Do you have what it takes?

First of all, you can't just get one or two cats, allow them to breed and then sell the kittens; it's just not that easy. A male cat must be kept either in his own room (without furniture or carpet to pee on) - not sharing a room with yourself or your children - or be kept in a large cage to prevent unwanted breeding, spraying, and possible harming of kittens. Cages work great if they are large and the male has some regular out time, but they can be expensive. Kittens are kept in a room separate from the rest of the cats in a warm, quiet, safe location that is easily accessible in case I have to hand-feed them (which has to be done every few hours around the clock - yes, instead of sleeping you may be feeding kittens around the clock).

Raising cats is a hobby - not a means of income. Nor is it a source of joy; although it can be very rewarding if you don't mind a lot of hard work and have money to spare. The following information will help you decide if you have what it takes to raise cats or not:

Breeding cats takes a certain amount of expendable cash and large amount of expendable time. You do NOT qualify to be a breeder if:

If you work full time or part time away from your home and cannot take your pregnant cat to work with you or schedule 2 weeks off during her due dates, then stop here: You do not qualify to be a breeder.
The same goes if you are a student or have major medical concerns - sorry, but you just don't qualify. This hobby is physically and emotionally taxing.
If you cannot carry 30 pound bags of litter and 20 pound bags of cat food, you should not be a breeder. There is a lot of physical labor involved with caring for cats.
If you always need 8 hours of sleep at night, you should not be a breeder. Delivering kittens is most likely an all night project, lasting for many hours.
If you have children living at home - especially small children - they take up as much time as the cats will so you should wait until a time when you can devote your complete attention to a hobby like raising cats. If you are in the middle of delivering kittens, you can't stop to fix the kids dinner, get them ready for bed or off to school.

However, if you have both time and money to waste and you are physically active, this may be the right thing to keep you satisfactorily busy and financially broke so please read on:

You will probably be asked to offer references to be considered for receiving a kitten for breeding purposes. References are usually acceptable when they come from other cat or dog breeders and your veterinarian. All references will be checked.
A breeder quality kitten/cat will cost at least $2,500 plus shipping. Transporting a kitten is currently about $600 if within the U.S. and $1,500 if it's an international transport. Cats can not be shipped via cargo; they must fly in the airplane's cabin with a ticketed passenger. If you want a show quality kitten/cat, expect to pay about $3,500 plus shipping but do you know what show quality is so you don't get ripped off?
Once your new kitty arrives, it must have a health exam and be tested for Feline Leukemia/AIDS: $125+ depending on your vet.
The new kitty must be isolated for at least 2 weeks as to not infect other cats in the house with possible viral/fungal/bacterial infections that can crop up during times of stress (like in relocating to a new home). This also gives the new arrival time to adjust to its new home and caregivers. If something does spring up, you will need to go the vet for treatment - probably $200+ worth of treatment.
Did you think to have a new litter box, new food and water dishes, a new bed and new toys for your new kitty? Let's allow $100 for those incidentals. Comb and nail trimmer: $150
Later, you will have to have coat clippers and a good pet dryer: let's estimate $1,000 for both.

Now you have a new cat. Oh, it takes more than one cat to create kittens, so double everything except the grooming supplies - those are shared expenses.

If you want to have a litter or two of kittens so your children can witness the beginning of life, do them a favor and rent a movie or read them a book on the subject instead. YouTube has lots of videos showing kittens being born.
Kittens are not born all cute and fluffy with pretty little bows around their necks; it's a daunting, bloody process and witnessing a delivery may scar your children for life.
The breeding process alone can be quite violent with hormones raging and stress levels at an all-time high. Cats can be screaming, hissing, and sometimes fighting so be prepared and have a room set up especially for mating.

Now that you have your cats and they are ready to breed (at about 10 - 12 months of age - but be aware that breeding and conceiving is not guaranteed), there are a few things you need to have and even more things to understand:

