I'm intending to breed my cat. I have a queen of eleven months, and intend to breed with a friends tom of 13 months. Both are house cats. Does it matter which home they 'meet' in?

It matters that your cat is not mature enough to breed. She should be around 2 years old before you breed her, and he should be at least 18 months.

Have both cats been tested for FeLV and FIV? How about polycystic kidney disease, hip dysplasia etc.? What breed is she? Is she papered?

Are you prepared to accept these kittens back into your care if their new owners cannot keep them? Have you researched breeding, and know everything involved, including the cost? Are you prepared incase your cat has complications?

If your answer is yes to all of this, and you know your stuff, and are breeding for the love of the breed (whatever it is), and you know that for every kitten your cat produces, that's one less home for a shelter cat, millions of which are destroyed every year, THEN... You take the female to the male.

Do you know that spayed cats are happier and healthier? It drastically reduces the risk of your cat developing mammary tumors, totally eliminates the risk of pyometras, a terrible and often fatal uterine infection.

Plus, mating for the female cat is painful. The males penis is barbed to ensure a mating. Females often turn and attack the male after mating, because it hurts so much.

I hope you reconsider breeding your cats. But if you do, please make sure you do all the research and are prepared!

Emily answered right on with the age. You need to be very careful and make sure not to breed them under a certain age because it can cause health problems and conditions to come up that you might not be able to handle nor afford.