Breeding Questions & Concerns

How long for a 14 month old female cat to be comfortable enough to be willing to mate?

  • Several months

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  • Only a week or two

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  • Somewhere in between

    Votes: 1 33.3%

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CatEars

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Hello!
I am currently trying to breed two lynx, savannah, bobcat mixes. The female (14 months) is mine while the male (17 months) is my associate’s. The owner of the male has an office that he said would be great for them to live in until my cat gets pregnant. I couldn’t let her stay in my house as it is small and I live with a big family. All in all, the whole experience would be very uncomfortable for the parents and children living there.

The problem is that my cat is having trouble adjusting. She was clearly in heat before I took her to my associate’s office and now she seems to dislike the male. She was able to walk around and explore before the male arrived and she was very comfortable. I brought her tree, food, food bowls, toys, and beds so she would be very comfortable there. The male cat arrives and she hisses and swats to no end. Two days later, with many, many visits from me, and she is starting to adjust. My associate is beginning to complain about how long the whole process is taking.

My female is very friendly and comfortable with me and the male is actively seeking her and trying to court her, fully adjusted. She, however, wants nothing to do with him. I think part of this is the fact that she’s temporarily living somewhere new (the office).

How long would it take for a female to get used to a new place and be willing to mate? Do I need several months or only a week or two?
Thank you. :)
 

lutece

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What do you mean "lynx, savannah, bobcat mixes"? It would be helpful to tell us more about the known ancestry of your cats and what you are trying to accomplish in your breeding program. If you are trying to hybridize wild species or are working with early generation hybrids, breeding may be a lot more complicated than it would be with a domestic breed.
 
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CatEars

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What do you mean "lynx, savannah, bobcat mixes"? It would be helpful to tell us more about the known ancestry of your cats and what you are trying to accomplish in your breeding program. If you are trying to hybridize wild species or are working with early generation hybrids, breeding may be a lot more complicated than it would be with a domestic breed.
I was gifted my female cat around 1 year ago. She was purchased from a breeder who proved that she was part lynx, part savannah, and part bobcat. She has curled ears like a lynx and a coat similar to a bobcat’s. She is far enough down the generation line that she is almost exactly like a domestic cat but with some wild blood in her. She is definitely not full wild cat or an early generation hybrid. Neither is the male as he was purchased from the breeder.
 
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lutece

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I've seen some people advertising online that their cats have lynx and/or bobcat ancestry, but my understanding is that there are no proven hybrids between domestic cats and lynx or bobcat species. I'd love to know what kind of proof this breeder has of lynx / bobcat ancestry, and if you've seen it. (I'm not being snarky here, I really would like to know.)

When this breeder says that these cats have lynx and bobcat ancestry, is it possible that they are referring to ancestry from domestic cat breeds such as "Highland Lynx" and Pixie-Bob?

Lynx (the wild species) do not actually have curled ears, although the long hair on the tips of the ears can sometimes make it look that way in pictures. However, the "Highland Lynx" does have ears that curl backwards, from the same mutation that is seen in the American Curl breed. Is this what you mean by curled ears?

Are the cats registered in some sort of association? How many generations are they removed from the wild ancestors (this can affect fertility as well as behavior)? Since the cats came from the same breeder, do you have pedigrees for them, to make sure the planned mating isn't too close? Is the breeder of these two cats aware that you are planning to breed the cats, and is this breeder acting as a breeding mentor for you?

I also looked back at your previous messages on this site, and it sounds like this is your first cat. Are you certain that you want to breed her? If you live in a small house with a big family and you don't have a safe and private place for the two cats to breed at your house, how are you planning to raise kittens there? If you are concerned about children in your house being around cats while they are mating, what about if something goes terribly wrong with the labor and kittens, or if your cat becomes extremely protective and aggressive around her kittens when they are small? Breeding cats can be very complicated, and is even more complicated if your cat has wild species ancestry.
 

Maurey

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Also, a bobcat is just a different name for a red lynx.

As Lutece has said — there is no evidence to date that lynxes can hybridise with domestic cats. If there was proof, everyone would know about it, as it’d be big news.
 

goingpostal

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There's a pretty well known byb that breeds Bengal/Savannah/Highland Lynx crosses and misleads their buyers to think there is wildcat blood in their cats. So it seems likely to me these cats are related and not well bred to begin with. Personally OP, I'd get your cat fixed instead of becoming a backyard breeder yourself.
 

di and bob

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She may be just not far enough along in her heat cycle too. The second week is when they are the most receptive. She is in a strange place and is uneasy.
 
