I know I said in my last post that I was going to chill out and stop fretting re the dangers of breeding.
But I have just been lurking on another very well know forum and everyone seems to be wailing about dead / dying kittens and even queens all the time.
On average, how many kittens out of how many litters should one be prepared to lose?
Please say something comforting . . . .

Also, how long does a queen have to stay with the stud on average? Is it an overnight thing, or a week? I know that horses usually stay together for about a week to make sure. There is a policy re horses called NFNF - no foal, no fee, but a failed attempt usually means that you can bring the mare back free of charge for another go.

Does this apply in the cat world? Lyra's breeder and the owner of her prospective husband is very helpful but I don't want to be too ignorant and bother her with silly questions . . . when I have you lovely people to bother instead.

God Tanith, they're a cheerful lot..As long as Lyra is fit and healthy and the boy is too there's no reason why you should have this sort of trouble. I get the impression that some breeds are prone to problems but bengals seem to be strong cats and unless there's some particular reason you should not have a problem.

Sometimes hidden (or even obvious) infections be they cat flu, chlamydia etc can cause dead kittens but again if you look carefully at your girl and the boy before proceeding and all seems well it probably will be.

Care of the girl after mating and making sure she's comfortable in the lead up to kittening (and has the place she wants to kitten in sorted out) is important as stress during pregnancy can cause major problems and dead / premature kittens.


Make sure if her vaccination booster is due while she is pregnant you wait until well after the kittens are born to get it done as this would almost certainly cause a problem if done whilst she is pregnant.

Regarding stud service, most breeders offer free return visits until confirmation of pregnancy, pretty much the same thing as horses by the sound of it.

As to how long she needs to be at the breeder most cats will be in season for 3 - 4 days but Lyra should not need to stay with the breeder for that long if you time it right. Of course it might be difficult to time it exactly so you might find it easier to leave her for a few days if the breeder is a long way off. We aim for our girls to have 8 - 10 good matings, that's all it should take, this could all be in one day. Does the breeder do supervised matings or let the cats run together?

Don't panic Tanith ......There are some horrors stories out there about kitten deaths and queens not surviving labour, Just take on board as much info as you can just in case the worst happens then it can be dealt with in a swift and timely manner.

Most books and articles on cat breeding will put a figure of 1 in every 10 kittens will not make it.....so you may think thats bad, but really its just natures way and will happen to you at some stage!

If you do everything right and have everything prepared then kittening will go nice and smoothly.....in most cases your only there to spectate, However the crucial thing is knowing when to act should something go wrong!

As rajique said - the health of the stud and of the queen is everything and provided both are in peak condition and free from any illnesses you shouldn't have any problems......some breeders will even give anti-biotics to the queen before mating and about a week before kittening time just to be on the safe side.

Anyways when the time comes don't feel you have to worry alone.....we'll all be here and the vet is only a phone call away!

You can also find our number and call it anytime night or day if you get worried.....we're happy to offer support to others, even in the wee small hours we will answer the phone.....theres always someone awake on kitten-watch duty in our house!

Lukey

Thanks again guys.

I think that on the other forum people do write in when they are stressing about things (which is the forum's extremely worthy purpose) so it can give an unrealistic impression of how bad things can be. Like reading a medical dictionary can make you feel a bit off-colour.

I know with lambs that sometime there is just nothing you can do - some of them just don't seem to want to have been born. Some survive difficulties and treatment and others refuse to take an interest. As if they are saying "What . . I am a sheep? Forget it . . I am going back for another go at a different body . ."

Rajique - the breeder, thankfully, does supervise the matings. If only to protect her stud from unwilling queens. She said that once they had a young queen that was absolutely terrified and Neo (her stud) saw this and didn't attempt to force her but, instead, brought her toys to play with and generally chatted her up first. How sweet is that?

I think the same applies to all animals, we've learned by experience that with cats mum almost always knows best. When we started out we hand fed a tiny kitten which the mum wouldn't touch for days and days only to watch it's weight fail to increase and then it finally faded away. You have to ask yourself what's in the kitten's best interest and make the call as to what you do for the best. Then you ask yourself if you should continue with breeding from that girl and find out what the problem was if possible.

But to put things in perspective out of our last seven litters we have had two 'problem' kittens which I don't think is bad.

I honestly believe that lots of those people stressing on the other forums (but don't think i'm not sympathetic because I really am) should look at why they are having problems before continuing breeding. There was an email knocking about a few months ago from a poor lady who lost a great many kittens, I think several whole litters apparently due to a hidden infection. She finally solved the problem with antibiotics and carried on. The point is there was a reason for her difficulties, kittens don't just die for no reason.

Also I really believe bengals are stronger than the average cat and certainly must be genetically less prone to problems due to the diverse ancestry.

And you only have to view some of the posts on here and fantastic offers of direct personal help to see that support is out there if you need it. By the way re something you said previously I wouldn't worry about whether you think that you are bothering the stud breeder with too many questions - ask away. Most would love to have as much dialogue as possible with people bringing a girl to their boy and let's face it the mating fee isn't cheap.

You'll have some lovely kittens and enjoy the experience. Only thing is you won't want to let them go.