Dear all,

Apologies if this is an inappropriate topic or if I sound wildly inexperienced - I am completely unaware as to whether what I am asking advice for is even a possibility!

I own two lovely little cats of approximately 6 months, brother and sister. They are only domestic shorthairs (ginger and black torty respectively) though there is some suggestion (by the vet) of a possible bengal/burmese mix somewhere down the line due to their looks, though I'm not convinced.

The boy has been spayed, however the female is currently unspayed. We had hoped to allow her to mate with a friends cat before being spayed. We had/have homes for any kittens produced, otherwise we would not consider it. Tragically, our friends beautiful tom suffered a sudden and rare leak in his bladder and had to had emergency surgery, which unfortunately he did not survive. Our little girl is now on heat every couple of weeks and the poor thing is very (unsurprisingly) frustrated. There are clearly no toms in the local vicinity as she goes out for periods of time in the day and is still very much on heat (and has been intermittently for the last few weeks).

I am wondering whether there is any scope for finding a tom to mate with our girl (how I would go about doing this without buying another cat, whether there are people with unspayed toms willing to do so, and so on), or whether I should put the poor thing out of her (seemingly torturous) heat, and have her spayed asap.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Sera

I would have her spayed tbh. You put her with some random tom she could catch a serious illness, there's the risk of pregnancy complications and even death for your girl. She might need a c-section and you may have to handrear the kittens. All of this is a lot of money, time and unecessary stress on your precious cat. Then there's the hundreds of cats in rescues even pedigree breeders are finding it hard to find homes for the kittens let alone crossbreeds. You can't guarantee the homes you have lined up will actually want the kittens once they're born meaning you could end up with quite a few cats or they could end up in a rescue. I don't think its fair for you to breed her just book her in for a spay

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"A dog is not "almost human," and I know of no greater insult to the canine race than to describe it as such."
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Owned by Buster cairn terrier mix and Leo netherland dwarf mix bunny

1000's of cats are PTS every year as there are just not enough homes for them all.

The RSPCA, if called to any strays, will simply PTS without looking at any other options.

For every kitten she could have, you are taking a home away from a potential rescue cat. Rescue cats that could have been waiting years for a new loving home.

She is also at risk of catching some nasty illnesses if randomnly mated with the local tom, not to mention Feline Aids (Which if tested positive, most vets will PTS).

Put the poor girl out of her frustration and spay her.

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Just for future reference, males are neutered or castrated, only females are spayed

To second what others have said, if you have homes lined up, tell them it's marvelous they're happy to take on another cat and point them at one of the many bursting rescue centres, and get your girl spayed without putting her through kittening.

Now, this is all gonna sound really hypocritical coming from registered breeders, which a lot of posters on here are. The main difference is that moggies and pedigrees are different 'markets' - someone looking for a pedigree ragdoll is unlikely to find what they're looking for in a rescue, so will seek out a breeder. Your pretty moggie is unlikely to give kittens any different to the thousands of domestic shorthairs in rescures waiting for homes.

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Jasper - Burmese X moggy - missing!
Electra - silver Egyptian Mau
(Truffles - chocolate tortie syrian hammy - bye little one, I miss you)
And 6 little balls of silver spotty fluff! OMG KITTENZ etc

If there are homes lined up you should point them in the direction of a cat shelter. There are thousands of kittens going through the doors of those places every year and a small but significant number end up being PTS because they are unable to find suitable homes for them.

PLEASE PLEASE have your cat spayed. Breeding off a domestic shorthair would be a terribly selfish thing to do. You risk your cats life and the lives of the kittens she may or may not produce. Even if you manage to find a stud cat there is no guarantee your girl will be able to handle the pregnancy or that it would be uncomplicated.

Please have her spayed.

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Current foster from the Cinnamon Trust - 13yo Muffin the persian tortoiseshell kitty. And we're keeping her.

In the US the term is used for both, at least colloquially - I wonder if the OP is in the US?

The short answer is let her out, that is almost certainly what will end up happening anyway. But why bother? Promised homes often evaporate as soon as real kittens are there and last year certainly there seem to have been too many moggies bred for the available homes.

It is just possible that you might find a stud cat owner willing to allow your cat to use a pedigree stud in exchange for a kitten, if there is a beneficial outcross to be had (beneficial to the stud's breed I mean). Or there are some people who advertise on preloved in particular who are willing to let moggies use unregistered pedigree studs. If you want any such breeders to contact you, you need to say where you are!

Liz

i have an entire shorthaired rex male

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I would get her spayed, what are your reasond for wanting to mate her? because people want a kitten there are plenty of non pedigree kittens needing homes in rescue. As a breeder yes it does sound hypocritical of me but as someone else has said they are two completely different markets. It is not as straight forward as putting your girl to a boy and hoping for the best. There are sexually transmitted diseases which are rife in local wandering toms. Risks of birth difficulties and lack of milk produced by mum which will mean hand rearing which would be every two hours to start with. Extra food, litter, time etc The homes may not be definate ones. For the sake of having a litter before spay its not worth it. If you want to get into breeding properly then that is fine as long as you know what you are doing as there is alot of research involved to be able to rear kittens properly.

have her spayed
if your friends etc are looking for kittens there's always plenty in rescues needing new homes.