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Even though you may love your Siamese cat and want to breed him or her to produce a litter of kittens, cat breeding isn’t something that should be considered lightly.
Doing so for the fun of having kittens in the house or making money from them are poor reasons to get into the business and, all too often, that is why less reputable breeders do so.
They want to produce stronger offspring that will have less health issues so that the future generations of this breed will live longer, happier lives with their human companions.
These breeders run reputable facilities and will often show their cats in order to introduce their stronger Siamese catss to the cat world.
What To Consider
Properly breeding and caring for Siamese cats is a time-consuming and expensive undertaking. Before you get into the business, you should talk with other breeders and read everything you can on breeding before you even consider producing a litter of kittens.
In order to produce the best offspring for the breed, your cat should display excellent breed standards and be healthy in order to breed him or her.
There are already too many unwanted kittens in the world and you don’t want to add to the population. Both female and male cats should be allowed to reach maturity before they are bred. For female cats, they can be bred starting at 18 to 24 months of age.
Male cats should be at least 18 months of age before they are used for breeding. The need to reach maturity in order to make sure they are suitable for breeding as far as their temperament is concerned and to ensure they are healthy.
If you know you are going to breed your Siamese cats before you adopt them, you should get kittens from unrelated litters to use as the tom and the queen.
You don’t necessarily need to own both the tom and the queen, but it will make it more convenient for breeding, especially a breed like the Siamese that isn’t your ordinary cat. A suitable tom may be hard to find, so owning both the tom and queen may be more convenient for you.
Before Breeding
Before you commence breeding, you need to have your veterinarian give your Siamese cats a thorough examination, check their stools for parasites and make sure that their vaccinations are up-to-date. They should also be free of ear mites, ringworm and fleas.
Have your cats tested for the genetic diseases the Siamese cat are known to have, such as patella luxation, myopathy, spastic and hip dysplasia. A responsible breeder will not use their cats for breeding if they test positive for any of these conditions and will spay or neuter them instead.
It is important for female cats to be at their ideal weight before they conceive. If they are too thin or too heavy, they can have problems getting pregnant, carrying a litter and queening, which is the act of giving birth. By feeding them a proper diet, you can keep both your female and male cats in good health and at their ideal weight throughout their lives.
Cats that are laid-back and friendly will be more likely to produce kittens that are easy going and friendly. If you do adopt Siamese cats with the idea that you will breed them, select your male and female very carefully. Make sure they are healthy and have been well taken care of, which will help ensure that you produce healthy kittens.
Check their medical certifications, get to know their personalities and adopt cats with the best breed standard that you can. If you are careful in selecting your male and female cats, you will be more likely to produce a healthy, friendly litter of Siamese kittens.
Caring for the Queen During Pregnancy
Once your male and female Siamese are at least 18 months of age, they are ready to be bred. The queen, your female cat, will go into heat during certain seasons of the year, which is called seasonally polyestrous.
If females are not bred, they will cycle many times. Cats also need to breed before they ovulate, they are reflex ovulators. Indoor cats, which are exposed to artificial light, can cycle year-round, while outdoor cats usually cycle in the spring and summer months.
There are five stages to a cat’s heat, or estrous, cycle: anestrus, proestrus, estrus, the interfollicular stage and metestrus. The proestrus stage occurs just before the female goes into heat. During this time, she may “call” to the tom, roll around and/or rub on the ground.
However, she usually will not allow the tom to come near her yet. Female cats do not bleed during this stage as other animals, such as dogs, do. The proestrus stage can progress to the estrus stage in just a few hours. The estrus stage is when a female is in heat. It is at this time that the queen will allow a tom to approach and mate with her.
Mating
When they do mate, it will last anywhere from 1 to 20 seconds and the tom will need to have an escape route away from the queen, who will often respond aggressively after mating. Use a box or make sure there is a shelf nearby that the tom can jump into or onto immediately after mating with the queen.
You will know that the queen has mated by her actions immediately afterwards. She will thoroughly groom herself and not be approachable for about an hour after she mates.
Afterwards, the tom can once again approach her and they will resume mating. To help ensure that she gets pregnant, you can allow your female to mate three times a day for the first three days of estrus. Studies have shown that this helps produce ovulation in 90% of queens.
However, if for some reason she aborts or loses her nursing kittens, the queen will return to the estrus stage within two to three weeks. She will then be ready to be bred again, if you so desire.
