white cats

sid

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my family and alot of friends would like zvirka and sven to have babies( separately ) . when they come tu us it is just them all the time .we are invisible .and we cook good . they are in love with them .
after alot thought , why not, but we know there is bunch of problems about that .genetics etc....
if it was for breeding or .. we would never do that, but we know that our babies are gonna stay in family and loved like we all love our babies . . like a big happy family .
CAN YOU GIVE US ADVICE ABOUT IS IT POSSIBLE , WHAT ARE OUR SOLUTIONS , what breed is suitable for them . it is a firstime that we have white cats so we are searching for answers .

ZVIRKA, SVEN , MARINA, GOGA & SID
 

tamme

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I have a lot of questions, basically just to clear up what exactly you mean by your questions and statements.

You say Sven and Zvirka can't mate together because there are a lot of problems with genetics, I'm assuming this means that they're brother and sister and it would mean inbreeding, correct? Then I agree with you. And if they are related, then that means they are both white, correct?

You say you have many family members that love your cats, is this primarily because they are white? If so, why don't they adopt some themselves? There must be many shelters near you that have abandoned and homeless cats for cheap. This way it would prevent the useless multiplying of animals when others so desperatly need a home. I would strongly encourage you to get both of your cats neutered, not only so they don't reproduce but for health reasons as well - they will live longer, happier, and more comfortably while "altered".

You don't mention what breed your cats are, you only ask what breed is best for them. If I were involved in breeding, which I'm not, I would assume the same breed as the ones you have would be best to keep the same shape and basic personalities. But one white female could produce colored kittens. Depending on what her mother and father were. So if your family loves white cats, it would be better for all (your cats, the kittens, and your family included) if they adopted because then they would be sure to get the all-white cat they desire. And don't worry about personality of an older cat, an older cat has benefits too - they are already litter trained, 'fixed', and appreciate a home better than a kitten.

I'm sure you will hear a lot of answers from the others here that are more informed than mine. Please listen to them and take it to heart, we are all very good listeners and will never insult you or put you down. You did a good thing by asking questions first before jumping into a responsibility like this.

Take care, Tamme
 

bendy

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is to have them neutered. they will live longer and be happier that way.
there are many many MANY white cats needing homes. Shelters are usually stuffed full, the overabundance of unwanted animals is the reason so many are euthanized each year. Millions of animals are killed each year because they are unwanted. That includes white cats. Do the catworld a favor and adopt white cats instead of creating more.

Bendy
 

sockiesmom

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Originally posted by Bendy
is to have them neutered. they will live longer and be happier that way.
there are many many MANY white cats needing homes. Shelters are usually stuffed full, the overabundance of unwanted animals is the reason so many are euthanized each year. Millions of animals are killed each year because they are unwanted. That includes white cats. Do the catworld a favor and adopt white cats instead of creating more.

Bendy
I agree with Bendy. I just went to Petfinder.com and typed "white" in the breed box, and it came up with 121 cats for my province alone. Mind you, some of them are "gray and white", etc, but a good portion of them are pure white. Sid, I encourage you to see if you can find a shelter where you could adopt a white kitty or two. They would be very appreciative, and Zvirka and Sven will live longer, happier lives if you get them spayed/neutered.

Here are some of the kitties I found in my search...they are so beautiful...




 

binkyhoo

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sockiesmom, Im coming to Ontario to get me one of those white kittys! (just kidding, but good advice)
 

sockiesmom

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Originally posted by binkyhoo
sockiesmom, Im coming to Ontario to get me one of those white kittys! (just kidding, but good advice)
LOL. I want one, but my parents said one cat is the limit. I'll have to wait until I move out. Muahahahhaha.
 
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sid

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thanks


we adopted alot of cats and some other amimals during the years .my family and friends already have cats . most of them from shelter and some of pure breed.
alot of people, our vet ,said that is smart for cat to have poppies one time .???? with that information we were thinking ok let s do it just one time.we newer had poppies and zvirka and sven are something special . but we are not sure beacouse there is possibility that poppies are not gonna be able to hear . you have to understood that we live in croatia and to get some normal information , positive or negative is like mission impossible . thanks for info ,hope gonna get some more during the time .
about breed of zvirka and sven we are not sure .thay are also addopted .do you have some idea
.

zvirka and sven are realy special to us , of course we can addopt some cats and we are gonna do it ,doing it all the time so we think that it s not bad thing to once in our life to have our own poppies .
it is a pure love towards them , feeling like parents all the time .
you know what i mean , please don t be mad at us .

love , zvirka-sven-marina-goga&sid
 
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sid

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here is a link to pictures of zvirka, sven and our other 2 babies goldian finches . few breeders sugessted that thay are mix breed of angora or norwegian forest cat with domestic . check out sven ????
she is 8 months old and he s almost 2 years old .

zvirka :


sven :
 

dtolle

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Sid,

I am moving this to our breeders forum since your post has questions regarding breeding. It will get the proper attention there that it deserves. Thanks!
 

misha

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Sid,

Are you the same Sid who posted on another forum last week looking for info on what breeds to mate your mixed breed with?

