Breeding:  
There are many excellent resources providing detailed information on kitten rearing and husbandry. A queen should not be bred until she is at one year of age unless she has had at least two estrus cycles (heats). Under no circumstances should a female kitten under 8 months of age be intentionally bred. Male kittens may be potent and physically able to breed as early as 5 months of age, although intentional use as a stud should not begin before 8 months of age. Queens should not be bred more often than twice a year unless one or more of the litters are very small (1-2 kittens). Queens who have large litters should be given proportionately more reproductive rest. Ideally, studs should have brief periods of reproductive rest in between queens (approximately one week).

For testing and vaccination recommendations with respect to breeding, see the appropriate sections above.

The normal gestation period for cats is 63-70 days, with 63-67 being more usual. The gestation period is counted from the first day of breeding. Pregnant queens should be fed a high quality diet, preferably a kitten/growth formula, during gestation and lactation. Vitamin or calcium supplementation is neither necessary nor desirable for cats eating a commercially available feline diet, and may in fact contribute to the problem it is hoped to prevent (eclampsia). However, supplemental feeding of a small amount of cottage cheese or plain yogurt is safe and acceptable. Feeding a predominantly dry diet is probably more practical and comfortable for late-term and nursing queens, since it is much more nutritionally dense than canned food.

A queen's body temperature drops 1-2 degrees (often to 100 degrees or lower) in the 24 hours immediately before parturition (birth). A queen needs to be provided with an isolated, quiet, warm and clean environment in which to have her kittens. It is strongly recommended that breeders isolate queens within a week before birth, and keep them and their kittens isolated from the rest of the household/cattery cats until 3 months of age. Ideally, each litter should be isolated from other litters to the maximum extent possible.

Disposable bed/chair pads designed for use in human incontinence are ideal to line the queening box. Two or three layers of these pads may be placed on top of each other, and removed as needed to minimize disturbing the queen and kittens during the first hours of life. There should be one placenta for every kitten delivered, and the queen may eat none, a few, or all of these. The queen should break the sac which encloses each kitten immediately after birth, begin licking the kitten vigorously (especially the face/head), and then bite through the umbilical cord.

Human intervention is required if the queen fails to do this (most commonly with first-time mothers); the sac may be broken with clean hands, and the mucus/fluid wiped from the kitten's face and body with a clean washcloth or towel. The cord may be cut with sterilized scissors (using ordinary rubbing/isopropyl alcohol), leaving about 1/2-3/4" attached to the kitten. Do not tug or pull on the umbilical cord; excessive pressure can create an umbilical hernia.

The stump of the umbilical cord should then immediately have Betadine (tamed povidone iodine) solution or gel placed on it; the gel remains on the stump longer. It is safe for the queen to lick this off, although it should be reapplied as needed until the stump dries (usually about 24 hours). Betadine should be applied whether the queen or the breeder breaks the umbilical cord to help prevent infection of the umbilicus.

Kittens should be kept warm, clean and dry. They cannot regulate their body temperature like adults until several weeks of age. However, a heating pad is generally not necessary for kittens raised indoors at comfortable, draft-free room temperature; the queen's body heat is generally sufficient to keep the litter warm. If a heating pad must be used, it should be kept on its lowest setting with a heavy layer of towels on top to help diffuse the heat, and the queen must be able to remove the kittens if the queening box becomes too hot. Heating pads must be checked often to ensure that they are not overheating.

The queen's vaginal discharge (lochia) should not persist more than 2-3 days, and should not have a foul odor. A queen which shows any sign of illness (lethargy, poor appetite, fever, dehydration, hot, hard and swollen mammary glands, etc.) should immediately be seen by a veterinarian. Metritis (uterine infection) and mastitis (mammary gland infection) can be serious.

Ideally, kittens should be weighed daily using a small kitchen or postal scale for the first 2-3 weeks of life, then biweekly to weekly until the kittens are weaned. There is wide variability in the rate of growth among different kittens, but any individual's weight should steadily increase. A plateau or decreasing weight trend in a very young kitten generally indicates illness and/or failure to nurse, and requires prompt attention. Recommended vaccination protocols for kittens are given above.

Please find below the recipe for bottle nursing

Gestation time schedule

first line: M = mating date, B = birth date

(65th day of pregnancy)

second line: month

lines below: day of month

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