"PREPARE TO BE OWNED"

Tuesday 30 April 2019

Prune & Oz appear to be getting on well. 

First time matings are often awkward and difficult for both the male & female. Luckily for Pru, Oz has had some experience however, she is rather clueless.

There are signs that Oz has had several attempts as Pru has some bite marks on her neck but none that have been successful as yet. 

The mechanics of feline matings:
The bite is normal and part of “the mechanics” of the feline sexual act as the male grips the female in his attempts to control & keep her still.  During the coupling she should instinctively move her tail to one side as she crouches into the ‘frog pose’ allowing him room & access. 

The mating itself happens very quickly and it can be noisy as she will almost immediately holler and swear deep in her throat as he withdraws from her. She may even turn to attack him for his troubles! This yell and anger in her is caused by the anatomy of the male cat who has a sharp barb on the end of his penis which, as he withdraws, catches & triggers the female to release her egg. 

Having inadvertently hurt & angered her he will move away speedily since she no longer wants him near her. She will now roll onto her side and back writhing about for several minutes. This assists in allowing the egg to meet and be coated by the sperm.

Matings take place several times over several days, each successful coupling releasing a new egg. Though not all eggs will be viable or will be fertilised. 

The female cat who has access to several males can mate with several different tomcats during a heat cycle and therefore she can be pregnant by different partners at the same time. 

With this in mind, due to matings taking place over several days while she is in “calling”  the kittens in her litter at the time of birth (63-65 days after first mating) may not only have different fathers but will also be at very slightly different stages of growth. This might account then for a smaller kitten born in the litter who may well have been conceived later on in the “calling”.
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Back to Pru & Oz.....

We do not think that any of the mating attempts yesterday were successful but Oz is persistent so I hope that today will be day 1 of the 63-65 days of pregnancy (btw, he will be the only father of her kittens😁)