Expert: Norman Auspitz - 2/1/2011

Question
Hi,
I wanted to breed my year old persian female cat with my friends persian male cat so I put them in a room. I carefully observed for an hour to see hey would not fight and they started mating about an hour after that. I didnt look at the whole thing but i observed or at least ten minutes that the male cat was humping the female above itd tail (he was going no where near the vagina) and i did not hear the female cry that is upposed to happen once the mating is complete. It has been two days since then and I have not seen the cats mate again. The female calls like it does when in heat but the male just sits in a corner and does nothing. Should i change the male cat or will the cat mate fine because i have seen them trying to mate once?

Answer
Fatteh,

Usually cats do figure it out.  Also, there are what are called "silent breeders", that is, there are females who do not cry out upon being mated. In addition, there are also males who will mate once and then not again with the given female.  

In this latter case, if the female is still in season, you can remove the female from the male and. the next day, put her back in.  Some males will breed the female again under these circumstances.

I would wait 21 days after the first breeding attempt and see if the female's nipples become pink and stand a bit more upright. This phenomenon only lasts for a couple of days so you need to look at her nipples on day 21 after breeding and for the next couple of days.  This is a fairly sure sign that the female was bred and has taken.  If the nipples are slightly pink but not really protruding much, she may have been bred or coming back in season.

If she was bred by the first male and you put her with a second male, you could end up with a litter sired by both males!!!!!!  So I would wait after the 21 day period to see what things look like before breeding her again.  Usually, if the males mounted the female, and did not really breed her, it is just a matter of time before he figures it out. If you were not there the whole time, you cannot really be sure what transpired.  I have seen males who will not "perform" if there is someone in the room with them.

It may take a few days after breeding for the female to go out of season, so the calling for a couple of days after allegedly being bred is not uncommon.

Please let me know how things go.

Best regards... Norm.