That a whole cat sprays when in the household with other whole cats does not mean he will spray when speutered and in a pet household with all speutered cats. In general, spraying stops after the hormones wind down after speuter.
When the time comes that we retire one of our breeders, they go for free with one of their kittens, or they stay forever with us. It depends on what will make them most happy and comfortable. I know there are many breeders who like to retire their Ragdolls at 3-4 years, and I have had to do the same for some of mine, due to one reason or another, but I don't see anything wrong with keeping a girl breeding for longer, as long as the breedings are far apart, (8 months to a preferred year), and as long as the queen is healthy, having healthy litters. Our Blue Byu is 5 years old now, she has had 4 litters, all have been litters of 5 or more and she is a wonderful Mother.
Also, I wanted to echo Jan's statement above, about keeping the males and females separate. Even if a female is not in heat, will not deter the male from trying to mate her. Cats are spontaneous ovulators, so they can still get pregnant when not in heat. Cats come into maturity at different times, so leaving a young male with the females, can still lead to an accidental breeding very easily. I do not want to cage my cats, as they are pets first and foremost, but keeping them separate is important. Our boys have a large room with many cat condos and toys, but they also come into the house and are supervised by either me or my husband. We like bringing the boys into our room or the kids room, to give them equal attention and love. We are really lucky that none of them spray.
Also, it does take 4-6 weeks for a recently neutered male to lose the hormones and sperm count, and can still get a female pregnant in a certain time frame after neutering.
Julie, the retired queens that I have placed have done very well going to a new home with one of their babies, with the exception of one, she was very shy in the beginning, but has made a lot of progress and they are happy with her, but we did take the time with the family to help her become more settled, and at any time would have brought her back to our home, but they were dedicated to her, and it shows. Also, one of the females did spray as an intact, unspayed female, and once spayed, she never did spray again. I have only placed one retired male, and he had never sprayed before neutering, so spraying wasn't an issue after. TeresaK, did give a lot of helpful information on what to ask your breeder. Best of luck to you.
Purrs,
Stormi
thanks stormi
everyones replies have been very helpful one question im still not 100% sure on is will a neutered male try to mate with a female that is introduced to the house even if female is spayed?
I also feel from your answers that it is better to get a spayed female as spraying is likely to be an issuse is this correct?
Females will spray too, some will spray more than a male will which surprises a lot of people! Which ever gender you choose, the cat might spray, regardless. Cleo sprays when she's in heat or when she feels like it.
A neutered male will probably pay little to no attention to a spayed female
Your male will also feel less threatened when introducing a member of the opposite gender than he would if you brought in another male, and things might quiet down faster too if you bring in a female instead of another male.
Of course, its all based on the individual cat.. just go with what you feel is right.
Speutered cats will mount each other, whether they were ever bred or not. Females will even mount other females, although more commonly it is male on male as part of ranking behavior. If you are worried about completion, it is not a concern, although speutered cats are capable and some breeders keep a neutered stud to mate with whole girls in heat to bring them out of heat when they should not get pregnant. In general, a female, whole or not, will not permit it except when in heat.
Hi Julie
Up here in Queensland the price ranges from $550 to $650 which includes desexing. Some charge more for females for the desexing. I ahve contacted a few local breeders through the internet and it is easy to see upcoming litters available. I did also hear that they do take kittens to the shows and sell them there.
Let me know what is is like. It would be so hard to go and not bring one home.
Cheers
Depending on quality,kittens go from $600 desexed to thousands for breed/show.A lot of breeders will sell a retiree for cost of desexing,look more at getting them the best possible forever home.
A retired breeder (which means desexed already) is usually around AU$200 some vary in price but that is a ball park figure,
Jan I also agree 100% your boy should never, yes never be with your girls, you are just asking for an accident, and it isnt really an accident if you have left an entire boy and girl in the same area it is just a matter of time, I hear so many people say opps such and such got pregnant because he was let in or something like that boy need there own quaters to keep both the boys and the girls happy