Breeding Plans

1. Preserving a breed and its characteristics: For show cats and companion cats, specific breed characteristics are important to preserve and pass on in future generations. This is achieved through genetic selection and inbreeding/pure breeding.

2. Having a healthy animal and preventing diseases: It is important to ensure all cats, specifically companion animals, are healthy and free of disease which can be achieved through specific selection against certain genetic traits such as flat chested kitten syndrome (5)

3. Cross breeding to improve specific characteristics: Crossing two breeds of cat can be done to improve specific characteristics such as temperament, eye color, hair color and pattern, ear placement, etc. 

While this website focuses on reproduction in the domestic cat, it should be noted that increasing species numbers for exotic cats is a major breeding objective in zoo and sanctuary settings. The purpose of these large exotic cat breeding plans is to produce genetically diverse and healthy offspring in large cat species that are endangered, in the hopes to increase population numbers (10).

Offspring Purpose

The purpose of creating a breeding plans for cats is to produce offspring that can be used for show, as a pet/companion or as a hunting cat for rodent control. As an example, creating a breeding plan for a show cat may put emphasis on selection for traits like coat color and length whereas a breeding plan for a companion cat may put emphasis on selection for a good temperament. 

Some unfavorable traits exist that breeders should attempt to avoid. Blood typing is crucial when mating, as pairing a Type B Queen with a Type A Tom can result in neonatal isoerythrolysis (Ni). Breeders should take special care to test blood types with high type B breeds like British Shorthairs, Devon Rexes, and Birmans (4). Behavioral traits also play a significant role in the selection process. Behavioral traits can often be polygenetic and may correlate to other genes affecting fur or eye color (polygenetic) (5). For example, heritable behavioral traits can influence a cat's level of extraversion, shyness, and aggression toward humans and other cats (7). Since breed differences in these behavioral traits are common, pre-mating behavioral observations are invaluable to inform selection. 

Certain specific unfavorable simply inherited traits are actively selected against by breeders, such as kinked tails, hemophilia, and flat-chested kitten syndrome, which are recessive (5). Meanwhile, simply inherited dominant traits like hypodactyly (split-foot)  and polydactyly are also selected against (5). Polydactyly is a condition where cats have extra digits and can range from one or two extra toes to an entire foot growing out of that leg. Hypodactyly is the fusion of two or more digits (3). The most common form of hypodactyly is called ectrodactyly and is characterized by a central "split" and two toes, hence, the term "split-foot" (3). Though often benign, polydactyly and hypodactyly are commonly considered in the selection process.