You need dependable transportation to get you to the vet or emergency clinic at all hours of the day and night because for some unknown reason, most horrible things happen at in the middle of the night.
Responsible breeders adhere to standards of specific physical attributes outlined in the Persian Standard set by CFA or other registering association. If you do not have any interest in adhering to such standards and are not interested in showing your cats in any respect, then you do not qualify to be the type of breeder most seasoned breeders will want to help.
Breeding cats is a serious responsibility that requires a lot of work and dedication. If you want to breed cats for the purpose of earning an income, look elsewhere. This is a labor of love and rarely offers financial reward. You must take into consideration how much good quality food and cat litter costs. If you have a litter of kittens that price will go up considerably because kittens eat a lot and therefore, use a lot of litter.
Good medical care can cost as much as $1,000+ per year without having any sick cats. These costs involve medical testing, vaccinations, and preventative measures. You will need to have a good relationship with your veterinarian so you can get medical supplies and prescriptions from him/her and be trained to use them properly. Many vets do not approve of breeders so a relationship must be cultivated over time. Having your vet participate in a yearly cattery inspection that is endorsed by CFA is a good way to dispel any uneasiness about your intentions and the overall care of your cats.
A litter of kittens is not a guarantee of income; not all deliveries go as planned. Upon occasion, a cesarean section is necessary and the cost of that procedure will cost about $4,000+ and there is always a chance that the kittens and/or the mother cat will not survive. Even if the delivery goes well and the kittens are all delivered naturally, there is no guarantee the kittens will live. Their lives depend on you and the quality of care you give them, your ability to know when something is wrong, and the wisdom to act appropriately.
You will need a list of information and resources to assist you in setting up your cattery environment.
You will need to learn how to use basic medical equipment and keep basic medications on hand and when to use them.
You will need someone to mentor you so you don't make too many expensive mistakes.
You will need to have an extra room in you home to house breeding female cats and a room where you can keep a male so is separated from the females. A breeding male cat left to roam a house daily is likely to spray your furniture, floors, and walls, and ruin your home. You will also need a safe place to deliver and raise kittens.
If you work a job that takes you away from home and cannot take several days off to wait for and deliver kittens, cannot take the mother cat with you to work during the week of her delivery date or if you are at all squeamish and cannot assist in delivering kittens by pulling them out of the birth canal, severing the umbilical cord and handling the placenta, you do not qualify to be a breeder. Delivering a litter of kittens is a messy, bloody event that can take up to 12 hours to complete and must be taken seriously.
If one of your cats/kittens has become ill, medications must be given daily as prescribed by the vet. If you have 6 cats that all get sick at the same time, it's not only 12 times more work, but the problem can last 6 times longer.
There will be dead kittens to deal with, and it will be necessary to have some cats and kittens euthanized - can you handle that?

So if you think you qualify to be a breeder, we can go from there. I will do my best to talk you out of it and if you still want to move forward with your plans, you just might make it but most new breeders last an average of just three years. I hope you make it longer because we need more dedicated people to carry on the work those of us already in action started so long ago.

I delivered my first litter of Persian kittens on July 18, 1991 to a beautiful shaded tortie female, CH Midas Evenstar of Sweet Lorien. Boo Cat, as we called her, was also the first cat I showed in CFA. Sweet Lorien was my cattery name when I bred smoke Persians. I have since taken on the cattery name Alchemist for my silver and golden breeding program and I'm currently embarking upon a new program of raising green-eyed silver tabbies. Like I need something else to do . . .

I certainly don't know everything, and there are many times that I feel like I know nothing; but surely I know a few things and deserve credit for sticking it out and doing my very best.

What is a cat Breeder?

A Breeder is someone who thirsts for knowledge and never really knows it all. They wrestle with decisions of conscience, convenience, and commitment daily.
A Breeder is someone who sacrifices personal interests, finances, time, friendships, fancy furniture, and deep pile carpeting. They give up the dreams of a long, luxurious cruise in favor of turning that all important cat show into this years vacation.
A Breeder goes without sleep spending hours planning a breeding or watching anxiously over the birth process, and afterwards, over every little sneeze, wiggle and cry.
A Breeder skips dinner parties because kittens are due or they have to be fed every two hours.
A Breeder disregards birth fluids and sticky fur to resuscitate a gasping newborn, literally blowing life into a tiny, helpless creature that may be the culmination of a lifetime of dreams knowing that all attempts at saving this little one's life may be in vain.
A Breeder's hands are strong, firm, and often soiled, but ever so gentle and sensitive to the touch of a kitten's tiny nose.
A Breeder's back and knees are usually arthritic from stooping, bending, and sitting next to the birthing box, but are strong enough to enable the breeder to show the next choice kitten to the status of Grand Champion.
A Breeder's shoulders are stooped and often heaped with abuse from competitors, but wide enough to support the weight of a thousand defeats and frustrations.
A Breeder's arms are always able to wield a mop, support an armful of kittens, or lend a helping hand to a newcomer.
A Breeder's ears are wondrous things, sometimes red (from being talked about) or strangely shaped (from being pressed against a phone), often deaf to criticism, yet always fine-tuned to the whimper of a sick kitten.
A Breeder's eyes are blurred from pedigree research and sometimes blind to her own cat's faults, but they are ever so keen to the competition and are always searching for the perfect specimen.
A Breeder's brain is foggy on faces, but it can recall pedigrees faster than any computer and is so full of knowledge that sometimes it blows a fuse. It catalogs thousands of images of good boning, perfect ears and heads, and buries deep within their soul the failures and the ones that "didn't turn out" as expected.
A Breeder does the all important "head count" each night before they go to bed to make sure everyone is safe and accounted for and if someone is missing, they stay up all night until everyone has been found and tended to. Breeders repeat this process every morning and cannot go anywhere until everyone has been seen and inspected . . . again.
The Breeder's heart is often broken, but beats strongly with hope everlasting . . . and it's always in the right place.

