AAC:

have you talked your plans through with people who breed pedigree cats ? My friends, Steve and Helen Parkin have been breeding and showing Abyssinians for over fifteen years. Your planned set-up seems a little ambitious to me, although I don't know what time-scale you intend working to.

Please forgive me if I sound like I'm lecturing; I really have no idea how much experience you have. You may have already thought through all of this but not gone into it in one short post.

Parkins don't keep a stud cat because one requires so much extra work, time and space. He won't be kept happy just by his owner's queens, so you will need facilities for visitors. You will have to advertise, and network to get breeders to bring their queens to you. If you haven't established a name through showing or breeding, this will be harder.
When a breed is as small in numbers as yours, visiting queens will be even harder to find.

Steve and Helen only let their cats have one litter a year, and usually no more than four or five litters altogther. After that, they are neutered. Some queens are poor mothers and are neutered after producing one or two litters. They have at least as many pet cats now, as breeding/show cats. And as time goes by, the ageing pet cats need more vetinary attention.

Few cat breeders make much money. There will be stud fees and there may well be vet bills. You will certainly need extra food. The kittens must be vaccinated before they go to their new homes. And of course, only show quality cats get the really high prices.

I hope you do go ahead and breed those lovely cats and enjoy it as much as possible. I know from Steve and Helen's experiences that things can go wrong, even with the most knowledgable owner, but they are always looking forward to the next litter. Steve BTW, is training to be an Abyssinian judge. It'll take him seven years. This man is serious about cats.

I'm still investigating, but if I go by the model of the breeder that we bought Odin from, we should do pretty well. I'm not going into it for the money. I just love cats and particularly that breed. By the way, some of the super show quality RagaMuffins have been sold for over $1000! I bought Odin for $700, which is slightly low to average for his fur style. The mink kittens are still a little rare.

As far as finding other studs and queens, it won't be a problem. There are 2 other breeders within about a 3 hour drive from me and 2 more within 6 hours. The breed is beginning to get known and gain some popularity and most breeders can't keep up with demand, so there will be a good market for kittens for many years to come.

And with our vet, we get a quanity discount. And one of their other customers is a ragdoll breeder and she's always willing to give out advice. She's quite popular on the breeders' circuit. In the US, at least in our state, the owners are allowed to give kittens and cats shots at home, they just have to register, so you don't have to pay the service charge, just for the vaccine supplies.

I really don't want to do too many litters. I know kittens can be a pain. Even though they are awfully cute. I want to start out slowly and get lots of advice from our own breeder. He said he'd be willing to do a trade system for stud and queen breeding rights. It can only make the breed stronger.

As far as experience, none in actual breeding/selling. I've always had cats and I grew up on or near farms. I've never shown cats, however, I may plan on showing Odin after we get him neutered so I can get rid of the stud-tail factor (the nasty waxy residue that happens on the lower 1/3 of their tails...kinda like greasy teenager hair) I want to get as educated as possible before we sink any money into this anyway. Plus we won't be buying a house of our own for a couple more years, so I do have time.

Thanks for the advice. I'm really trying to get educated about it before we jump in. If not for our own protection but also for the cats' wellbeing. I want happy and healthy babies. (That's another thing about this breed...they tend to be VERY healthy and robust. Very few litters have high morbity rates. And those that do are sold as pet kittens only and must be neutered.)

This whole thing is becoming increasingly bizarre. Quite apart from the studs and queens and the cat bdsm scene these names conjure up, I now have a vision of Skiffle's friend wearing a wig, sitting in a high court in Addis Ababa and sentencing people to be haile selassie.

Cats are weird. (And possibly wyrd, as well). I'll be over here with the dogs ...



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

AAC:

Sounds to me like there's a good healthy dollop of common sense in your plans. I hope they go well.

Q Where do you stand on declawing issue ?

declawing is evil

I understand why some people do it, but most people do it as a prevention tactic rather than a reactionary one. I mean, how would they feel if they had their fingers amputated at the first knuckle! Human fingernails can be just as sharp and nearly as destructive as a cat's claws.

I mean, sheesh, all you gotta do to prevent your stuff from getting scratched up is to keep their claws trimmed short and provide them with things they're allowed to scratch and then incentive to scratch them...like catnip and treats and lots of verbal praise. It's not that difficult.

I had one cat that I adopted who had been declawed and to tell the truth, he was more destructive with his feet than any of my clawed cats have ever been. And loved to leave foot smear marks on everything from all the faux-scratching. It's like rubbing greasy hands all over the furniture!

That's what I thought you'd say. Couldn't see you being one for having a cat's claws ripped off. Apparently the procedure is recommended as a good thing, by the American Society for Protection of Animals (or whatever), who just happen to recieve a lot of funding from vets, who earn a lot of money from carrying out the operations. Hmmm.

The RSPCA over here is against declawing and I don't think many vets would do it. I'm also glad to see more dogs with longer tails over here, now that docking for breed standard has been outlawed.

I think it's a gruesome idea too - how would the poor cats climb?



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

I think the idea is to stop the cats from climbing curtains/sofas etc. No thought given to necessity for climbing trees, as many cats kept indoors anyway.

Even if it's kept indoors, it is simply not fair to expect a cat to spend all its time at ground level. They weren't designed for it. Cats move in three dimensions.

Especially Diesel!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Personally, I suspect Diesel of being able to move in four dimensions. Actually, I think most cats can.

H'mm, yes... that would explain my cats' mysterious ability to turn up on the other side of the back door than the one where I left them!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

I think that's probably Dave letting them in and out. (Or else Minsky has got the secret of teleport from Orac by threatening to pee in his innards). The fourth dimension is time; cats exploit it by jumping through time to knock things over, while only being out of sight for a fraction of a second (in your time).

Er, but... in the middle of the night?!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Presumably you are questioning Dave letting them in in the middle of the night ? Who knows what that man does when we're not watching.
I'm fairly sure he still exists when he's not being watched, judging from the mutterings and thuds that can be heard downstairs.

If he's in my house in the middle of the night, then I want to know why.

You're right about the thuds and mutterings, though. I think I'd notice those. This is a man who is unable to do anything quietly!

Thinks: if Chomsky were human, those two would not be so dissimilar...



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah