Cynology and felinology are incredibly fascinating fields. Those who once plunged into this special world will definitely begin to consider it a calling. Moreover, even unfamiliar breeders will become their spiritual family.
The desire to show off their favorite breed to the entire Galaxy and make at least a couple of hundred people happy appears for some almost from childhood, for others - already in adulthood. And almost everyone has thought at least once about how to open a cat or dog nursery.
It’s really not always easy, but those who love their breed with all their hearts and strive to improve it are not afraid of difficulties. Read our article about how to open a nursery (or breeding farm) and turn your cherished dream into reality.
What are the pros and cons of business?
Breeding cats has both advantages and disadvantages. It is imperative that you familiarize yourself with them even before proceeding directly to reproduction.
Important. Any animal, regardless of breed, requires money and attention.
The more cats were taken to start with, the more money will have to be invested in raising them. The benefits noted by business owners include:
- relatively small financial costs for purchasing a female or pair;
- quick payback;
- no need to obtain a license;
- ease of combination with other work.
But there are also disadvantages that are quite significant. Studying them, some novice businessmen abandon their idea. There is always high competition among breeders. Also, when starting a business, you need to have basic knowledge of felinology and zoomedicine. You can't do without them.
It is also important to understand that a cat requires a lot of attention during the period of bearing offspring. Most likely you will have to take a vacation from your main job. No matter how sad it is, there is always a risk that some of the pets or the female herself will die. Even if the birth was successful, you should not relax. After delivery, your cat may experience complications.
Another disadvantage is the irregularity of earnings. There may be only one kitten in a litter, which means that the investment will not pay off. At the same time, a cat can be bred only once every 7-8 months.
Paperwork
This issue should be considered after the acquisition of breeding sires. By the way, sometimes you can buy them in adult, reproductive age. Or rent by agreement. The paperwork will be completed by the head of the club where you will register (this must be done). Among the main documents you will have to provide are your passport and the animal's pedigree.
There is no need for licensing or state registration. The application for registration of a nursery will contain three name options. A package of documents will be sent to the central office, where specialists will check the uniqueness of the nursery name. If none have been registered before, your project will be assigned official status.
Business plan
When figuring out how to become a cat breeder and where to start, making a business plan is a must. It will help you analyze the chosen niche and make a final conclusion. The business plan should include risks, opportunities, sales routes, competitor analysis, financial and marketing plans.
Costs and profits
At the initial stages, only approximate data can be calculated. The price for breeding purebred cats depends on the chosen breed and the number of animals. It will take approximately *1.5 million rubles to create a nursery with 10 cats. If each of them gives birth to at least 4 kittens, then you can achieve an income of *1.2 million rubles.
*Prices are current as of September 2021.
Nursery organization
When figuring out how to open your own cattery, you need to understand that a large number of animals cannot be kept in an apartment. Pets will require a separate large room. There are a lot of other nuances that will need to be taken into account.
Breeding room
The room should be spacious and bright. At home, you can allocate a large separate room for animals or build a separate building. If possible, females and males should be kept separately. It is advisable to additionally have an open enclosure outside for walks.
Suitable conditions for keeping
To raise cats, the room must be equipped with ventilation and a heating system. This will make the animals’ stay in the nursery comfortable.
Equipment preparation
There must be cat litter trays, food plates, scratching posts, beds and toys.
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Additionally, you should have combs, animal care products, nail clippers and other additional accessories in your arsenal.
Breeding plant or still a nursery?
Alas, thanks to the efforts of amateur clubs, these concepts have practically become equal. However, serious organizations continue to keep a distance between nurseries and breeding plants. This applies to both cynology and felinology. Registration of a cattery requires several breeding animals and the appropriate education to prove that you truly understand issues such as biology and genetics.
You will be asked to provide a diploma from a veterinarian, doctor, dog handler or livestock specialist. If you don’t have any, you will have to take courses and pass exams. Training programs are usually carried out by club leaders.
The status of a nursery can be assigned without the presence of the listed documents, if the operation of the breeding plant (for registration of which just one purebred animal is enough) has been impeccable (successful) for ten years. It must be said that in different countries these rules may differ (or amendments are made), so check the details with the nearest official branches and clubs.
Breed selection
The most popular breeds are exotics, Maine Coons, British, Scottish, and Sphynxes. Such cats have been in demand for many years and their popularity has not yet decreased. Breeding Bengal cats as a business is also profitable. However, Bengals are very demanding in terms of maintenance. You need to understand that this animal has many qualities from its wild counterparts.
website of the nursery of Siberian cats and Neva Masquerade cats *STAR OF THE MASQUERADE*
Allergy
Allergy is a typical immunopathological process,
expressed by hypersensitivity of the immune system
body upon repeated exposure
allergen to earlier
an organism sensitized by this allergen.
Allergy - Wikipedia
ru.wikipedia.org›Allergies
Hypoallergenic
The concept of “hypoallergenicity” consists of two components:
“hypo”, which indicates a decrease, and “allergenicity” - the ability to cause an allergic reaction.
A material that has this property is characterized
reduced likelihood of allergic reactions
upon contact or reduces the likelihood of allergies.
9. Due to the nature of our work, we often have to face questions about the hypoallergenicity of Siberian and Neva masquerade cats. There are more and more people suffering from various allergies, and they want to have a pet in the house. The Internet provides a life-saving straw - Siberian cats are hypoallergenic. There are a lot of statements, articles and videos on this topic on the Internet. With this article we will try to share our knowledge on this topic, accumulated over the years of working with cats.
