Mating cats. Mating of British cats

General rules

Mating of cats is carried out with the obligatory observance of the following recommendations:

• Everything should happen in the cat's territory. In this case, he will be more confident and the chances of success will increase. If you bring a cat to a cat, he will not begin his duties until he has marked the entire territory, which, of course, is not very pleasant.
• Together with the cat, you need to bring her house and the food she is used to.
• Both animals must be vaccinated. In addition, a week before mating, you need to carry out the procedure for expelling worms.
• For mating, animals are selected that are well-fed, active, and with pronounced characteristics of the breed.
• Cats need to be monitored during the procedure. There must be at least three successful cages. In this case, you can be guaranteed to get a litter. Therefore, the cat is left with the cat for 2-3 days, but no more than 4. Otherwise, some kittens may be born premature.
• You should not select partners based on advertisements. Even on Avito. Mating cats will certainly be more successful if the boy is found through the club.
• The first mating is done at the age of 1.5-2 years. Cats that are too young may have problems bearing offspring. You can’t delay the first mating either. Cats who have been nulliparous for a long time often develop problems with the reproductive system, including oncology.

Mating British cats: choosing a partner

This breed is currently one of the most popular. The British are distinguished by their large build and pleasant-to-touch “plush” coat. Their beautiful color also attracts cat lovers.

When choosing manufacturers, you should pay special attention to the last sign. Otherwise, the color of the kittens may turn out unattractive. For example, a black or blue cat would be a very good choice for a tabby cat. In this case, the babies will probably have spectacular stripes of the corresponding color on their backs. But a chocolate male is absolutely not suitable for such a lady. Otherwise, her children's fur will get a reddish tint, which is considered a disadvantage among the British. It is recommended to breed pure black or cream cats with males of exactly the same color. In this case, the pleasant shade of the animal’s fur will be retained in the offspring.

Why you can’t cross a fold-eared cat with a fold-eared cat

It is precisely in the plane of mating of two fold-eared parents that all the negative genetic consequences in kittens appear. It was proven first experimentally, and later scientific evidence appeared, that all congenital health problems in Scottish cats occur precisely because of this configuration.

Initially, it was believed that the FdFd gene, which is responsible for lop ears, exists in an autosomal dominant form. Later, the nature of his partial dominance was revealed, which changed the entire original concept.

1. When mating two fold-eared FdFd, the heirs exhibit all the genetic defects - deformation of the tail and limbs, fusion of the vertebrae and other diseases.
2. Crossing a fold-eared FdFd with the same fold-eared dog, but with Fdfd or fdFd, eliminates any health problems and produces offspring with curled ears.
3. It is possible to mate Fdfd Fold (fdFd) and Scottish Straight fdfd. In this case, “mixed” children are born.

It turns out that you can breed a straight-eared cat (straight) with a fold-eared cat, and vice versa, there will be no negative impact on the health of the kittens in such a union. But when two Scottish folds are mated, you need to be sure that at least one of the parents has the homozygous Fdfd allele (fdFd).

There is one more. Some kittens have ears that fold first and later rise, although in fact the animals have genes for lop ears. A gradation has been developed according to which the Scots can have 1, 2 or even 3 folds. In the latter case, the auricle is 100% guaranteed to be adjacent to the head and there can no longer be any external changes to it. But the first option is the riskiest. Visually, the animal looks straight-eared, although it has the lop-eared gene.

If crossed with a Scottish Fold, the offspring will most likely get hereditary diseases. So when breeding straight-eared Scottish Straights, you need to have complete confidence in the consistency of the genetics and appearance of the pets.

Exterior manufacturers

In addition, you should pay attention to the exterior of the manufacturers in general. You should not bring your pet with a cat that has too light a bone, a small head or a stretched body. Particular attention should be paid to the applicant's eyes. They should not be oblique. It is also not allowed to have an extra claw on any of the paws. Both of these characteristics will certainly be inherited.

Mating of British cats is usually carried out only with cats that have diplomas. The pedigree should be checked up to the fourth generation. Of course, it’s better if there are champion animals in dad’s family. You can't mix Britons with Scots.

Features of estrus in British cats

The owner will immediately notice the pet’s readiness to reproduce offspring by its changed behavior. Traditional signs of heat in a British woman:

1. Begins to show excessive affection, especially towards the owner, constantly demanding attention and tenderness from him - this is the very first sign of an approaching heat.
2. Quite often he takes an unusual pose, strongly arches his back, resting on his hind legs, and raises his hips.
3. In an unusual position - on bent legs and with a raised pelvis, he moves around the house.
4. The tail and back of the body often trembles.
5. Constantly licks itself under its tail.
6. Meows too often and makes other, unusual and atypical sounds, especially at night.

It is impossible to ignore these symptoms. The first heat occurs with less pronounced symptoms, and subsequent ones - with more intense symptoms. The duration of the period of readiness for mating is from 5 to 7 days. The interval between estrus may vary depending on the individual characteristics of cats and range from 15 to 20 days.

Giving any drugs to relieve signs of estrus to British cats is strictly prohibited, despite their good help. Over time, such drugs lead to disruptions in the hormonal system and can cause the growth of cancer.