Just incase you aren't, I will copy & paste what I said to the other Sid looking for information...

" Hi Sid,

I'm not sure if the rules are the same where you live, but here in Australia, no breeder would be permitted to let you use their stud, unless you were a registered breeder. It is extremely frowned upon to allow a stud cat to mate with a cat who's ancestry is undetermined.

Personally, I agree with these rules, they are in place for several reasons. However, if you are to go ahead, and can find a stud, you should be made aware of the following.

Both the stud & the queen will need to be tested for FIV & FeLV. Both cats will also need to be up to date with their vaccines.
Breeding may set you back a lot of money. Possible scenerios are...the queen needing an emergency caeserian, the queen developing mastitis, the kittens becoming sick, the kittens having some kind of genetic abnormality. Not knowing what lines your queen came from, you don't know if she is carrying any lethal, or semi lethal genes, which she would then pass onto her offspring.

If there is a problem with the queen, medical or other, you need to be prepared to hand raise the kittens until they are weaned. They will need feeding every 4 hours I believe.

Once old enough, the kittens will need two vaccinations, worming & desexing.

Breeders manage to recoup some of their money when they sell the kittens, but if you have a litter of mixed breed kittens, these will all be out of pocket expenses, and it's highly unlikely people will be willing to pay more than a few dollars for the kittens, even though you have vaccinated & desexed them.

I don't want to put a damper on your plans, but breeding is a serious committment, and one which quite often costs the breeder a lot of money. "

Julia.
 

sandie

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Because of all the problems that can be associated with breeding Domestic cats, and cats that are related, I really would advise on spaying and neutering them. I only say this from seeing first hand domestic breedings and such.
If your family is taken with the way that they look, I would have them look at the original Turkish Angora's. Although they come in all colors now, they started as white only.
 

tinytasha

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Sid, I will also repeat what I told you on that other forum.

Your cats are not purebred if you do not have papers for them.

It is irresponsible to breed them just because friends and family members want kittens just like yours. I'm sure if they were to go to the shelters, they would find lovely cats and save lives as well.

If your vet is telling you your cat should have a litter, then I'd advise finding another vet.

People who breed purebred cats, do so with a lot of research in to bloodlines and traiting that are not done with moggie breeding. They do this to continue the purebred line. There is no line to continue in moggies. If you want to be responsible for both these cats as they deserve, then get them both desexed. Leaving Zvirka unspayed can cause her major problems down the road if she's left to call without being bred. These problems include cancer and pyrometria (sp?). Sven should also be desexed to prevent indescriminate breeding.

I read somewhere that where no desexing occurs, an entire mating pair and their offspring can produce something like 200,000 cats within 5 years.

Controlled breeding in purebreds is a separate issue, but it's highly irresponsible to allow your cats to breed without purpose, or to allow them to remain at risk for disease.

JMHO

TT
 

snowstars

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Hi Sid,

As I told you on another forum there are enough unwanted cats & kittens already in the world without adding to them. You might have homes lined up for any kittens you produce but if they do not desex the kitten & it has kittens will they have homes ready for those grandchildren of your cats? How many unwanted kittens are you going to be responsible for? go to a cat shelter watch the unwanted cats & kittens be euthanised & then tell us that you still want to breed moggies.

Breeding cats is a lot of work it isnt simple a case of put two cats together & get lots of money. You need to learn genetics, animal husbandry, the list is endless. Trust me I lose more money per year from my cat breeding that I ever imagined I could because I do things the right way.

White cats incidently should be BAER hearing tested before being bred from. The incidence of deafness in white cats is very high. It isnt only blue eyed whites that are deaf it can happen with any eye colour. If the cat has a small spot of colour on its head that does not mean it can hear trust me on that.

Please as I said to you before reconsider your wanting to breed unregsitered domestic pets.

Alison

http://www.cat-world.com
 

imagyne

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Sid,

No one is mad at you. You expressed an interest in this subject and lot's of folks have given thier opinion, and in alot of cases, facts. I think the biggest one being that your babies will live longer if you have them fixed. I don't know the situation in Croatia, as far as strays are concerned, but may I suggest that you get some info on the stray population along with some euthanization data in your country, before you really make up your mind that you want to do this.

