Every Stud Arrangement...

Originally posted on my private blog- posted to http://indikon-tonkinese.blogspot.com/ on 06/01/11


... is different, and every stud owner runs their service in their own way.

Some stud owners insist on supervising every mating and never leaving the cats alone, (I wouldn't fancy that if I was a cat, but I suspect cats are rather less fussy!) and some are content to leave the cats to it, after a suitable, supervised, introduction period and once both cats are happy in each other's presence. Indigo is visiting the latter kind.

The stud Indigo is visiting has several pens at the bottom of their garden. Each pen has an inside hut with several shelves, a litter tray, food and a comfortable bed. There is a cat door leading to the private, covered run, sided with UPVC type material for ease of cleaning- studs spray urine frequently and sometimes the girls do too, which makes for a rather stinky environment at times- this is why one doesn't keep an entire male inside... one's living room would permanently smell like the worst kind of public lavatory.

The UPVC material means that you can't see into the pens until you are right up to them, through the gate that separates the pens from the rest of the garden, and through the gate to the stud's/ Indie's pen. Up till now, Indigo and her stud have been seen washing and some very hopeful noises have been heard, but by the time the stud owner has got to the pens to have a look, there's been nothing to see. So it may be that I bring Indigo home without a mating ever being observed.

So if this happens how will I know she's been mated at all? Well... I won't. But the stud price is for a successful result- a pregnancy- so if she isn't in kitten as a result of her visit this week, she gets another visit free of charge.

I hope she does get pregnant though. The pens are comfortable enough and heated at night, with a heated bed, and the stud lives there all year round and is perfectly ok, but I'd not feel entirely happy leaving a soft house-cat like Indigo there in the middle of winter... she wouldn't come to any harm, but I think she likes her home comforts a bit too much!