First Signs
The first signs of pregnancy are the lack of heat cycles. It is usually difficult to tell if a queen is pregnant during the first two to three weeks of her pregnancy. Several methods can be used to determine if the queen is pregnant.
An ultrasound can be done to check for fetuses at days 14 or 15, your veterinarian will be able to feel the fetuses with abdominal palpations around days 17 or 18 and heartbeats using an ultrasound are detectable starting around day 24.
You won’t notice anything physically until about the 5th week of pregnancy when the queen‘s abdomen starts to enlarge, but if she has a small litter, it will take longer for her to show.
What To Do When She Is Pregnant
If she was on a premium cat food before her pregnancy, you should maintain that diet for the first few weeks of her pregnancy. At about the fourth week of pregnancy, you will want to add a high-quality kitten food to her diet.
Each week you will increase the amount of kitten food to her diet until the final week, when she should be eating nothing but kitten food. This will help provide all of the essential vitamins and minerals that the kittens will need to be at their healthiest when they are born.
It is a good idea to increase the queen’s meal frequency to three times a day by the middle of her pregnancy, around day 30, you can allow her to free feed during this time.
During the last week of pregnancy, she may need to eat small meals every three to four hours as the kittens continue to grow. Kittens grow the most during the last two weeks of gestation.
As long as she maintains a healthy weight during lactation, the queen should be able to have the extra food and she will need it in order to keep up her own energy levels and properly nourish her kittens.
Medications
If possible, all medications should be avoided while the queen is pregnant or lactating. The only time medications harmful to the developing fetuses should be administered to the queen is in order to save her life.
For any other medications or supplements, consult with your veterinarian before you give them to the queen to see if they will be harmful to her kittens.
Just Before The Due Date
You will want to set up a nesting box for the queen about two weeks before her due date. Something as simple as a cardboard box or a laundry basket works well for a nesting box. Just line them with a blanket or towels to create a soft area for the queen and her kittens. Setting it up in advance will allow the queen to become accustomed to the nesting area before she goes into labor.
The temperature should read between 101 and 102 degrees Fahrenheit during, but her temperature will drop to 100 degrees just before she goes into labor. When her temperature does drop, the queen should deliver her litter within 24 hours. There are other signs of impending labor that will start taking place within 24 to 48 hours before she goes into labor.
She may seem anxious, restless and start looking for a place to have her litter. When she starts this behavior, confine her to the room you where you want her to have the kittens.
The room should be darkened and in a quiet area of your home in order to make her feel it is safe enough for her kittens. Make sure she has access to fresh water, food and a clean litter box at all times.
Labor
Just before she begins labor, the queen may also start to repeatedly lick her abdomen and vagina. She may have a discharge prior to birth, but you probably won’t see it as she will lick it away. She will be dilating at this time, but you won’t see any outward signs of it. Don’t check the area just leave her alone during this time.
Her breathing may increase, and she may yowl or pace about while she is in labor. As contractions begin, the queen will lie on her side, then get up and squat while pressing downward to drop her kittens.
You can watch from a distance, but don’t interrupt or disturb her while she is in the process of having her kittens. You should see the first kitten emerge about an hour after her labor begins.
Labor may only last a few minutes before the first kitten arrives and the next one will arrive within 10 minutes to an hour later. The remaining kittens will arrive within the same intervals. They come out wrapped in a membrane, so the queen will immediately start licking her kitten to open the sac and allow the kitten to breathe. The licking also helps to stimulate the kitten’s circulation and respiration.
If she cannot break through the sac or doesn’t do so, you will need to gently, but vigorously rub the kitten using a soft towel to get the membrane off it and allow them to breathe.
Place the kitten at a nipple because the queen will immediately start nursing her kittens after chewing away the umbilical cord and before the rest of her litter arrives. Nursing the kitten will help stimulate further contractions.
Just After
Once she has finished having her litter, you can quietly clean up after her. Place her food and water nearby because she will not want to leave her kittens unattended for too long the first day or two. Leave her in the birthing room, keeping it darkened and quiet so as not to disturb the new family. If you take good care of the queen before and during her pregnancy, as well as labor, she will be more like to have a healthy litter of kittens.
Raising Healthy, Happy Kittens
After the kittens have arrived, the real work has begun. Even though there may not be much you can do for the kittens during the first few days, the queen will see to most of their care, you can ensure that the room they are in stays warm enough for them.
Body Temperature
Kittens cannot regulate their body temperature for the first few weeks of their lives and the room should stay around 75 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit for the first week, then you can gradually drop it to 70 degrees.
