My Bengal cattery has a problem with infertility, lack of fertil breeders.
I will give a summary first,
then follow it with more details should any care to look at the "devil in the details".
Summary: our outdoor catter of 5 girls and two boys has not produced kittens
with exception: one female escaped during heat and was bred by tomcat and had live kits
oldest female (5 now) had litters: at 2 and 3 years of age with a differnt male
Question: has anyone done outside kennels and produced kits successfully?
has anyone done kibble and produced kits successfully?
What are some alternative options?
selling all cats and starting completly over?
***************************************
the following is more detail:
Our situation
We are currently in consultation :
* with our vet,
*and a radiologist who is looking at an ultrasound of our female
which seems to have an enlarged womb
indicating perhaps a pregnancy/miscarriage?
"early on"
*and may be looking into a cat fertility vet
which seems to be a type harder to come by these days.
Our cattery has:
* 2 males
ages 3,4
they spray, mount, and breed (female howls)
have had no offspring
have been "breeding" since age 2
* 5 females
ages 3,3,3,4,5 (too old?)
they allow male to mount, they howl at the breeding point
they come into heat
howl when in heat usually
been "breeding" since about 1.5 years old
have had no offspring
** except for one girl who
escaped her enclosure during heat
and the neighborhood tomcat bred her
while I was nearby trying to find her
** another girl, a few weeks after being "bred",
had blood coming out her vagina,
which literature said could have been a miscarriage
** the oldest girl (age 5now) had litters
by my first male cat (deceased now)
she had 2 litters: when she was about 2, and then 3.
when she quit getting pregnant with him
then I bought a new male (age 4 now).
When my girls quit getting pregnant, I bought
*that new male (age 4 now)
*and another male later (age 3 now)
*eventually I bought 2 new girls (age 3 now)
Housing:
is outdoor dog kennels
most has chichen wire added for smaller wire holes
5x5 feet per kitty
with shelves to hop up on
tarp on top and much of the sides depending on temperatures
a modified storage tub as a bed with blankets
litter box, food dish, water dish.
The outdoor temps can be extreme,
more so lately than previously it seems,
ranging from hot summer temps around 100
to cold winter temps below freezing.
We are in the process of building a climate controlled cattery:
a stand alone shed
that we are adding insulation, sheetrock, paneling, flooring, caging.
Since we are doing it ourselves,
it sometimes gets put on the back burner
when more urgent things need to be done
and we are at the 6 month point, and in process of paneling.
Food/Nutrition:
When I initially had my female (now age 5) who was getting pregnant
I was feeding her Purina Kitten Chow, as well as the male.
Later, I found out about more nurtitious food
When I bought a new male (age 3 now)
the breeder said he ate raw
and Kitty Bloom
(but I don't feed Kitty Bloom)
so I fed raw until he got salminila
then I fed him the same recipe, but cooked.
I ground and cooked a recipe
that included: chicken, beef, salmon, vitamin, probiotics
and fed to all the cats
twice a day,
on disposablewax paper sheets
who then started looking sleek and fit.
When I wasn't getting kittens for a couple of years
I quit doing that
and just kept dry food available
which is a half and half mix of Purina
Kitten Chow and Advantage Adult (#1 ingredient is chicken).
That's the scenario.
I've read a few things about fertility and cat fertility that run thru my mind/that could be relevent:
* a study with mice showed that a pregnant female will abort if she smell pheromones of a different male.
* rabbits we had would not get pregnant until the stress level went down and the dogs were penned far away from them.
* lambs can have a low sperm count and be infertile if temperatures are about 100.
* a vet friend related that he has Bengal owners repeat to him their predicament of cat infertility
These all make the case for having basically indoor/climate control
which is probably what most catteries do,
although it is a difficult situation with a male since he sprays and enclosures smell intolerably
so, I hear many keep the male outside.
I'm wondering what their temperatures range?
I am in a predicament,
and trying to see what options we could have:
1..Some may say to just "start over"
getting a new pair of kittens (male, female)
and maybe keeping them inside
feeding the cooked recipe
and Kitty Bloom.
That would mean selling the breeder cats
which then may not be breeders?
I don't mind selling
but if I sell
I would like to be able to prove that cat was an actual breeder.
Besides, when we add up the cost of what we paid for breeder cats
and consider we would buy two more
then it gets pricey
if we can't sell them as breeder cats
and they did not pay for themselves by producing offspring.
Some would say, well, just "cut your losses".
OUCH, but if we "gotta do what we gotta do"
then I guess we do it
and sell breeders as pets.
2. Or, should we try a new male?
Maybe leave a female at another male's place?
I have usually tried to keep breeding all "in house"
to keep down disease.
3. Or, have a female who was just "bred" stay in a climate controlled housing
which usually means a kennel inside the house/bathroom.
4. We are thinking about consulting a vet who specializes in cat fertility,
but is that $$$?
and are there other, more cost effective ways
to improve cat fertility?
5. Ultimatley, getting the indoor cattery completed and into use
maybe hiring help to get it done...
