Feline breeding and pregnancy management: What is normal and when to intervene

Abstract

Practical relevance: Cats are common pets worldwide. Successful breeding of cats starts with the selection of suitable breeding animals, and care should be taken to avoid inbreeding. Keeping cats in smaller groups reduces stress and facilitates management. Clinical challenges: Breeding cats is challenging in many ways. Group housing is a common scenario, and care should be taken not to have groups that are too large, because of the risk of stress and infectious diseases. Feline pregnancy and parturition both vary in length, which is one reason why it may be challenging to diagnose dystocia. In queens with pyometra, a vaginal discharge may not be evident due to their meticulous cleaning habits. Audience: This review is aimed at clinicians in small animal practice, especially those in contact with cat breeders. Patient group: Reproductive emergencies occur in both intentionally and unintentionally bred cats, and more often in young or middle-aged queens. Pyometra tends to be a disease of older queens. Evidence base: Evidence is poor for many conditions in the breeding queen, and information is extrapolated from the dog or based on case reports and case series.

Neonatology: Topics on Puppies and Kittens Neonatal Management to Improve Neonatal Outcome

“…The ideal management for the birth of healthy puppies and kittens starts with choosing the most suitable parents for mating, and genetics is a determining factor for successful reproduction [ 19 ]. Rigid selection must be carried out, and lines of bitches and queens with obstetric problems, defects, or congenital malformations, poor maternal ability, low prolificacy, hereditary diseases, and other genetic factors must be avoided, as they will increase the risks of complications and mortality in the litter [ 19 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…Depending on the obstetrical condition or type of delivery, there will be consequences for the neonatal viability and subsequent health of the puppies and kittens. The mortality of canine and feline neonates after severe hypoxia is often influenced by maternal and fetal dystocia [ 3 , 11 , 20 , 23 , 44 ]. Deaths from dystocic births can affect approximately 42% of kennels [ 5 ].…”

Reproductive Management in Catteries: Optimising health and wellbeing through veterinarian-breeder collaboration

“…185 The risk of neonatal isoerythrolysis, a potentially fatal condition in kittens associated with blood group incompatibility between a type B queen bred with a type A tom, is discussed in accompanying reviews on feline breeding and pregnancy management, and fading kitten syndrome. 183,184…”

Infertility In Queens: Clinical approach, experiences and challenges

“…According to Axner et al, 22 low-grade endometritis is extremely difficult to diagnose in the queen, and its incidence and importance as a cause of infertility are unknown. Consequently, in subfertile queens, an early pregnancy diagnosis by ultrasound examination, as soon as 10-15 days after the last observed mating (see accompanying article on feline breeding and pregnancy management 34 ), is recommended to rule out embryonic resorption. Furthermore, uterine clearance may be observed; this refers to a form of mechanical drainage due, among other things, to cervical relaxation and myometrial contractions (in mares, it is recognised as a major factor in the elimination of bacteria and inflammatory products from the uterine lumen and therefore the prevention of endometritis).…”