Breeding costs?

[familytimerags]

Originally Posted by bluekat

Most breeders are not going to give you stud service. There is too big of a chance of the cats giving each other some bug that the other doesn't have. Not to mention, many toms can totally mess up and ruin a long haired Queens coat. In 24 hours what was a lovely queen, is a maze of mats on the sides where the tom was treading his feet, & large knots started around the neck, where he grabbed the Queen to breed her. This can require clipping hair, that doesn't grow back to look nice for a year.

The only separate building you want anything to do with, is tom houseing, & temporary Queen houseing when being bred. You can't raise kittens in a separate building from your home. At best they would be shy & at worst feral. Meaning you wouldn't be able to sell any of them. The only way to have a happy, friendly kitten, is to have them born & kept where you are, until they go to their new homes.

I am an experienced breeder, and I understand about the stud service, I am a closed cattery. I have been offered stud service before, but from other breeders that I have worked closely with, however I haven't needed it. I do think there is a huge risk to the cats when bringing in another cat.
I only mentioned studding, as I have seen many cat breeders now, who only keep females and will go outside of their catteries for studding, it may not be what you or I would do, but still a reality in some catteries. When I posted, I was just trying to give a realistic view, of the expenses that "can" be occured, and the numerous emergencies that can come up at any time.
I am fortunate that I haven't had the matting problem around the neck with any of my queens, but I don't consider Ragdolls having long hair, more of a medium length.
I won't put any breeder down for having a separate building for their cats, but it is something that I would NEVER do. I have one stud who has a room all of his own, inside of our home. We are very lucky that he doesn't spray, so as long as I make sure the girls are out of the room, he can come into any part of our house with us. We just make sure to have the any females that we dont' want pregnant out of the room that he is in.
I have always let all of my females have full run of the house, I wouldn't have it any other way. They are my pets first. Our Momma's deliver in a zippy cage in my bedroom, that stays open for the Momma to be able to come and go.
Our kittens are touched and handled from day one, and are socialized with myself as a stay at home Mom, along with my husband, 2 children, and 2 dogs. We have never had a shy kitten leave our home. I hope we never do.

We keep our kittens between the ages of 10-12 weeks old, sometimes longer depending on the maturity level, and they are early altered and microchipped before going to their new homes.
My whole point is breeding isn't for everyone, and there is much more involved than just putting 2 cats together, to be a reputable breeder, and that there isn't any money to be made.
Thank you for pointing out about stud service and the separate building, while I posted it to prove about expenses, I didn't give the impression that it wasn't something I would suggest.

 

[cookandcompany]

Heck, My first litter I had to pay 350.00 for stud service, 60.00 a month for Royal Canin baby cat & Kitten food for queen. 300.00 for 1 ultrasound & 4 x-rays. 800.00 for a ceserean that my queen died during leaving me raising 4 kittens which cost 250.00 for KMR & baby wipes, ect. Then 350.00 for all their vetting. And then only to give them away to family & very close friends Because I cared more for my kittens recieving wonderful close homes more than I did the money. When you do it right, There is no $$$ in it, But it's worth every minute. Just one of my litter experiences & To show bad stuff really happens & you have to have back-up funds.

 

[wellingtoncats]

We've just sold our last litter. We didn't quit breeding because of financial reasons but because I want to concentrate on school. In our eleven years of breeding we didn't make any profit. That's for sure.

 

[cookandcompany]

Wellington, I didn't know you quit breeding. Any plans on breeding again in the future? Your cats were really lovely, I always enjoyed seeing their photos. Good Luck with everything!

 

[wellingtoncats]

Originally Posted by cookandcompany

Wellington, I didn't know you quit breeding. Any plans on breeding again in the future? Your cats were really lovely, I always enjoyed seeing their photos. Good Luck with everything!

I really haven't talked about it a lot. I definitly have plans for breeding again in the future. Maybe Devon Rex, as well.

We're going to keep four cats, of course our two desexed males but our two breeding queens Sophie and Bridget (Bridget never had kittens)

They will be indoor/outdoor and I know Sophie is going to love it. She used to jump out my two storey window whenever she got the chance.

I'm still going to be heavily in the cat world though. I'm judging about fifty domestics at an upcoming show, and later in the year I'm going to show Bridget.

Thank you.

 

[bluekat]

I am an experienced breeder, and I understand about the stud service, I am a closed cattery. .......I won't put any breeder down for having a separate building for their cats, but it is something that I would NEVER do. I have one stud who has a room all of his own, inside of our home. ...............QUOTE]

We are a closed cattery also. I do not keep my studs in my home. They have indoor/outdoor, walk in kennel runs, with a roof over the outside runs. My boys will hose anything. That is a smell you can't get rid of. I buy carpet samples by the pile. When the boys soak their piece of carpet, it gets burned. I tried giving them nice fleece's, but those smell just as bad coming out of the dryer as they did going into the washing machine.

I keep my kittens until they have had a second vaccination. Usually 11 to 12 weeks. If shipped, I wait until they have had the 3rd final vaccination.

Several posts have said you can't make money breeding cats, but that is not true if you have at least 3 to 5 queens, & charge a fair price. Cat shows can cost a bundle. Unless you are independently wealthy it's not feasable to show cats until they become Grandchampions. It's well worth the effort to go to a few shows every year. Bathing & grooming is the hardest part of a cat show.

I keep good expense records for tax purposes. Veterinarian services & supplies is the number one expense, followed by advertiseing, then cat food. For someone starting out new, I'd suggest a fund of at least $2000 prior to breeding a litter, to cover emergencies. When your cat needs a c-section, there is no waiting until payday. If some idiot who comes to see kittens, has their pet out in their car, walks in your house, loves up on your cats, 3 days later you cats are itching, you can't wait. You need vet care now & may be buying something expensive like Revolution for several litters immediately.
Once you've had a few litters, you can have a few things on hand for instant treatment of some problems.

Probably one of the most annoying things I had happen, appeared to be caused by some people who brought their pom puppy into my house. They also had horses at home & who knows what sort of bugs were on those horses. 3 days later one kitten had a bite on it's ear, followed the next day by bumps on another kitten's ear. It went real quick from kitten to kitten. Vet exams, skin scrapeings, fungal cultures, ultraviolet light scans, everything was negative, but they had something. A dose of Revolution for everyone in the house stopped it immediatly. Total cost was about $1000. Fortunately all kittens were at least 8 weeks old, so I was able to put something on them. Things could have been much worse if there would have been tiny babies here.

 

[kai bengals]

Originally Posted by bluekat

The only separate building you want anything to do with, is tom houseing, & temporary Queen houseing when being bred. You can't raise kittens in a separate building from your home. At best they would be shy & at worst feral. Meaning you wouldn't be able to sell any of them. The only way to have a happy, friendly kitten, is to have them born & kept where you are, until they go to their new homes.

I really have to strongly disagree with this statement. There are many successful breeders with seperate buildings as the main cattery.
This includes me.
Every single one of our kittens is an extremely happy, lovable, outgoing in your face type of kitten.
A seperate building is perfect, but of course time must be spent with the cats and kittens everyday.