Your First Breeding Queen

Choosing the right kind of breeding queen is crucial in your first experience of breeding. For the average person getting kittens isn’t a problem. Many people are content with just a pet and that’s great but if you’re looking for a pet that can also produce good show kittens then you need something a little different!

• Choose your breed carefully, research the traits common to the breed and the standard. 

• While most people are honest there are some who would be happy to take the money of a new person under dishonest intentions. 

• Knowing what you are looking for as to a standard helps tremendously. 

• Have a reputable cat breeder evaluate a prospect for you but also keep in mind we all have opinions! Balance it with what the standard says. 

• The other question after passing this marker is how well you like the individual. Is she friendly enough?

For many smaller breeders the queen is not only a breeding investment but a personal one. She will be in the home and cared for as a productive pet on a daily basis. Remember to keep both of those terms in mind. While you are selecting a pet she also is an investment both financially and emotionally. Don’t let one outweigh the other.

This can be a fine line – people breed cats because we love cats. However at what point do you say the financial investment in an individual is enough? 

• Perhaps she didn’t produce quite as expected or perhaps she’s not what we imagined. 
• Don’t discard her as a pet simply because she didn’t work as a breeding queen. 
• At the same time don’t get so emotionally involved that you don’t see her faults. 

Anything worth doing is worth doing right and that goes for breeding cats. While your breeding queen doesn’t need fancy beds and expensive collars she should be provided good food and get the things she needs physically to produce top quality kittens. 

• Sometimes your best show queen prospect isn’t in someone’s show list. 
• Sometimes that sister that is almost good enough save for one little thing – especially a non-genetic little thing! – is one that will produce outstanding kittens. 
• Being able to spot these ‘bargains’ means having experience and if you lack that it’s even more important to have a mentor to help with decisions and learning to do things right.

At the same time there are some who are too critical of their own stock, imagining all the flaws in comparison to others and not seeing the strong points. Seeing the strengths and the weaknesses both and learning to compensate by finding a good male to breed to is important. This is what takes it from producing kittens to being a breeder – a breeder evaluates and makes decisions. There is a goal and each queen (whether 1 or 10) has a place in that goal. Be a breeder and an asset to your chosen breed!


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