Some owners prefer to give the cat for mating, but give her contraceptives. Under no circumstances should you do this. To prevent the female from driving her crazy with her screams during estrus, provided that procreation is not planned, it is better to sterilize her. Contraceptives have an extremely negative impact on the health of the animal.

How is mating done?

During heat, a British breed cat becomes restless, rubs against surrounding objects and calls for a male. Of course, she needs to find a suitable partner in advance. As soon as you notice this behavior in your pet, call the cat's owner. Mating of cats is carried out on the 2-3rd day after the start of estrus. The brought expectant mother must be left in the room where the “acquaintance” will take place for a couple of hours. This is necessary for her to get used to it. After this you can start the cat. If he does not show interest in his partner, the cat should be brought to him and her tail raised. Sometimes she herself does not want to communicate with the chosen partner - he hisses, bites and fights. In this case, it should be left in the apartment where the cat lives for a couple of days. Most likely, after a while she will get used to it, and everything will end well.

When mating, a young male cat may have to be helped to properly grasp the withers of his partner. Such animals often cling too high or low. As a result, it is inconvenient for them to do the landing and it may be wasted. The success of the procedure is determined by the cat’s behavior after it. If everything went well, she screams, then falls on her side and begins to lick her genitals.

Scottish Mating

At the moment, two varieties of cats of this breed are bred - fold-eared and with straight regular ears. One of the basic rules of mating in this case is that the former must be mated only with the latter. This means that fold-eared cats cannot be crossed with cats of the same type. This is due to the fact that this breed is very young and has not yet established itself. With such crossing, kittens can be born with various types of defects. Fortunately, individuals with straight ears are always carriers of the lop-eared gene. As already mentioned, mating of Scottish cats with British cats is not allowed. The fact is that the latter have a more powerful constitution. Therefore, crossing can lead to the appearance of kittens with musculoskeletal disorders.

Theoretically, a lop-eared girl, after “meeting” a partner with straight ears, should have about 4 lop-eared kittens in her litter. In practice, sometimes 1-2 kittens are born, sometimes all babies have this trait, etc. That is, it is impossible to accurately predict the number of Scottish Folds. Of course, it is impossible to determine the baby’s exterior features in this regard immediately after birth. Fold ear appears approximately on the 18th day after birth. Mating of fold cats, as you can see, is not a very troublesome procedure in terms of a partner, but does not have a predictable result.

MAIN POINTS TO BE REMEMBERED BEFORE MATING

Let's consider the main points when mating British dogs that are worth paying attention to.

HEALTH

Before mating, you should make sure that the future sire is in good health. The veterinary passport must contain the following notes:

• vaccination against infectious diseases (done less than a year ago). It is better that the vaccine contains a vaccine against trichopolum and chlamydia. This is important, because cats that breed cats can be carriers of this disease.
• against rabies (made less than a year ago)
• deworming (against worms), done less than a month ago
• prevention against parasites: fleas/worms, etc.

It is also important to visually examine the animal. A Briton should look healthy and well-groomed. The eyes and nose are clean, the ears are free of dark spots (ear mites).

COLOR

The color of the kittens depends on the color of the future parents.

You need to remember that there are 2 groups of colors:

1. black (black, blue, lilac, chocolate, cinnamon, fawn)
2. red (red (or red) and cream).

If mating of a British cat and a male cat is planned from different groups of colors, then the litter will contain tortoiseshell kittens.

There are also two special colors:

• gold
• silver (smoky)

Important rules:

1. golden cats mate with golden or sometimes silver (no other color!)
2. silver is also desirable only with silver or gold, but in some cases mating with other colors is also allowed.

The fact is that mating British cats of these colors is difficult, genetics takes its toll and kittens when mixing gold/silver colors with others, most often turn out to be defective.

In addition to external marriages, there may also be genetic ones. Everyone knows white cats with blue eyes - they are often deaf (this is due to a genetic semi-lethal gene). Such genes may also be present in your cat's color. Therefore, if you are planning to breed, it is better to first consult a professional.

It is also worth remembering that in addition to dominant genes, there are recessive genes that are not visible, but cats carry them. It is best to plan the mating taking into account all the colors in the pedigree of both the male and female.

EYE COLOR

No matter how funny it may seem, eye color plays a huge role. What you should know:

• orange eyes only go with orange (all their shades: copper, brown, golden, etc.) or blue;
• green eyes only go with green (the more saturated the color, the better) or blue;
• blue eyes are found only in color-point (Siamese) or white colors; they can be bred with any, but you should strictly take into account the color of the coat.

CLOSE RELATIONS

It is also worth remembering about the relatives of British cats and female cats when mating. There are cases when professional breeders resort to inbreeding (related) matings, but they do this very deliberately and have calculated the results in advance.

If you are not experienced, do not take risks, because you can get dead kittens, serious complications in formation and development, underdevelopment in the form of a “cleft palate,” etc. In addition to a litter of kittens, a cat can also suffer. Even pregnancy itself can have complications.