If you need to use a heat source in the room, do not make it warmer than the queen as the kittens will gravitate toward it in order to nurse. Kittens usually lay on the sides or atop their littermates to stay warm and to have contact with them. If they spread out, they are probably too warm.
A kitten’s normal temperature is around 97 degrees Fahrenheit and it will gradually climb each week until it reaches 100.5 to 102.5, which is the same as an adult cat, at around four weeks of age.
Food
In order to keep the queen well fed so she can keep her kittens nourished, keep her food, water and a litter box nearby. She will not want to leave her kittens for very long and she will need an almost constant supply of high-quality kitten food to eat in order to keep up with the feeding demands of her kittens.
What To Look Out For
A healthy kitten is easy to spot as they are plump, have a firm body and they are vigorous. They will nurse about every one to two hours and they will nurse until their tiny stomachs appear rounded and they sleep quietly.
If you see them moving around a lot and crying, they may not be getting enough to eat. Swallowing air can make their stomachs appear rounded just as it would if they were feeding normally. As they weaken, they will stop moving around and crying.
Weight
A Siamese kitten normally weighs between 90 and 100 grams at birth and those weighing under 90 grams many expire within a few days after their birth. Although kittens may lose a small amount of weight about 24 hours after their birth, the normal weight gain is between 7 to 10 grams per day.
Their weight should double within the first 14 days of their life. It is important to weigh new kittens every day for their first two weeks and then two to three times a week until they have been weaned. One of the signs of illness is a kitten’s failure to gain weight.
Nursing
When they are nursing, you may notice that the kittens are at the same teat each time they fed. Kittens prefer to use the same teat each time they nurse, which they will pick out during the first few days of life. They will use their sense of smell to find their preferred teat when it is time for them to eat.
While they are nursing, the queen will lick their stomachs and perineal area to stimulate their ability to urinate and defecate. She will continue to do this for the first two to three weeks of their life.
You should check the queen’s mammary glands and nipples at least once a day to check for redness, hardness, streaking color or discharge.
Growth Stages
Kittens are born without teeth and their baby teeth, the deciduous teeth, will start coming in at about two to four weeks of age. Around the second week of life, you will also want to check the queen’s mammary glands for bite marks as well as scratches.
By the time a kitten is eight weeks of age, all of their deciduous teeth should be present. Kittens will eventually lose their deciduous teeth, which will be replaced with adult teeth.
At around three to four weeks of age, the kittens will start imitating the queen when she eats and drinks. You need to keep a shallow bowl of water out for them for at least part of the day so they have access to water.
At around this time, you can start making and feeding them kitten mush. Kitten mush is a blend of high quality kitten food, replacement kitten milk and hot water. Blend it until it has the same consistency of human baby cereal.
The kittens should be fed kitten mush three to four times a day at first. Each week, decrease the replacement milk and water in the mush and blend it less.
Keep the nesting box clean by changing it out at least once a day as the kittens will be urinating and defecating in it for the first several weeks of life.
At around four weeks old, they will start behavior that looks as if they are scratching at sand. They will start following the queen to the litter box and, while they may just play in it at first, at around six weeks of age, they will be learning to use it for urinating and defecating. They will learn how to bury their feces from watching the queen and they will need access to a litter pan with shorter sides in order to be able to climb in and out of it.
As she starts to spend more time away from her kittens, they will start to follow the queen from the nesting box to explore their world.
Make sure they have soft toys available to play with and, if they fall asleep in odd spots, return them to the box to rest. The queen may take care of that herself, but it never hurts to lend a helping hand.
Socialization
The kittens will start going through a socialization period beginning somewhere between two to seven weeks of age. If you have any other litters around the same age, set up a “play date” where you can introduce the kittens and supervise their interactions.
For the most part, kittens learn from the queen by imitating her actions. That is how they learn how to eat, how to use the litter box, hunt and they learn to fear what she fears. Since the Siamese breed is generally friendly, fearless and fun loving, you can expect the kittens to turn out the same way.
Putting on Sale
The Siamese are very valuable cats and are very easy to sale. You can either place advertisements in your neighborhood or at popular vet clinics; the Siamese can be sold on internet too.
The Siamese kittens’ prices start from $200. Thus, they can give you very easy cash with every new birth.
You can also start your own website that sells Siamese and can earn a lot from there, as people from around the world are ready to buy this beautiful pet.
Author and long-time animal lover. Sharing knowledge on pet care through experience and the written word. 