TARASCANI MAINE COONS

It is not as easy as it sounds to provide the correct environment for a stud cat. All potential stud owners should be made aware of the possible pitfalls by any breeder selling them a kitten for this purpose. It is a big responsibility to ensure that the kitten will grow into a happy and contented adult and not lead a frustrated, lonely life because not enough thought was put into his welfare.

The basics are simple enough; he will need a good-sized house that is dry and heated. A safe, fenced-in run with shelves and/or branches for exercise. A queen’s pen is a good idea, if possible, so that a visiting queen can get to know him. He will also need good quality food.

There are two types of stud cat, the private stud for use only with his owner’s queens and the public stud whose owner will allow him to mate (for a fee and subject to blood tests) with females brought in by other breeders. A stud cat will need to have at least six to eight matings through the year to keep him content, this means that you will need to have at least that number of queens if you want to make sure they are not overworked by being bred from every six months. If you have the room and time this is the ideal situation. If you only have one or two girls thought must be given to going public.

There are many considerations to owning a public stud. Do you have the facilities to safely look after a visiting queen? Is he of suitable type/colour/pedigree to attract potential queens? Is there competition in your area by other stud owners of the same breed, who may be more popular and therefore get the queens? Are you prepared for the effort and cost to take your stud to the vet for blood testing every time a new queen is to arrive and check her paperwork to make sure she has also been tested? Can you deal with emergencies if they arise? Do you have the time and patience to deal with the owners who have trusted you with the welfare of their cat? There is also the responsibility of looking after other people’s cats and of avoiding potential injury or disease for your boy. You must be willing to protect him from a bad tempered female (not all visitors will be willing mates) and also protect the queen from him if he is too amorous after a long period of celibacy! You cannot send a queen back home covered in scratches, bite marks and a total nervous wreck!

A stud cat will take up more time than any other cat you have. As he will not usually be kept in the house you will have to spend time with him in his. Will you have the time to spend outside grooming and generally being with him? A joyless life stuck outside with little company and less attention is not conducive to having a happy, affectionate boy.

After considering if he is getting enough work, you should make sure that he is not being overworked. A private stud can have his girls visit regularly through the year and usually enjoys them staying with him after mating until the next one is ready to come into call or his present companion is too pregnant to stay with him. When you have a public stud the calls can be guaranteed to come all at once or not at all and it is your responsibility to make sure he has a suitable period of rest between each visit. An overworked stud will produce smaller litters, which may not be of as good quality as those of a boy whose workload has been properly managed. This will reflect badly on you and your stud and will not generate repeat matings from owners. It will not be easy to refuse someone on the phone desperate to find a stud cat now for the queen you can hear, wailing in the background and is waving money at you for his immediate services. If your boy is currently busy have the courage to say no and arrange for her to visit on her next call.

Next you should consider the queens who are to visit your stud. You know the breeding and genetics of your own girls and what you should expect from mating them with your boy. If a queen is coming from somewhere else the first question that should be asked is if she is on the Active Register. If she is not that means her breeder did not consider her to be of good enough quality to be a breeding queen and was put on the Non-Active (non-breeding) Register and sold as a pet to be speyed when old enough. The welfare of the breed as a whole should always come first and you should only let your boy breed with suitable females. If the breeder of the pet quality girl found out that you had accepted her knowing she was not on the Active Register they will not be happy and you will do yourself a great disservice by becoming known as an irresponsible person who encourages “backyard breeding”. A good working knowledge of genetics is essential so that when you are asked “what will I get from mating my girl and your boy?” you will be able to give as full an answer as possible instead of “I don’t know, I think you might get …”

After your stud has been working for some time you may find that you have kept one or two of his best daughters (what is the use of keeping boys only to breed back to mothers or sisters?) and are faced with the problem of who to mate them to. Do you have the room for a second stud? Do you have the work? Haven’t you heard this all before? If you don’t have room for another stud house, consider neutering and retiring the older boy and let him enjoy a life of ease indoors – he’s earned it. Just be sure that his replacement is ready to take up his duties before you burn your bridges. If you do have room to run two cats make sure that the houses are not too close together, or the runs are separated by a solid partition, this will ensure that whichever stud is “working” will not be put off by the other one’s face looming inches away from his own yelling that he is no good and to “let a real man in!” this can be very off-putting. Entire cats love to make the most noise and smell possible and this trait will be doubled if in close proximity to another male and competition to become the dominant cat may result in howling and spraying as well as complaints from the neighbours! Sometimes the less dominant male will become nervous and downtrodden as the dominant male becomes smellier, noisier and more obnoxious to make his status felt. If this happens you may have no choice but to re-home or neuter one of them.

So far I have pointed out the possible downside to owning a stud cat, but they are also potentially the most rewarding cats to have. If handled properly they can be the most affectionate of your cats. It is wonderful to be able to just pop a calling queen straight in to his stud house and not drive half-way across the country to a strange place and cat, sometimes that is enough to put a girl off calling. It is a great feeling to know that the kittens you produce are all your own work and when prospective owners come to view them you can bask in the reflected glory of introducing them to ‘Dad’. This situation can only occur if lots of thought is put into preparation and every effort is made to get everything right. A stud cat has no choices, little freedom and is totally reliant on you for his well-being. If you remember how much you owe him and return the favour he will be devoted to you for life and thrive in his enforced confinement.