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Breeding |
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Have you the time ? Your queen will not necessary have the kittens on the day you expect, she should not be left on her own to birth, not if you want live kittens, these are highly bred animals, some queens won't even touch the kittens until YOU'VE, taken them out of the sac, cut the cord and cleaned them up. Can you afford the vet bills ? Your girl may need a Caesarean, these are usually three figures £££, and at night or weekend, which is usually when they need one, it could cost an arm or a leg. Then you have inoculations, blood tests, dentals, all these cost money and have to be done regularly. Cats are cheap to feed!! I don't think so, if you are going to have healthy cats and kittens, they must have high quality food, most breeders, myself included, dare not add up the monthly food bill. Top quality biscuit, meat, fish, eggs, plus tinned food, then there's cat litter, not to mention heating, stud fees, registrations and advertising your kittens. There are all sorts of problems you may come across, a common one is the queen has no milk, would you be able to do two hourly feeds, every day and every night ? For at least 3 weeks, believe me it's hard work and remember there's no guarantee that they will survive. |
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You want your kittens to win on the show bench, most of the breeders who win, have spent a lot of time breeding and showing the offspring before they found the winning formula. You need to study your pedigrees and ask and listen to advice, if your cat does not win, it's not because the judge is crooked, there is a lot to learn, be patient and listen to the experienced breeders and judges. |
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We all have our different ways, I will tell you mine. I put down a selection of food, I make sure there is always something there for them as my girls like to eat a little at a time. Minced Turkey, Lamb, Pork, Rabbit, Chicken all cooked, Coley, Tuna, Wild Pink Salmon, I feed all these, I also always have biscuit down for them, usually a mixture of Hills, James Wellbeloved and Royal Canin, these are the good quality biscuits I prefer to use, pregnant girls especially need a good healthy diet, I also give these girls Calcium & vit D tablets two or three times a week. My stud boy has a selection too, plus a little treat at night before I lock up the stud house, usually a little Ham or Roast Chicken |
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I start weaning around the 3 to 4 week mark, depending on how forward the kittens are. 1st SCRAMBLED EGG Beat an egg with neat evaporated milk, I do it in the Microwave, as soon as it's sloppy add a walnut size lump of butter and a little more evaporated milk, I serve it on a flat plate and as soon as it's cool enough I gently dip their noses in it, the queen will finish what the kittens leave, it helps to keep her in condition, most kittens will only eat a little, but you get the odd one you think will never leave the plate 2nd RICE PUDDING I simply add a lump of butter to warmed up rice pudding, served on a flat plate. 3rd WHISKERS KITTEN SUPERMEAT I warm this and mash it well adding evaporated milk and removing tubing out of it, after a week on this I leave out the milk but still watch out for the tubing, I once lost a 6 week old kitten when it choked on it 4 th Roast Chicken, I give this in big chunks, it gives them something to chew on. Raw minced Beef, I slightly warm this before I give it to them. Pilchards in Tomato sauce, I don't give this until they've been eating a couple of weeks, I mash in evaporated milk for when I first introduce it. You will find some kittens prefer Milky food, some Fish and some Meat, I always put a selection down. I also always keep a selection of kitten biscuits down, James Wellbeloved, Royal Canin , Hills are all good quality ones. |
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There are many different methods, a book I think every breeder should own is Betty Bloomfield's book, it contains everything you need to know. I use two different recipes. I use the first recipe for hand rearing, as the kittens get older I use less water, ending up with just Evaporated milk. The second recipe I use for topping up a large litter. The best feeding bottle I've found is like a babies bottle, it's made by Sherley's and is called a Lactol feeding bottle, it has a screw on lid which holds the teat on. |
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