest various colors (except white) are only derivatives of these two. Black color of the hair is formed under the influence of gene B – black, which is defined full chromogenesis. The pigment equally assignes to the axis of hair from the root till the tip.

<u>Gene B – black of black color is prepotent, and behind it the row of recessive genes can be hiden:</u>
<li>Gene brightener D (delutor – i.e. diluent), that gives an opportunity to receive from the given sire kittens of blue color. This gene is charged with distribution of pigments, their more thin location along the axis of hair, making the tone of the hair more light;</li>
<li>Gene b of chocolate color ( special location of pigments along the axis of the hair) , giving an opportunity to receive from the giving animal kittens of chocolate color and, in combination with gene-brightener D, lilac color. Consideration must be given to the fact that gene b is recessive. I.e. to receive kittens of chocolate color, both of parents must be carrier of this gene, and to receive the posterity of lilac color, both of parents must have at the same time genes D and b;</li>
<li>Gene of siamese color is interesting by opportunity to receive the posterity with siamese marks, including blue, chocolate and lilac colors (in the presence of genes of clarification and chocolate color at the same time).</li>

Presence of given genes can define, studied the pedigree of sire or in practice, choosing partners with known genetics. But to receive the color, close to ideal, it is necessary to keep to the rule – to pair similar with similar. The main requirement for the quality of lilac and chocolate color is their tender, warm tone. These colors go well together, but as possible partners it is allowed to choose cats of Red, Cream colors, who give their Lilac and Chocolate progeny pinkish tint of hair and bright eye color. To Lilac and Chocolate Tabbys can be recommended Golden Tabbys as possible partners or improvers of type.

Peculiarity of today’s situation in Chocolate breeding of Persian is that the task to get rid of Siamese gene became the purpose of the selectionists. At the first stage of the work it comes to the leading this gene into the recessive state. In future, numerous copulations of Chocolates and Lilacs ‘inside them’ will allow to clear up the color gene of the population.

It would seem that there is nothing simplier to pair Lilac-Point with Red cat, and then interbreed littermates between each other. But the question of the type stands the most sharply in Persians than in other breeds. That’s why such way is inconvinient – doing the step forward, it has to do two steps back. What we have to do? Very often animals of black color, especially in extreme breeds are the carriers of the strongest, modern type, that’s why they are used as improvers in the breeding of animals of different colors such as Points, Smokes, Bicolors and even Chinchillas. That’s why it is appropriate to attract exactly them (or Tortoiseshell cats, received from black, high-class sires) to the chocolate program.

<u><b>Extract from the standard of Persian colors WCF (edition by 1995):</b></u>
<b>PER b CHOCOLATE:</b>
<u>Color:</u> All colors of brown are accepted, without rust, white hairs or picture. Without grey undercoat, color must be equal.
<u>Lobe of the nose:</u> Color of milky chocolate
<u>Pads:</u> Color of cinnamon or chocolate
<u>Eye color:</u> Copper or deep-orange
<b>PER c LILAC:</b>
<u>Color:</u> Color of hair is pale lilac with light pink shimmer, without white hairs or picture. Without grey undercoat, color must be equal.
<u>Lobe of the nose:</u> Lilac
<u>Pads:</u> Lilac-pink
<u>Eye color:</u> Copper or deep-orange

Today the interest to the rare Persian colors increases. That’s why I hope that very soon we can often see the rarest and the most mysterious Chocolates and Lilacs on the shows!