DIMENSIONS

There is no doubt that the British value size, especially large individuals of the cobby type. But when mating, it is advisable to select pairs that do not differ too much in size. This is especially important if the British cat is planning her first birth, and she herself is small. The kittens may turn out to be large (like the cat's father), the cat simply will not be able to give birth to them on her own. There may be serious problems both during childbirth and in the future.

BRITISH TYPE

Naturally, everyone wants to get beautiful kittens that meet all the standards, the right type of British, good color, etc. Mating of British cats and cats When mating British cats, you need to externally evaluate the cat and the cat - future producers. It is important to know: no shortcoming can be corrected by another shortcoming. If you see weaknesses in your pet, then your partner should not have it.

MATING OF THE BRITISH WITH THE SCOTTS

Such mating has been prohibited since 2006. Both breeds are closed and breeding between them should not be planned. And this ban is not only on theoretical grounds, but due to the fact that when Scottish cats are mated with British cats, the kittens develop serious skeletal defects. In addition, all such kittens can immediately be “attributed” to outbreds. Read the differences between the British and the Scots here.

FIRST MATING OF A BRITISH CAT

It should take place no earlier than a year, and preferably after 1 year and 3 months. It is better to plan the first mating for 2-3 heats. However, it also happens that cats start asking for a cat very early (at 8 months, and sometimes earlier) or very late. Here you need to consider the situation individually. It is also worth remembering that prolonged estrus or its absence can be the cause of hormonal imbalance. It might be worth having your cat examined.

BLOOD TYPE

Mating must be planned, knowing exactly the blood type of the partners. If the blood type does not match, then the offspring may have a blood type conflict with the maternal one, and within 2-3 days after birth, the kittens die or have serious physical health problems (the most common is the tip of the tail falls off). A blood type test can be done in a veterinary clinic (there is a rapid test (results within 10 minutes, determines only the main blood type) or a full test (determining the recessive part of the gene).

DOCUMENTS FOR KITTENS FROM FUTURE MATING

As you can see, planning a mating of British cats and female cats is not as easy as it seems. If your pet has all the documents for professional breeding, feel free to contact the club, they will help you form a suitable pair, both genetically and externally, in order to get healthy and beautiful offspring.

You can obtain documents for future kittens by following the correct mating route:

1. The stud cat must be a member of the club, take part in at least one exhibition before mating and receive the approval of experts in the adult class (after 10 months).
2. The stud cat must be a member of the club, take part in exhibitions before mating and receive at least a minimum title in the adult class (after 10 months).
3. The mating must be registered with the club (before mating, the chairman of the club issues a referral, which must subsequently be signed by the owners of the sires)
4. After the birth of kittens, it is necessary to bring the kitten at 2 months of age for certification (examination by an expert) along with a completed referral for mating.
5. The chairman (or breeding director) must draw up a litter certificate.

If there are no documents for your pet, there are two ways:

1. Restore documents and go through all the procedures for proper mating (buy a pedigree from the breeder, join a club, take part in at least one exhibition in the adult class of cats (over 10 months), receive an “excellent” rating from breed experts).
2. Spay/neuter your pet and not expose it to the risks of diseases and complications. First of all, you took a pet for emotional communication and for the soul. And for those who are chasing profit - contact any breeder, they will tell you that this does not bring profit at all, and sometimes even this hobby can be unprofitable.

Mating of sphinxes

The basic rule for selecting a partner in this case is that you cannot cross hairless animals with hairless ones. Such a cat should choose a “velor” or “brush” partner. Otherwise, the offspring may develop various kinds of genetic diseases. Mating of Sphynx cats can only be done after the female partner has gone through her first two heats. However, it is also not recommended to delay this procedure. A Sphynx cat should be paired with a cat before the age of 1.5 years, since puberty occurs quite early in representatives of this breed.

This is how cats of different breeds are mated. By observing the conditions for selecting partners and the rules of mating itself, you can actually get good offspring and make good money. Pedigree kittens are quite expensive these days.

Who can breed a Scottish Fold cat with?

The issue of choosing a mating partner in the Scottish Fold group plays a major role. It's all about complex genetics, which affects the health of the offspring, their immunity and compliance with breed qualities. Breeders have never been able to achieve sustainable results when breeding fold-eared cats.

Small flaws in the breed remain, but negative consequences can only be avoided if Scottish Fold cats are bred according to the rules, even at home.

Fold is caused by the presence of a simple dominant gene FdFd in the genetic map of the animal.

The very first Scottish Fold cat was bred with ordinary cats. As soon as the group expanded and boys with drooping ears appeared, they were also included in the breeding plan.

Due to inbreeding (closely related mating of mother and sons or brothers and sisters), animals developed problems with joints and bones. It was possible to breed Scottish Fold cats with ordinary cats, but in this case the breeders would get both straight-eared and fold-eared children. And the experimenters really wanted all the kittens to be real folds.

All hereditary diseases were then attributed to intrabreed mating, and almost put an end to the future fate of the Scottish Fold. Later, the Americans abandoned the idea of ​​​​producing 100% of the offspring with the auricle mutation, and began to cross both lines (straight-eared and curved-eared), thereby rehabilitating the unique animals. They developed a strategy, approved standards and launched the mass breeding of Scottish fold cats at home and in nurseries.