Author unknown

The financial cost of breeding cats

Expenses for every litter of kittens:

Vet check and FeLV/FIV testing for every new cat or kitten you bring into your home. However, if all of your adult cats have been tested and found to be negative, you do not have to test their offspring.
Premium food for queen during pregnancy - usually a premium kitten food because of the extra protein and fat. And vitamins (I use Kitty Bloom vitamins).
Possible complications at birth: c-section, uterine inertia, hysteria, milk failure, damaged/malformed kitten/s.
Kitten milk replacer and a specially designed nursing nipples for weak kittens and hand-rearing.
A scale for weighing newly born kittens in 1/10's of grams each day. A 1/10 of a gram weight loss can be the beginning of a disaster and the difference between life and death to a tiny newborn kitten.
An accurate digital scale for weight older kittens and adults to monitor their weight.
Being aware of common kitten ailments, e.g. sticky eyes, stomach upsets, and knowing what to do about it.
Purchase and preparation of weaning foods for kittens at 5 - 8 weeks of age.
Extra, food for the queen during lactation (she will eat as much as 2 or 3 adult cats for more than a month) - usually a premium kitten food.
Extra cat litter (all that extra food has to go somewhere).
Feeding kittens from weaning to 12 weeks (at 12 weeks old, 4 kittens eat about as much as 4 adult cats).
Even more extra cat litter for kittens (clean boxes twice a day from 5 - 12 weeks). I told you kittens eat a lot of food!
Extra cleaning - the entire house, not just the litter boxes. Kittens are active and messy.
Having 5, 6 or more little monsters under your feet & ripping through your home for 2 months or longer.
New toys for kittens.
Registration fees for each litter.
Vaccines and syringes for a series of kittens shots - are you able to give them yourself or will you pay extra for the vet to do it?
Worming at 6, 9 & 12 weeks.
Keeping off-color or small kittens for a longer period of time to make sure they are healthy and strong.
Extra heating costs for kittens in cold weather.
Giving away or selling for less than your normal price to special friends and relatives.
Not being able to go on vacation for months or even years at at time when you have kittens due and kittens on the ground.
Being available for phone calls, visitors and inquirers.
Promptly and politely answering emails is good customer service. Someone that is treated kindly will put you at the top of their list when they are ready to buy a kitten.
A computer and a website - most people shop for kittens via the internet. A website will cost about $12.00 per month but there are some free providers available, plus $10 a year for your domain name. Learn to create and update it yourself and save tons of money.
Time spent handling, socializing & playing with kittens every day.
Sleepless nights and frayed nerves while queen is calling (every month or so between litters) and males answering the call.
Annual subscriptions to cat associations & registering bodies, subscriptions to cat magazines.
Books on cat breeding and medical care.
Time off work for birthing and when cats are too sick to be left alone.
Annual vaccinations, testing & health checks for breeding queen & your other cats.
PKD DNA testing as necessary for every kitten in a litter - $60 for each kitten - until you know everyone in your program is negative.
Equipment: litter boxes, carriers, cages, bowls, beds, blankets, heating pads, scratching posts, cat trees, incubator, oxygen concentrator, etc. The list goes on forever . . .

ALL THIS IF YOU OWN JUST ONE BREEDING CAT and of course that $3,500 cat may might have only one dead kitten in her litter that required a $4,000+ c-section, and may never produce again.

Expenses when you show your cats

Subscriptions to one or more cat clubs.
Travel to meetings and symposiums.
Show catalogs & door entry fees.
Entry fees for shows when exhibiting.
Traveling to and from shows (can be out of state or out of the country).
Hotel accommodations and food.
Grooming and conditioning products and equipment (professional pet grooming dryers, combs, etc).
Time off work to attend shows if you are traveling out of state (you will want to be there by Friday night in most cases).
Show cages, curtains and extra dishes, etc.
Extra time for training and handling cats to be shown.
Extra veterinary checkups and vaccinations before shows.

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stolen from Alchemist Persians website