I will give a summary first,
then follow it with more details should any care to look at the "devil in the details".
Summary: our outdoor catter of 5 girls and two boys has not produced kittens
with exception: one female escaped during heat and was bred by tomcat and had live kits
oldest female (5 now) had litters: at 2 and 3 years of age with a differnt male
Question: has anyone done outside kennels and produced kits successfully?
has anyone done kibble and produced kits successfully?
What are some alternative options?
selling all cats and starting completly over?
***************************************
the following is more detail:
Our situation
We are currently in consultation :
* with our vet,
*and a radiologist who is looking at an ultrasound of our female
which seems to have an enlarged womb
indicating perhaps a pregnancy/miscarriage?
"early on"
*and may be looking into a cat fertility vet
which seems to be a type harder to come by these days.
Our cattery has:
* 2 males
ages 3,4
they spray, mount, and breed (female howls)
have had no offspring
have been "breeding" since age 2
* 5 females
ages 3,3,3,4,5 (too old?)
they allow male to mount, they howl at the breeding point
they come into heat
howl when in heat usually
been "breeding" since about 1.5 years old
have had no offspring
** except for one girl who
escaped her enclosure during heat
and the neighborhood tomcat bred her
while I was nearby trying to find her
** another girl, a few weeks after being "bred",
had blood coming out her vagina,
which literature said could have been a miscarriage
** the oldest girl (age 5now) had litters
by my first male cat (deceased now)
she had 2 litters: when she was about 2, and then 3.
when she quit getting pregnant with him
then I bought a new male (age 4 now).
When my girls quit getting pregnant, I bought
*that new male (age 4 now)
*and another male later (age 3 now)
*eventually I bought 2 new girls (age 3 now)
Housing:
is outdoor dog kennels
most has chichen wire added for smaller wire holes
5x5 feet per kitty
with shelves to hop up on
tarp on top and much of the sides depending on temperatures
a modified storage tub as a bed with blankets
litter box, food dish, water dish.
The outdoor temps can be extreme,
more so lately than previously it seems,
ranging from hot summer temps around 100
to cold winter temps below freezing.
We are in the process of building a climate controlled cattery:
a stand alone shed
that we are adding insulation, sheetrock, paneling, flooring, caging.
Since we are doing it ourselves,
it sometimes gets put on the back burner
when more urgent things need to be done
and we are at the 6 month point, and in process of paneling.
Food/Nutrition:
When I initially had my female (now age 5) who was getting pregnant
I was feeding her Purina Kitten Chow, as well as the male.
Later, I found out about more nurtitious food
When I bought a new male (age 3 now)
the breeder said he ate raw
and Kitty Bloom
(but I don't feed Kitty Bloom)
so I fed raw until he got salminila
then I fed him the same recipe, but cooked.
I ground and cooked a recipe
that included: chicken, beef, salmon, vitamin, probiotics
and fed to all the cats
twice a day,
on disposablewax paper sheets
who then started looking sleek and fit.
When I wasn't getting kittens for a couple of years
I quit doing that
and just kept dry food available
which is a half and half mix of Purina
Kitten Chow and Advantage Adult (#1 ingredient is chicken).
That's the scenario.
I've read a few things about fertility and cat fertility that run thru my mind/that could be relevent:
* a study with mice showed that a pregnant female will abort if she smell pheromones of a different male.
* rabbits we had would not get pregnant until the stress level went down and the dogs were penned far away from them.
* lambs can have a low sperm count and be infertile if temperatures are about 100.
* a vet friend related that he has Bengal owners repeat to him their predicament of cat infertility
These all make the case for having basically indoor/climate control
which is probably what most catteries do,
although it is a difficult situation with a male since he sprays and enclosures smell intolerably
so, I hear many keep the male outside.
I'm wondering what their temperatures range?
I am in a predicament,
and trying to see what options we could have:
1..Some may say to just "start over"
getting a new pair of kittens (male, female)
and maybe keeping them inside
feeding the cooked recipe
and Kitty Bloom.
That would mean selling the breeder cats
which then may not be breeders?
I don't mind selling
but if I sell
I would like to be able to prove that cat was an actual breeder.
Besides, when we add up the cost of what we paid for breeder cats
and consider we would buy two more
then it gets pricey
if we can't sell them as breeder cats
and they did not pay for themselves by producing offspring.
Some would say, well, just "cut your losses".
OUCH, but if we "gotta do what we gotta do"
then I guess we do it
and sell breeders as pets.
2. Or, should we try a new male?
Maybe leave a female at another male's place?
I have usually tried to keep breeding all "in house"
to keep down disease.
3. Or, have a female who was just "bred" stay in a climate controlled housing
which usually means a kennel inside the house/bathroom.
4. We are thinking about consulting a vet who specializes in cat fertility,
but is that $$$?
and are there other, more cost effective ways
to improve cat fertility?
5. Ultimatley, getting the indoor cattery completed and into use
maybe hiring help to get it done...
