My ragamuffin queen is pregnant!

[F4ttyBumBum]

There is a long back story to this whereby I have been trying to breed her for the past 3 years and had no success but finally it has happened (I think). I'm hoping to be an amateur breeder so this will be my first home born litter. We are at week 3 with my gorgeous girl retching occasionally (morning sickness), eating and grazing a lot and with firm/ pinked up nipples. Hoping to take he for a scan in the next 2-3 weeks.

Do any of you lovely people have breeding stories to share? I'm still in touch with the breeder who selected her because I wanted to buy a breeding quality queen but I don't want to trouble her too much!

It's a business, the cats are a commodity.

I eat meat & drink milk so can't take a super high ground. Not sure if I should say it niggles at me that effectively the cat has no choice who it breeds with - but I guess that's just another undesirable element. Seems different from dairy industry b/c it's not like the only cost effective way to get a pet cat is to have a formal breeding programme.

@lljkk I think it was some sort of bengal. I was amazed at the cost too. We homed him as a moggy and no one queried it so he wasn't even any very obvious pedigree.

I assume everyone here complaining about this is a strict vegan?

As all meat is 'forcibly bred' and farmed. Milk cows are bred, calves taken from them and when she no longer produces milk she is killed. The male off spring are killed immediately. All in the name of human wants ( milk/meat) and money.

This is the same human want (pet) and money.

If you drink milk or eat meat you really can't look down on breeding if it's done with care and the welfare of the animal put first (which is more that can be said of the meat and dairy industry a lot of the time)

I breed rats and I don't make any money. But I have contact with the peiple who take my rats for life. I take them back at ANY point for ANY reason. They have the best cages. Hand mixed food. The have maternity food hand made and vet checks regularly.
They are bred to keep healthy lines and to promote certain colourways etc.

There's a difference between someone breeding as a hobby and a backyard breeder who just has £ signs in their eyes or someone who lets their unneutered pets out for the local Tom to mate.

Catching you sound like you approach your breeding with care and professionalism and with compassion for your cats. Personally, I think that there is room in the cat world for people like you, although I strongly believe that rescue cats are more appropriate than pedigrees for most people. I do think that breeding for extreme features - flat faces, hairlessness, shortened limbs, exaggerated oriental features are wrong because the cats' welfare is not put first. It doesn't surprise me that you don't expect to make money, we don't make money on rescue cats which receive basic vet care rather than the extensive vet support you have. I do think that you and the OP are miles apart in knowledge, attitude and purpose. I believe she wants to make a fast buck, whatever the consequence to her cash generating resource "pet". Either that or she's just not that bright.

I don't agree with breeding animals for what is human benefit whether it be financial or just to get the "right" cat/dog etc. As for keeping them in cages well that is just plain cruel.
It just seems so industrial and not how it would be in the wild where I know it's brutal both for the female and the males fighting. PS. I'm not saying we should just let cats breed randomly as I'm a strong believer in neutering but at least that's how nature works in it's weird way.

@lljkk

Please please please report the breeder whose cats live in cages

Cactus I see no link with cat welfare and veganism, since cats are obligate carnivores its pretty hard to reconcile cat owning of any kind and veganism.

Like Catching you are a responsible breeder, pet rats are lovely and they have to come from somewhere, since unlike cats they are not wandering the streets waiting to be rescued. If there were no fancy rat breeders presumably they would stop being pets. The same is not true for cats, there is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of rescue cats.

A cat that has had repeated heat cycles over three years runs a well known risk of disease as has been explained.

There is no evidence to suggest that the OP is anything other than a more ambitious version of the backyard breeder that we agree is irresponsible. She just has bigger £ signs in her eyes.

CactusSpikes I doubt there's as many domestic rats in shelters looking for new homes as there are cats, which is the point here. There are so many cats and kittens needing rehoming of all types and breeds that unless you have an exceptionally good reason for it, breeding is irresponsible.

CatchingBabies has a very specific reason for breeding her show quality Ragdoll as explained in a different thread - she wants a specific colour from a specific bloodline for showing, and there's only one way to get that.That's completely different from spending 3 years trying to breed from a cat with no specific reason given!

Farm animals are bred up to the numbers that are useful and wanted; the morals of that are a whole different subject which this isn't the place for. There aren't that many herds of cows running feral out in the countryside because people don't want a pet any more & have dumped it un-neutered to breed uncontrollably.

BTW I adore domestic rats, I think that's my second choice house pet after cats. Got any nice pics of them?

Rat breeding is hugely different to cat breeding! I have 8 rats currently and 3 of them are babies from an oops litter when we ended up rescuing 2 males and a female who were kept together.
There are very few rats in rescue, we don't spay or neuter rats as a given only for aggressiveness in males because of the risks of anesthesia on such a small animal. I fully support good rat breeders the same way I would fully support a good cat breeder who was doing it from love of the breed and to enhance it i.e one who didn't have to ask mumsnet for tips or one who didn't put their cat through 3 years of mating somehow I doubt this litter will survive if its taken the queen this long to get pregnant considering how easy it usually is for cats to conceive.

OP isn't a professional breeder, she's blatantly done it for money with no research and probably no health checks. It's a scummy thing to do to breed for money when so many animals are dying for want of a home.

I am glad that some of you see the difference between a responsible and ethical pedigree breeder and an amateur breeder which sadly tends to be code for breeding from pets that bring nothing to the breed standard or gene pool.

I think reputable breeders can do more to stop this by early neutering their pet kittens which many like myself are starting to do. There is a lot of research now proving this to be safe and more and more vets are doing it. Sadly many of have learnt the hard way that a non active registration, signed contract and withholding pedigree papers until proof of neutering doesn't stop some people.

I also strongly disagree with breeding for extreme features that cause poor health in both cats and dogs and think the GCCF should stop registering these breeds and let them die out or at least outcross them to get rid of these features.

I've often said that breeders should be licensed, I don't know how it work in theory but legislation to ensure appropriate tests are done prior to breeding and regular welfare checks, some way of ensuring breeders take responsibility for their kittens no matter how many years later it may be. Rescues should not be picking up the mess that these selfish breeders create, having volunteered for my local rescue for a number of years I know how hard it for them without this also.

OP if you are still reading, did your female have any veterinary investigation as to why she did not fall pregnant for 3 years? I would be worried there was a problem somewhere and that her pregnancy may not be trouble free.