Keeping and Using a Stud

Keeping a stud

Keeping a stud pedigree cat is for professional breeders only. You should have experience with two or more queens of your own before considering it. Remember that managing a stud cat is no light undertaking. but calls for a deep and abiding love of

Cats - your own and other people's?

Handling their visiting queens requires much patience, understanding and general cat know-how. Stud management is also expensive, done properly, as the stud cat should have his own quarters and the best of food.

Another snag is odour many people loathe the peculiar smell of an entire male cat. Consequently the family and the neighbours if any must be considered.

It is also important to find out if the cat fancy can absorb another stud cat of your chosen breed perhaps there are already too many with insufficient work between them.

A male cat is very unhappy if he is not given enough work to do and if there is no demand for his professional services it is kinder to have him neutered Never let a stud cat run loose to mate with all the local queens He will get more exercise but he may catch a disease, suffer injury in fights, get run over or become lost so that he is unavailable when needed to receive a visiting queen.

To keep a stud permanently confined you need the largest accommodation that you can afford, with room inside for the cats to mate, and waiting room for the owner A large fresh-air run will make sure the stud cat has plenty of fresh air and exercise.

Shelves 15cm (6in) wide fixed at different heights around the sides of the run will provide the cat with all the exercise he needs. The best-arranged stud houses combine a queen s compartment insider with her own individual run outside. They can both share the same escape run. In this way the queen s combing and going does not have to be carried out through stud territory.

Although of course queens must always arrive at stud in a cat-proof container and be released only when all escape routes have been closed.

Vinyl flooring is ideal for inside the stud house vinyl should also be carried up the walls above spray height and sealed with a half-moon beading A washable mat or rug in the centre of the studs area will provide comfort and a surface that feet can grip during mating. In some climates it may be essential to provide stud and queen with heated beds or to install infra-red dull emitter lamps or another form of safe heating over the cat beds.

In the tropics you may well need air conditioning instead. A light in the stud house enables feeding and mating to take place at night if necessary. All electrical wiring should be installed outside the stud house entering only at the point of use. Concrete runs are best for ease of cleaning with wire raised about 15cm (6in) above the concrete to facilitate swilling underneath.

Pots of home-grown grass and catnip will be much appreciated by both queen and stud.

To be successful in the cat fancy a stud cat must be a champion or potential champion of its breed, for only the very best am in demand by owners of pedigree breeding queens.

Understandably, these people want to win prizes with their kittens and so build up their prefix or cattery name.

The successful stud will be in peak condition all year around This calls for a prime diet of best raw meat, chicken, rabbit and fish plus extra vitamins, minerals, egg yolks and also milk if he can take it (some cats cannot).

He will cost a lot to feed but each stud fee will include a proportion of his upkeep all year round. He must receive inoculations as required and the visiting queens' owners will expect to see the relevant certificates.

Using a stud
A male cat may become ready to mate a female as early as six months old or not until he is two years old. Readiness appears not to be breed related, but to vary with individuals: some precocious males of the foreign breeds have mated with their sisters while still together in a litter.

A male can be put to stud once he becomes a 'proved sire by having mated a queen who has subsequently given birth to kittens Some breeders limit the number of queens to be served the first years: others may limit makings at all times. Nature is usually the best judge however, and so long as the cat appears to be thriving and getting enough to eat there should be no harm in letting him mate as many days a week as he wants.

A research cat, a ginger tom. is said to have mated 17 times a day for months on end before a three-week break when he refused to look at another queen. After this brief vacation he happily went back to work as usual.

It is unlikely that a stud cat will be overworked if well fed. If he goes into a decline it is much more likely to be for some other reason such as ill health or lack of human companionship.

The cat who does not get enough work may be a more difficult problem. He could pine away or get bad tempered. His services can be advertised but if there really is no call for him he should be neutered. You can have this done at any age although it may take six months for him to drop the spraying habit.

A successful stud who is kept at work can go on for years, even to 16 or 17, but some studs eventually lose interest or, more likely you find that the queens who come to be mated no longer take or become pregnant.

When this starts to happen to a stud he can spend the rest of his life as a household pet or you can use him simply to keep the queens happy when they are calling but not required to produce kittens.

At the start of his career you should mate a young stud only to experienced easy queens, ones who know the ropes. This will build up his confidence. Save maiden queens for later, when he is experienced.

If a young, timid stud gets an hysterical, 'difficult' queen the first time he may develop a complex. Even experienced queens are sometimes troublesome and sorely try the patience of both stud and stud owner, perhaps due to a bad start in their sex life. You may have to steady the queen by hand, or it may be best to leave the couple to run with each other and sort out their own problems.

Some cats will only mate if no human is present.

When the queen arrives, it is quite normal for her to spit at her intended if she is not quite ready, or if she has gone somewhat off call because of the journey. He usually doesn't mind too much because he knows that she will change her tune in due course.

He waits patiently, wooing her with his voice until she rolls and coos back at him. When the stud owner feels the time is right, she will open the door of the queen's apartment and the queen will run out on to the mat and assume a mating posture. The stud will straddle her, take her by the scruff with his mouth and proceed to penetrate.

He may thump her hindquarters until she lifts them to the required level and moves her tail to one side. She may waltz about a bit, moving round in circles, or actively try to throw him off. He will hang on, however, until her climax and until he has ejaculated, when he will jump clear.

After this she will roll round furiously and may even attack him if he fails to get out of the way.

Immediately the stud owner can make a fuss of the stud and tell him what a clever fellow he is, but no attempt should be made to handle the queen until she has calmed down. With any luck the queen will return to her own quarters voluntarily or with a little persuasion and the couple can then be left for some time to clean themselves up.

They will usually enjoy each other's company and eating meals at the same time, and if the queen remains for any reason for any length of time after she has gone off call, the couple can run together and will often be found curled up together in one bed or enjoying mutual washing.

When it is time for the queen to go home. the stud's owner gives her a mating certificate showing the dates on which matings have taken place and the date kittens can be expected The stud's owner also gives the queen's owner a copy of the studs pedigree and asks for news of the result of the mating in due course The stud's