How to Find a Male Cat to Mate

Purebred kittens can turn a fair profit when sold to cat fanciers. Female cats carry, give birth to and nurse the kittens, but if you're going to breed kittens, you'll also need a male cat. You may need to find a mate for your existing female cat, or you might want a male to use as a "stud" to mate with other breeders' female cats. Finding a good male cat to breed may take some work, but with time and effort you can find a suitable male for breeding.

Instructions

    • 1

      Consult a breeder referral service such as the one offered by The Cat Fancier's Association or the Cat Breeder Directory (links to both of these are posted under the Resources section of this article). This is probably the easiest and most reliable way to search for a tom to produce purebred kittens. You can search by location or by breed of cat. The service will provide you with contact information for breeders who can either provide you with a tom to buy for breeding, offer to allow you to breed your female with their male and split the profits of the kittens, or provide you a male kitten to raise and use for future breeding purposes.

    • 2

      Check with local animal shelters, look for ads in the newspaper or even take a look at local pet stores for Tom cats you can breed with your existing female cat. This method is best if you simply want to produce a litter of kittens for pleasure, not profit, as you'll be hard pressed to find a purebred Tom cat of good breeding stock in this way. Keep in mind that sosme animal shelters require that a Tom cat is neutered prior to adoption in an effort to prevent pet overpopulation, so this would prevent you from breeding the cat. (See References 2.)

    • 3

      Look for an unaltered (this means not neutered) male cat of at least six to eight months of age. By that age, male cats (called toms when they are unaltered) reach puberty and are able to fertilize a female cat. A tom's reproductive lifespan (the amount of time he'll be able to produce kittens) is about 14 years, so keep that in mind when looking at older cats for mating.

    • 4

      Ensure that the cat you are considering came from a healthy litter of kittens who were all of good size. The cat's mother should have had no problems giving birth or caring for her litter. This helps to make sure your tom is of good breeding stock.

    • 5

      Introduce the tom and the female cat or cats to one another gradually, allowing them time to get to know one another. Keep one cat in a separate room without the other cat for a few days. Then try letting that cat out in the house, and place the other in the safe room, swapping them out for a few hours at a time throughout the day. Then allow the cats controlled and supervised access to one another until they get along. Once the cats are familiar, they will be ready to mate and make kittens.