How Long After Last Litter Should Someone Wait To Breed Again?

fostersrule

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What is generally an acceptable amount of time after a cat gives birth to breed her again?

I know of a lady whose cat gave birth January 12, June 18, and again December 1st. She’s a new breeder and trying to create a new breed. Is it normal to have litters that close together? 3 all born in 2017 just seems a bit much to me.
 

abyeb

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The breeders I know and have met at cat shows say that they breed their queens once per year. Most queens are then spayed between 3-5 years of age.
 

auntie

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That’s really upsetting. My poor cat was a badly-treated queen, too. It’s awful to see how run down the poor things are after 4 years of overuse—sick, broken down, and tired. The cats are expected to do it all, to produce the valuable kittens. Greed is motivating to some people! It’s been great working with this Siberian breeder we’re getting our new cat from—she’s so different and really cares about her queens
 

Kat0121

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What is generally an acceptable amount of time after a cat gives birth to breed her again?

I know of a lady whose cat gave birth January 12, June 18, and again December 1st. She’s a new breeder and trying to create a new breed. Is it normal to have litters that close together? 3 all born in 2017 just seems a bit much to me.
This is not typical of a reputable breeder. This is what backyard breeders do. They are in it for the money. A reputable breeder puts the health of the queen before profit. This is sad. :headshake:
 

posiepurrs

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I would never deliberately breed that many times in a year. One time I had a girl who had a litter in April and then again in August, but that was a OOPS litter. My kids let the girl in the room with the stud. Luckily the first litter was a single kitten so the mother was not thin or pulled down. Developing a breed can take years and if she is a new 'breeder' I doubt she has the knowledge that it takes. I know I don't and I have been doing this for quite some time. It does sound a lot like a backyard breeder.
 

Elfilou

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I don't breed but I would consider this highly unethical. It's exactly the reason I also despise the dairy industry, where they force females to breed as many times as possible until they collapse from mental and physical stress after a few years. "Downer cows" is the term.

Personally, more than once a year is abuse in my book. Especially because this is done with the sole intent of making money.
 
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fostersrule

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Most of the breeders I know will not mate their queens any closer than 6 months apart, and usually they go longer. I hope the breeder is going to slow down and give her poor queen a break after 3 litters in less that a year.
She isn’t. I wish she would. She all but laughed when I pointed out her cat had three litters in one year. She has another queen who she admitted got pregnant too young then she tried to sell her and not even a month later she was pregnant. She had another litter 4 months after the first. She said she would breed her main queen every heat. She’s a registered cattery with TICA and isn’t is trying I create a new breed. It’s based on nothing, though.
 

Elfilou

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Someone needs to stop this really. Is there a way you could call TICA and inform with them whether this is acceptable?
 
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fostersrule

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Someone needs to stop this really. Is there a way you could call TICA and inform with them whether this is acceptable?
I was hoping they could do something but I haven’t found any rules she is breaking:(.
 

Elfilou

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I was hoping they could do something but I haven’t found any rules she is breaking:(.
Ugh. That kinda breaks my heart. Could you have a talk with her? A serious, non judging one? Maybe she hasn't looked at it from the victim's point of view yet and really just doesn't realize what she's doing
 

Kieka

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I am late to the conversation, but just for my two cents. My family used to breed parakeets and we would do two clutches back to back with a year break between. Back to back is standard with parakeets though. They don't nurse so there isn't as much of a strain on the females body for a long period of time, they lay eggs so the majority of the babies growth is outside the moms body, the males help care for young and non-bonded males sometimes even help with clutches that aren't theirs. So complete different mechanics in that sense allow for back to back clutches. However, we'd never do three clutches in a year because you start having health problems with the babies as well as the moms.
 
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