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CatEars

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I've seen some people advertising online that their cats have lynx and/or bobcat ancestry, but my understanding is that there are no proven hybrids between domestic cats and lynx or bobcat species. I'd love to know what kind of proof this breeder has of lynx / bobcat ancestry, and if you've seen it. (I'm not being snarky here, I really would like to know.)
Would you like the website from which she was purchased from? The website is domesticwildcat.com. Hopefully, this is what you are looking for. :)
 

Maurey

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The “bobcat” in them is almost definitely the highland lynx — they wouldn’t have curled ear cartilage otherwise. Reeks of BYB to me, sadly.
 
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CatEars

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The “bobcat” in them is almost definitely the highland lynx — they wouldn’t have curled ear cartilage otherwise. Reeks of BYB to me, sadly.
Thank you for the warning! I guess I’ll take my cat back home asap and make an appointment to get her fixed. Thank you to everyone for your help and advice. :)

Just out of pure curiosity, how long would it take for her to adjust to a new cat? Thinking of adopting a second female...
 

lutece

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Ok, I've seen this web site before. Curled ears, polydactyl paws, and bobbed tails are all mutations that appeared in domestic cats. The mention on the web site of a "Lynx stud" probably refers to a "Highland Lynx" which is a domestic cat breed combining these mutations. This person is trying to create offspring that look as unusual as possible by combining these domestic cat mutations with breeds that originated from various wild species hybrids.

The "Bobcat hybrid" part of the story is extremely unlikely, especially since they are claiming fertile F3 males from the combination. However, these cats do appear to have other wild species ancestry. The hybrid breeds that are mentioned on the web site (Bengal, Savannah, and Chausie) all come from different wild species (Asian leopard cat for the Bengal, serval for the Savannah, and jungle cat for the Chausie).

Some of the pictures on the web site are not pictures of wild hybrids, but instead are of the wild species themselves (there are a lot of pictures of a serval, and some pictures of an Asian leopard cat) which can make the web site a little bit confusing.

It makes me sad to see the way the cats are presented on this web site. Many of them are posed being held by the scruff (uncomfortable for an adult cat). Some of the females appear to be hissing in fear in the photos.
I guess I’ll take my cat back home asap and make an appointment to get her fixed. Thank you to everyone for your help and advice. :)
Good plan!
Just out of pure curiosity, how long would it take for her to adjust to a new cat? Thinking of adopting a second female...
It's hard to say. Cats with hybrid ancestry don't necessarily behave the same way as domestic cats. Has your cat been introduced to any other cats since you got her? From one of your earlier posts it sounds like you got her at a very young age (6 weeks)? I would take it very slowly, since you mentioned aggression towards a young kitten in a previous post.
 

Willowy

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This is what you said about her last August:
I found her and adopted her at 6 weeks. Is this too young? The man giving her away said that they were old enough.
How did you end up finding out what breeder she came from?

I really hope that breeder isn't selling them at 6 weeks; the only thing worse than a domestic kitten separated too young is a hybrid kitten separated too young. And I'm fairly certain their kittens cost several thousand dollars, though they don't mention the price online. Status symbols for people with too much money, I think. But the site does mention that one of their kittens was 10 pounds when he left at 14 weeks, and they guarantee 100% litterbox use, so I don't think they do let them go at 6 weeks. I would also suspect they spay/neuter the kittens before they go to new homes---not necessarily because they care about overpopulation or anything like that, but just so they they can sell more several-thousand-dollar kittens and not have any competition.

So I'm confused :dunno: . Is this a different cat?
 
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GoldyCat

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She is definitely not full wild cat or an early generation hybrid. Neither is the male as he was purchased from the breeder.
If you do decide to get into breeding you need to do a lot more research on your cats. I would ask to see pedigrees from both cats going back at least 4 or 5 generations. If you see a lot of common ancestors you could be looking at health issues from multiple recessive mutations.

Many breeders will only breed a dam and sire who have no recent common ancestors. For breeds with a small gene pool this gets complicated. It's one reason some new breeds allow outcrossing, especially when the breed is first being developed. Outcrossing means simply allowing the cats from different breeds to be mated.

In the case of the Scottish Fold, a well-established breed, outcrossing to British Shorthair or American Shorthair is allowed for the health of the cats. Breeding two cats with the folded ear gene usually results in non-viable kittens because of the double mutation.

In your situation getting another cat from the same breeder is probably not a good idea. In the meantime. enjoy your baby as a family pet. :catlove:
 

sivyaleah

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That website is just...bizarre.

Supposedly, this seems to be the husband and wife of a football coach, who lost their daughter in a car crash leaving the wife with severe injuries. I dove into researching this and according to current reports, the wife was still undergoing major rehab in early 2021 which included treatment of paralysis.

I found numerous complaints about their business practices and kittens on cat related boards going back as far as 2013.

I don't understand, more so, why a person would link to the horrifying reports of an accident where their child died on a business website. And, include photos of their wedding, family portraits. Who cares about this when buying a cat?

Anyway, putting this out there for anyone who sees this post so they will have more background and make an educated decision on whether or not they want to get involved with this "breeder".
 
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