Can anyone give me their views on a situation that I am involved in at the moment. I have two proven fertile stud cats that have never previously mismated. At present I have a female in with one of my boys on a previously written & agreeded signed mating contract. This entitles the female to be here for 4/5 days and to return a further two matings free of charge if unsuccessful. The person cant bring the cat to me, so a agreement was made for the cost of fuel that I collect/return the cat, which I have done on each occaision. At this present time the female is here on her third visit & has been here for a total of nine days. She has now stopped calling & my male has stopped showing any intimate interest in her. The owner has accused my cat of being infertile, as to why her female hasnt fallen pregnant. Yet I have a female I own who has a litter due next week from the same male that is involved in this mating agreement. The owner of the female is insisting that the female remains with me until she falls pregnant free of charge. I disagree with this as I have completed my side of the agreement. The female has been here three times for a total of 24days. I think that the female might very well have a fertility problem which is stopping her from conceiving. The owner totally disagees with this saying that its my cat with the problem & she feels that I am breaking the contract by not keeping her here til she is pregnant. I have offered for the female to remain with me for a small boarding fee of £30 pw. She claims this is outragous & that I am trying to rip her off? She hasnt considered the four hours of my time on each return trip to collect/return her cat. What more should I do?

I totally agree with a boarding fee if the owner wishes the cat to remain with you but that in itself can cause issues. You don't know she isn't pregnant at this point so why does the owner want her to stay? There are rarely the same signs of a cat coming into call if she's in with the male so if you do controlled matings you could miss the chance and if you intend to leave them together you may not know matings have taken place. This means you could have that cat until you notice her pink up, at which point it isn't so good for her to travel.

You have fulfilled the terms of the contract. Stud fees are for the service, not results.

Have you witnessed successful matings on any of her visits?

has her female previously had a litter?

I think you've already gone above and beyond normal levels of help for this owner.
Mating fees usually are for the service, not for a guaranteed healthy kitten.

Personally in this situation (seeing as your male is fertile) and you've presumably observed matings taking place I'd ask her to come and get the cat immediately, or deliver it back her. Keeping the cat till it is confirmed pregnant was not part of your originaly contract and you've had it in 3 times already, service certainly provided for the fee.

Maybe you could offer to refund part of the fee if the cat isn't pregnant (minus expenses), although as you've driven the cat around and housed/fed her for a significant amount of time, so unless the fee was very large I doubt she'd be getting a lot back, but this would be as a gesture of good will, and there doesn't seem to be a lot of that here.

Makes me glad stud fees for birmans are comparably low!

Breeding/showing is a gamble, nothing is guaranteed, and sometimes things just don't work out, there's no-one at 'fault'.


Emma

Thank you for your comments. I have witnessed her being mated numerious times over the past eight days. even witnessed by a young couple who visited to see my cats. The female has been witnessed being mated on all three occaissions that she has been here.
I have trouble explaining to the owner that my stud boy has successfully mated the female on all three occaisions. That if the female has failed to fall pregnant it isnt a result of my stud boy. The male is a proven stud boy & has successfully mated several females.

I think you need to apply the letter of the contract. She's had her dues. Maybe try a different stud, maybe the female is infertile but this isn't your problem. When Minnii was well and we breed from her we took her to the same stud twice - no kittens - now the stud owners didn't charge us a fee because no kittens resulted (not sure if you are still charging a fee anyway) and advised us to take her to a different stud which she did and she got pregnant. Then for her second litter we took her back to the first stud (cos we liked him so much) and this time she fell pregnant. No hassle.

I think maybe (and I haven't used that many stud services) that maybe if the cat doesn't fall pregnant despite many matings and the stud is proven then don't charge her a full fee - just deduct expenses - like the petrol, food, heating etc.

This isn't your problem it's hers, you have a written contract and you are willing to keep the cat. In the case of my girl again, I left her there for two weeks on the second attempt and I provided all her food etc as I felt bad about imposing.

I understand that stud fees can be high, and that it's frustrating when your cat doesn't get pregnant but . . . . that's life.


Put it this way - if she isn't careful you won't be having ANY of her queens back at ANY point will you?

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Then I completely agree with the above posts; you've done everything you possibly can - above and beyond really. I would return her to her owner.

I have, on a few occasions, offered to take into stud another queen belonging to the owner when it has become clear that the 'original' queen isn't conceiving to my (proven) stud and obviously has fertility problems and the stud fee has been paid and 'lost'. But you might feel that your 'relationship' with this person has deteriorated beyond the point of you wanting to help further.. and I wouldn't blame you one bit.

You have completed your part of the deal and now RUN. Get away from this breeder as soon as you can. This one smells trouble. Don't get yourself any more involved.

This is a very reasonable compromise and something I have done myself. However, Cerridwen's post above strikes a chord with me and is exactly what has been going through my mind. It's my experience that the more you bend over backwards to try and accommodate an unreasonably demanding person, the more they will never be satisfied.

Can I ask what breed the cat is?

I had a similar problem with my active queen. We took her in to stud and had the same problem no results. We still paid the price for stud fees twice.

She went back to one of the studs twice still nothing.
We was told when we bought her that she had already had a litter.

My queen is a exotic persian and have been speaking to several people that also have had problems with the breed and the mating process.