What causes cat allergies? Firstly, wool, secondly, the protein of saliva left by the animal on the fur when licking, and thirdly, secretions of the internal secretion organs.
There is an opinion that the fur of Siberian and Neva masquerade cats in itself is not allergic, but an allergy can be caused by a protein in the saliva. But its concentration in the saliva of Siberian cats is reduced relative to other breeds. In this case, this is a life-saving chance for allergy sufferers. But we must take into account that protein is still there, just in a reduced concentration. He is! And the allergy to it does not go away.
There are a number of ways to reduce your cat's exposure to allergens.
There is only one way to minimize the secretion of internal secretion organs - this is castration (sterilization) of the Siberian or Neva masquerade animal before the onset of puberty, that is, no earlier than 6 and no later than 10-11 months (the timing varies depending on the “related lines” of the nursery - “early” or “late” maturation, animals predominate in it). In cats, this reduces the amount, but does not provide a 100% guarantee of a complete absence of discharge. Sterile cats are more preferable for allergy sufferers, since if the age limits for sterilization are observed, their reproductive glands completely stop secreting.
It is impossible to medically remove saliva protein from fur. The only thing that can help with this is washing the animal with special shampoos.
The benefits of these procedures are obvious. But there are also negative sides. Excessively early castration (sterilization) - before the onset of puberty - can affect the size of the animal’s “ureteral canals,” and this, in turn, affects the possibility of developing urolithiasis. Very frequent washing of an animal with special shampoos also has a bad effect on health, since the active detergents of shampoos enter the animal’s body through the skin, where they accumulate. To summarize briefly, it turns out that there is still a chance of an allergy to Siberian and Neva masquerade cats. The reaction may be dim, blurry, but it can appear.
Potential buyers suffering from allergies should be clearly aware of this risk and understand that they are ready to endure the inconvenience associated with allergies when owning a cat.
If an adult gets a cat, he usually understands this very well. And he realizes. And I’m ready to look for a way out of this situation. If there is a child in the family with allergies, then he and his health will always be in the first place for the Parents. In this case, you should not get a kitten.
In various Blogs on the Internet, you can find advice for people who suffer from allergies and want to buy a Siberian kitten in a nursery - come to the nursery, sit there for two or three hours, talk to the animals and understand whether there is an allergy or not, and whether you are ready for it tolerate. The advice is very interesting. How do you imagine this? During the week, 2-3 families with allergies call and want to “sit down” like this. They come and sit. And the owners of the nursery have nothing else to do except “sit” and drink tea and coffee. The nursery is not a guest house for playing with kittens. We have a lot to do both at work and at home.
Also, it is necessary to keep in mind that in the nursery, in addition to kittens, there are always adult mating animals, and their internal secretion organs function actively. The experiment is obviously doomed to failure.
What should people do who really want cats, but are allergic? We need to approach this problem from a different angle.
Firstly, try to find friends who have a Siberian or Neva Masquerade sterilized cat or have recently bought a kitten, and chat with them, visit their home. This will be a cleaner experiment.
Secondly, understand that allergies will not go away. It can only get stronger. Make a decision for yourself what you are willing to do to fulfill your desire to have a Siberian kitten - sedatives, more frequent cleaning of the apartment, ozonation and air purification devices, air humidification, or something else. In my practice, there was a case when the husband of the owner of the cattery suddenly developed an allergy after 6 years of working with cats. Hurricane. But adults found a way not to liquidate the nursery and continue to do what they love.
The conditions for selling a kitten in our nursery are as follows: we try not to sell animals to people with allergies. In the text of our Animal Sale Agreement, there is a clause stating that if the animal is returned due to an allergy, the money for the animal will not be returned. This is not for financial reasons. We try to stop people from rash acts of creating unnecessary problems for themselves, and also, we value the lives of the kittens we raised and are not indifferent to their fate.
Birth and care of kittens
The place for childbirth must be prepared starting from the 30th day. This could be a large closed box or a bed. If the birth goes well, then the cat will not need outside help.
The breeder must be near the cat at the time of birth. The animal may not be able to perform any tasks efficiently. You may need help clearing fluid from your kitten's nose, rupturing the fetal sac, or cutting the umbilical cord, for example. There may be more serious problems. That is why you need to agree with a veterinarian in case of emergency assistance. At first, the cat will provide all the necessary care. Only in the future you will need to accustom the kittens to the tray and natural food or food.
Now let's try to calculate income
Let's say you have two girls. You can get offspring from them no earlier than at the end of the second year of their life. In this case, you will have to pay for mating with a breeding producer.
If he is titled and has high-class offspring, aim for 20,000 rubles (or even more, although these issues are discussed and bargaining is appropriate here). So, by the end of the second year you can get offspring from two females.
On average this can be 12 kittens (puppies). While your nursery is little known, the cost of the babies will be much lower - say, 25,000 rubles. In total it will be 300,000 rubles. Minus the mating, we get 260,000 rubles.
It turns out that your breeding females can pay for themselves in just two years, and from the third they will begin to make a profit. Of course, provided that they mate only once a year (no more often!!!), the animals will not get sick, and the offspring will be healthy and meet the standard.
Kittens for sale
Breeding cats as a business is difficult. Kittens are expensive, so it’s unlikely to sell them too quickly. You can use different marketing channels - bulletin boards, newspapers and magazines, forums, social networks, exhibitions.
If the kittens grow and become more difficult to sell, the price may need to be reduced. Or you can keep the best animal from the litter for further breeding.
