So you want to be a breeder! Why? If the answer is to make money, forget it! Most breeders operate in the red most of the time. The best I can say for my tribe is that they help pay their own grocery bill. Even if you manage to stay in the black, you’ll find it mighty poor pay for the time and energy expended. Face facts, breeding cats is an expensive hobby.
If the answer is, «I like kittens,» then why not foster-home some waifs from the humane society? ending supply and your TLC will help make them healthy, loveable and adoptable.
If you can sincerely answer that you like Maine Coon Cats (or Manx, or Siamese, etc.) and are really interested in breeding the best kittens possible, in promoting interest in the breed and placing your kittens in the best possible homes (they are at their best as just plain family members), then maybe you should consider breeding. I said consider !
You must also be able of answer «yes» to the following:
1. Am I willing and able to purchase the best possible breeding stock? dent in the budget. This initial expense can put a big
2. Am I willing to pay vet bills for multiple cats? You may firmly resolve to acquire «just one good female,» but I’ll give you odds your resolution won’t survive your first litter. Even if you have very healthy cats and never have an upper respiratory epidemic, your vet will put another dent in your bank account.
3.Am I willing and able to provide the proper diet for breeding cats? Your grocer will be a beneficiary of your new hobby. While most household pets can do very well on commercial foods, cats on the production line need some extras such as beef and kidney. They also eat more. My Bridget would consume almost 2 pounds of food per day when she was raising a family.
In addition to these three big budget biters, there are the expenses of showing and advertising. You don’t have to do either, but if you don’t let the world know about your cats, you’ll soon have wall-to-wall unsold kittens.
You must also consider housing problems. Breeding cats present some special problems. The females need places to birth and raise babies. Many will not tolerate other cats near their kittens. Some females will not tolerate each other, so you must arrange to keep them separated. No matter how sweet and loving your male is, very few can be trusted to refrain from marking territory on drapes, furniture, etc. Some females will advertise their readiness to breed in the same manner. Caging is not the answer unless you want unhealthy, neurotic cats with unsocialized kittens.
You must also ask yourself if you are willing to gear your life to the cats. Kittens don’t come on schedule. Sure, most cats have kittens without help, but there are those that don’t. As our cats become more inbred, more man made problems will occur. Are you willing to lose sleep, rearrange vacations, take off work, cancel dinner dates, etc., when kittens are coming? Do you have a reliable cat sitter so you can get away from it all once in awhile?
These are only some of the factors to be considered when you are making the big decision. Breeding cats (or any animal) is a fascinating hobby, but it is not something to do in your spare time. If you do decide to be a breeder, you won’t have any spare time there are always cats to groom, corners to clean, correspondence to answer, food to fix, litter pans to empty – – –
While you are thinking this over, please excuse me. I still have cat dishes to wash and meat to mix and it is nearly midnight!!!
Reprinted from The Scratch Sheet.