Hi all,

Have any of the Persian breeders (Chinchilla) found any difficulty with their queens delivering kittens?

My vet mentioned that the head of the persian kitten can be slightly bigger than other breeds and this can sometimes cause problems during labour and delivery. My vet also mentioned Persian cats can have a higher stillbirth rate and smaller litter size than other breeds of cat.

Have any persian breeders found this to be the case

I used to breed Persian many years ago and had one stillbirth due to breeding too close to the bloodline not the fault of the breed. Apart from that I did not have any problem due to the head size . I did have one chinchilla though that had to have a caesarian due to birthing problems and I did not breed from her again.I am talking 30 years ago when I was breeding persian. The fact that it was a chinchilla may just be a coincidence . Perhaps there is a chinchilla breeder here that could shed more light on the subject for you.

I had four litters (as I recall) from a Chinny girl, open type, the last time involved a caesarean but until then all was fine. Only the first litter were chinnies though. Yours are very open type aren't they, I expect all will be fine.

Liz

Hi Silverhorse and Lizward,
many thanks for your replies. very much appreciated.
According to the pedigrees of both the stud cat and my queen I should be safe enough as I think there through 4 generations there was little chance of any complications due to breeding too close. This is the first Chinchilla I have owned so I think Liz you are correct in saying that my queen is an open type so hopefully my queen should be ok delivering first litter. I'm just over anxious I guess, she's such a sweet little peach of a cat I'd hate to lose her due to complications from labour. I've lost a beautiful seal point boy a few years ago and really don't realish the thoughts of going through that again

Well, settle back, enjoy it, and try not to worry. The chances of death due to giving birth are really very low, in 19 years of regular breeding I have only ever lost one queen and that would not have happened if I'd had a more competent vet

Liz

Vets often say that Persians will have still births and site the larger head as a problem. As I mentioned in one of your other threads though, Persians also have a much larger pelvis than many other cats, i.e, their chocolate box, cobby build, so the head can be accommodated more easily. While it sometimes poses a problem this is only usually for breeders who breed the super duper ultras, i.e, extreme flat faces.

They do tend to have smaller litters though, yes.

Hi Liz,
THanks for your comment, would you advise that having a word with my vet a week or two before my queen is due just in case there are any difficulties with the labour? Do you know if the cost of any emergency surgery or caercesian associated be covered under my pet insurance?

Hi Carly,
Thanks for your reply. How many kittens do you think my queen might have? Its her first litter and she is quite a small cat.

Hi there

I have a super vet who I've built up a good relationship with. I told her as soon as my queen was pregnant, then advised her the weekend before that labour would be on its way soon. She'd kept an eye on Tia throughout the pregnancy and had agreed to be on call so that she could tend to her herself. It's handy to have that relationship, and I'd identify a vet that you trust and make sure he agrees to be on call when you need him. Many vets have a gut reaction to do a C section and it's not always needed.

It's impossible to say how many kits your girl will have, but I'd say anywhere from 1 to 3 wouldn't be a surprise. Persians have smaller litters, and apparently their first litter is usually only about 2. That being said, my girl was only 3 and a half kg and had three strapping babie,s so you never can tell!

I only know this from experiences with the breeders of my own kittens, but I have never seen them have a litter bigger than 3 with the vast majority being 2.

Gloworm had a stillborn sister and there were only him and her, 2 kits, but again, not heard of any stillborns since...

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