# of litters?

meowers

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Is it unusal for a breeder to have more than one litter of kittens at a time? I read somewhere that most qaulity breeders will have few litters, but some I've looked into seem to have more than one bunch of kittens at a time. Does this mean anything?

I don't want to contribute to byb, or 'puppymill' types, or encourage anyone else to.
 

abymummy

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Depends on how many queens the breeder has.

A normal "closed" cattery would have one to two studs for 3-4 queens.

It is more than entirely possible for a cattery to have a couple of queens pregnant and delivering around the same time.
 

sol

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Many of the breeders I know have two litters at the same time (if possible) of practical reasons. It costs money to be away from work so you want as few days off as possible. Sometimes there's a blood type issue too, some breeders choose to breed an A female at the same time they breed a B female with an A male. Instead of handfeeding the B females kittens the first 24 hours, the breeder can simply put them with the A mother instead.
 

epona

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Yep I know plenty of breeders who will plan to have more than one litter due at around the same time. Say you have 4 queens it makes sense to plan to have 2 lots of 2 litters rather than 4 separate litters after another, it makes it easier in terms of time off work, and allows more kitten-free time in the year for life that has some semblance of normality as well as concentrating more on showing during those periods
It's also useful in that if one queen has difficulties nursing, not enough milk or mastitis or some other complication, there is another lactating queen with kittens of around the same age who may be able to help out and ease the burden of the 2 hourly hand feedings.

The breeders I talk to love having kittens around, they wouldn't do it otherwise, but it is an exhausting business and most agree that it's better to plan to have times of the year with no kittens so that they can recover, it would be more difficult to do that if you only had one queen with a litter at any time
3 or 4 queens being mated at times to deliver so that there was only ever one litter at a time would mean you'd have kittens constantly without any let up!
 

goldenkitty45

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One or two litters about the same time is fine. Any more and you might be cauious about dealing with the breeder. I know that Jack's breeder will be breeding 2 queens about the same time - first time breeding with one male to 2 females (hasn't done this combo before). This will also increase my chances on picking out a top show male from 2 females, rather then just one
 

sandtigress

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I know too, sometimes circumstances just can't be helped. Billy and Chay's breeder had recently moved, and so they had put off breeding any of their queens. But several of them had gone through around 3 heats all at the same time, and had to be bred for their health (higher risks of pyometra). So when I went to look at kittens there were kittens everywhere!

In fact, the day I picked up the boys, the other kittens were behind a sliding door, and there was a crack of thunder, the door opened up, and suddenly there was a swarm of kittens in the room. There was just a flood of them, it was hilarious!
 

ferriscat

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Originally Posted by Sandtigress

In fact, the day I picked up the boys, the other kittens were behind a sliding door, and there was a crack of thunder, the door opened up, and suddenly there was a swarm of kittens in the room. There was just a flood of them, it was hilarious!
I can just see that now!! Thanks for the image


I personally would time all of my litters for a summer delivery, since I have that time off from work. I am trying to breed one of my girls right now, so here's to hoping for a July delivery!
 

scamperfarms

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Yup sometimes things just cant be helped. I myself prefer to have my kittens around the same time in groups of two. It gives the kittens more to play with, makes it easier for time off work..all the mentioned things here already.
 

moonandstarkatz

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I have 2 girls, their kittens are timed every year for 6-7 weeks apart and when I get a third girl, I will try to time her 6 weeks from the second litter. My girls don't cycle heavy normally so I am lucky there and I can breed 1 time a year but it is a lot of time off of work, finances ect.
Daisy
 
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