PLease let me say again that no one here is mad at you, or trying to beat up on you. There's just lot's of people here that feel really strongly about this issue.

If you need anything else, just ask.
 
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sid

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Hi there. I'm Marina, Svens "mom". I picked him up as a dirty 2 month old kitten and have no clue of his background. More or less the same is situation with Zvirka. We suspect them to be related, but cannot confirm. However, they both live in separate apartments and we believe they are lonely, therefore we started search for suitable mates. That's how Sid&Goga and I met in first place.
We find both of the cats very beautiful because of their long fur and expressive face and would like to have their kittens. What we are worried about is the possibility of having deaf kittens in the litter and we need your advice on how likely this is to happen.
Other advice we would welcome is if you could reccomend us with which breed it would be suitable to mate them in order to have kittens that will look similar (of course, not pure breed with certificates, but lookalikes).

I hope it's clearer now.


Btw, they both live in closed apartments and there is no danger of uncontrolled breeding or mating...

Regards from Croatia,

Marina
 

Anne

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Hi Marina and welcome,

How old are the cats now? If they are over 4-5 months old you really should have them spayed/neutered. It is actually much healthier for a female cat to be spayed before her first heat. What the vet told you, that she needs to have kittens first is just a myth. I'm afraid your vet is not well informed. Please read this article:
http://www.thecatsite.com/care/spay.html

Sounds to me like you really love your cats. I'm sure once you have your facts you would have the cats fixed ASAP. It's the best thing for them. And I'm so glad there is room in your hearts and apartment for more cats - as was said here before, there are many wonderful cats looking for good homes in shelters.

I will answer the question about deafness - there are 3 genes that can produce the white color in cats. There is no way for you to tell which one makes your two kitties white. So, there is definitely a possibility for deaf kittens. By the way, there is no guarantee for white kittens either! The kittens can be of other colors as well and may look different from any parent. Also, as the cats may be related you may inadvertantly inbreed all sorts of genetic defects and diseases.
 

bigpurrs

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Hi Marina and Sid,

I am sorry to say I am a bit different than all the other people here. I AM angry with you. I will not put you down, and will still be very calm about this issue, but I personnally believe responsible breeders have the right to be angry with people who plan to bring more moggies to the world.

the reason is that we believe differantly, and many of us breeders work in shelters so we know haw many unwanted cats exist, and we know ho much can go wrong when you just "breed" any two cats without knowing their heritage and testing them for desease. We are also intitled to be angry when it seems that people dont listen to our sound advice.

now for the facts. Yes, white cats ARE prone to deafness. all white cats are prone to deafness, but mostly ones with blue eyes. odd-eyed cats are more prone to deafness in the ear closer to the blue eye.

the only way to try and controll the deafness linked with the dominant white gene is to know the pedigrees and genetics of your cats. since you dont know your cats heritage you have NO CONTROLL over the kittens deafness - so it would be just a strike of luck which kitten will be deaf and which wouldnt be. that is a FACT when you dont know the pedigree. I breed white and bi-color persians - so believe me I know.

as for a breed that would suit your cats - there is no such breed. because these cats do not have a recorded heritage so mating with any cat can have either good or bad results. even if a cat is purebred, but his pedigree is not known - it is not to be bred, because even in the same breed not every cat fits any other.

I am sorry we are not much help, and I am sorry I am angry. I hope you will listen to the advice given to you by many of the good members of these boards.

whatever you choose to do, I hope it will be for the better and that no problems will occur. even if you do choose what is wrong in my eyes.

Alon
 

annabelle33

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Marina,

I think what everyone is trying to say is that there is no way to be sure that if your cats had kittens they would be anything like your current cats. No matter who they mate with, they might not even turn out white. I think everyone just thinks that it would be more beneficial to you and to the cats if you tried to find another cat that looks like yours. I don't know what breed would look like yours (maybe someone else does?) or you could even look at pet stores or animal shelters. Cats are not lonely without a mate, but when they are in heat they are miserable, therefore it would be the only nice thing to do to get them spayed and neutered. I understand your wanting to raise a litter, so why not get a kitten from the pound? Or a purebread kitten? Purposely mating cats that aren't purebread is not a good idea, as others have said. I hope no matter what you decide it turns out well, as it is your decision. Don't be scared of this board, it's good that you asked for advice.
 

annabelle33

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by the way, your cats are beautiful and i have seen many other cats like them so you shouldn't have much trouble finding one =) Good luck!
 
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