How often cats need to mate yearly?

[taty caty]

Hello,

First of all, I had my cat neutered.

I guess I caught the curiosity gene from my cat, and I was wondering if he were not, how many times a year would he ask to mate a year? In other words, how many times do I have to let him go out, or get him a queen?

Is it like one or twice a year? Or is it a whole year thing?

I know people who choose not to neuter/spay their cats, and when the cats starts the thing in February, they would either send their cat to a friend who has cat of the opposite sex or host the friend's cat.

But that sounds really impractical (unless cats only need to mate once or twice a year), plus the fact that new kittens would come with no guaranteed homes.

Thank you.

 

[GemsGem]

Well, I can tell you about pedigree stud boys that breeders have.

Breeders pedigree stud boys are normally housed outside in a large heated pen. Otherwise they would mate the breeders females and get them pregnant continually

Breeding females should only be allowed one litter a year - to keep them in the best heath. Pregnancy and raising a litter really takes it out of them and they need time to get back into condition. A breeding female could easily have 4-5 litters a year if allowed to mate every time she comes into heat and this would not be good for her at all.

To meet a stud boys needs, to stop frustration ( and all the behaviours that come from that ) and keep them happy they need 1-2 girls per month. Yes that's per month ! It varies cat to cat but that's an average.

If the needs are not meet then apart from the urine spaying they get very noisy shouting for females. They can also start lashing out and getting nasty with you.

Here's a link on keeping pedigree stud cats

http://www.gccfcats.org/stud.html

 

[Willowy]

Usually, feral females in northern climates will have 2 litters a year, in tropical climates they can have 3-4. Obviously this puts quite a strain on their bodies and is one reason why unaltered ferals have short lifespans. Feral toms fight for mating rights so I guess how often they actually get to mate depends on how good they are at fighting. But they definitely have a strong drive to mate as often as possible.

It's largely impractical for people to keep unaltered cats as indoor pets. Besides the overpopulation problem, they just have such strong drives to mate, and those behaviors can really be difficult to live with.

 

[stephiedoodle]

If your cat is neutered he will not feel the need to mate at all and you wont have to provide him with a queen as he will have no drive to mate because there will be no testosterone in his body. Hope that clears up what your kitty will need but as said above if he was intact it would probably take one to two females a month to sate him as intact toms are driven by testosterone and will constantly be calling for a female to mate with.

 

[taty caty]

Well, I can tell you about pedigree stud boys that breeders have.

Breeders pedigree stud boys are normally housed outside in a large heated pen. Otherwise they would mate the breeders females and get them pregnant continually

Breeding females should only be allowed one litter a year - to keep them in the best heath. Pregnancy and raising a litter really takes it out of them and they need time to get back into condition. A breeding female could easily have 4-5 litters a year if allowed to mate every time she comes into heat and this would not be good for her at all.

To meet a stud boys needs, to stop frustration ( and all the behaviours that come from that ) and keep them happy they need 1-2 girls per month. Yes that's per month ! It varies cat to cat but that's an average.

If the needs are not meet then apart from the urine spaying they get very noisy shouting for females. They can also start lashing out and getting nasty with you.

Here's a link on keeping pedigree stud cats

http://www.gccfcats.org/stud.html

Thank you. That's interesting.

So on average, a tomcat will need to mate once every two weeks, right? 

Just wondering, how do you solve this gap? Do you get other non-pedigree cats for your tomcats? Or do you have fewer tomcats than queen cats?

Usually, feral females in northern climates will have 2 litters a year, in tropical climates they can have 3-4. Obviously this puts quite a strain on their bodies and is one reason why unaltered ferals have short lifespans. Feral toms fight for mating rights so I guess how often they actually get to mate depends on how good they are at fighting. But they definitely have a strong drive to mate as often as possible.

It's largely impractical for people to keep unaltered cats as indoor pets. Besides the overpopulation problem, they just have such strong drives to mate, and those behaviors can really be difficult to live with.

Thank you very much.

I noticed taht in feral cats, the colours of the kittens can be shockingly varying. I once read that a queen can mate with several tomcats! And that explains why each kitten has a different pattern and colour. Is that really true?

 
If your cat is neutered he will not feel the need to mate at all and you wont have to provide him with a queen as he will have no drive to mate because there will be no testosterone in his body. Hope that clears up what your kitty will need but as said above if he was intact it would probably take one to two females a month to sate him as intact toms are driven by testosterone and will constantly be calling for a female to mate with.

He is neutered. But I was wondering what if not. I'm an advocate of neutering/spaying cats especially indoor ones.