Jumping in the deep end...

[Adana Ember]

Ok, it might not be that deep, but I'm still treading water and as cats don't usually like water, this could be trouble. Anyway...

I bought four kitties, none of them are exceptional. I bought three of them fairly cheap, about 160-170L, so I assume they are not anything to brag about. I bought them because they looked like kitties I own or formerly owned. Then I bought one of the starter kitties so I'd have two males and two females. They are all 3 or 4 days old and are happily playing/sleeping/eating at my house.

At first I was going to breed them, but now I'm not so sure. I have no idea about traits and what I've read has made my head spin, so I'm not sure I'd be any good at tracking or evaluating them. If I produced a couple kitties and decided not to keep them I'd have no idea what to do with them. I don't know what would be good or bad and I'd have no idea what to sell them for or how to sell them. I could keep them in my inventory, set them out on display, put them in the cattery, send them to the menagerie ... make a playing card game out of them ... ok, maybe not the last bit

So if I decide not to breed them do I have to worry about them sneaking off and making kittens when I'm not looking or do you have to set them up to do the breeding? They don't do it auto-magically, right? If I just left them to play the day away in the living-room, they'd be fine, right?

I don't want to turn them to pets in case I change my mind and decide I want kittens in the house again.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Hathor Xaris]

ok they will breed automatically when placed on same land near each other within range or even on the entire parcel depending on what setting you have them, default is range i believe, thats why love shacks you will notice are always spaced apart.

You might want to try to decide what kind of kittycat owner/breeder you want to be, do you just want to enjoy kittycats and have a little random fun, you won't be disappointed i can assure you that, Breeding kittycats is a lot of fun any way you slice it, and especially if you like surprises, But if you prefer to breed in order to at the very least recoup your money for food and maybe even milk and land costs , as in break even and you want to learn about traits then i suggest to keep cats from breeding automatically until you have perhaps attended a class or two ( i heard theres sum free classes at 9am sunday mornings at the Scratch n post sim ) or maybe just found a good friend or mentor to give you a couple friendly lessons ( there are sooo many friendly loving ppl in the community whom I am sure are happy to oblige ! ) what you would want to do is go to the main shop and just as you are entering look to your left on the floor behind the laundry basket kinda, buy the latest version cattery dock for 0L and touch it , then when you send a cat to the cattery buy touching it and following its blue dialogue menu you will be able to retrieve it anytime you want with this dock, touch the dock and choose cat to sl then follow the page url,

You will need to have a minimum of 100L to purchase K$ from the dock, this is how you can add food to the online cattery, it is very user friendly, just follow the instructions you receive when you touch the dock, and if you have any questions about using the online cattery we are all here to help if you need

The dock works great and I have never had any problems with it, it will save you prims too and your cats will not automatically breed on you, once a cat reaches 100% love it no longer needs milk to stay there, it does need to be above 75% happiness however to give birth to a boxed kitten, but it will keep drinking milk however even though it doesn't need it anymore at that point, using the online cattery is a must have technique for anyone who wants to breed it is really essential in controlling the breeding and feeding of your cats and I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to become a breeder. And one more tip that may be useful if you do want to become a breeder is try to pair the lowest traited things with the highest traited things, every now and then that way you will pull the best things outta your cats, if you breed too low T with another cat that also has low T you will find you will just keep getting lower traited cats that are worth less money, for example with starters 9T foxie salt and peppers have been the best thing, and in general 9T kitties are the way to go if you want to breed for more .trait discoveries, but don't forget you can just breed for beauty too, after you memorize the dominance charts it won't be hard at all to get what you want outta your cats, its really only intimidating a bit at first like with any new thing, once you get the hang of it you will most likely love it. just remember your budget before opening up all your pretty boxes at once, lol to avoid running into problems later, 1 cat on breed =310L per month for food + milk, and whatever you do if you want to breed them do NOT turn off breed, it will cost more for you then to buy a pet food recovery drink or a week of breeder food if you change your mind. And also try to open your box in m/f pairs to help keep them synchronized in their sleep cycle, cats on the same sleep cycle in even amounts m/f are the best thing to save money when breeding, and lastly breeding genesis traits usually takes 2-3 breed backs into parent or siblings to see desirable results, Hope that helps some !

[Adana Ember]

So ... if I space them out really far apart they won't breed but if I keep them in the living-room they will. ... or keep them below 75% happy ... I can be a negligent pet owner sometimes, so that might not be too hard. jk

uh ... breeding low trait with low trait gets more low traits? Yes, I figured that. I'm scared to buy an expensive kitty though because ... well ... not knowing what's good or what might work with the kits I have might just be a waste. ...but if by some miracle, they did produce a stunning nicely traited kitty isn't it still worthless because it's parents are low traited kitties?

I would love to take a class but most of the time they are not at a good time for me.

[Hathor Xaris]

No..in my opinion NO kitty is technically "worthless" it's just the way I look at it though...

Oh yes I think about 10-15 meters apart should do, as for breeding well id give it a go if i were you, its worth it to practice a little tho, don't be afraid to mess up thats how you learn what NOT to do, if you have all the links to the dominance charts really thats all you need and a basic understanding of Mendela's law, and a basic understanding of how kittycats in particular works with the 9 slots to fill 50/50 chance from each cat thing, and only recessive furs or traits to whats showing will be considered hidden passable traits, ( thats an important one don't forget you'll neeed to eventually memorize dominance charts to be effective at this ) then you really don't need classes, you can always post your questions here too , you will most likely find a prompt response anytime

also what is considered worthless is kinda of a broad term its hard to narrow down because of the schematics that the luv of kittycats really is makes it hard since everyones tastes vary so much and rarity of traits comes and goes so quick , however I find in most cases you can and will always be able to sell your cats for what you paid to make it, even genesis traited ones, you'd be surprised, most ppl who can't afford to breed genesis traited kittys will menage their s too and sorta recoup a little money that way, but there are some who will actually buy them too when you are selling them at cost so they can use them in the menagerie, the hardest thing though is when you open more boxes than what you can afford to feed or hehe rather to refrain from opening them... but by all means the desire to even more than recoup your money should be to breed for the highest or rarest traits so your cats will be worth the most

What really needs and should b done when breeding kittycats is finding the balance between passion and prosperity

As for what to buy with rarest traits you yourself have to be the judge of that based on your budget versus how fast you want the kitty, keep in mind the reasoning behind someone's pricing, or what that may or may not be is really a guestimite sometimes, but frankly most of the time lets hope it gonna be similar to this,Scenario A: seller need a quick sale really really wants that cat gone! so its low, maybe you had to search long or hard or wait it out but you managed to have found them at the right time / place and got lucky, a steal of a deal yay congratulate yourself and go home and open and enjoy your amazing new cat, or Secenario B you see a new trait or fur you really really luv you fall in luv with it and just can't wait to have it, you have a little extra cash to burn so you know you're probably gonna buy the first one you see regardless of how much it is and/ or you're just pressed for time and just really want this cat and you know it is new / rare and can't wait or don't have time to look for it so you buy the first one you see, impulse shopping sometimes outta necessity , so you see theres all different kinds of shoppers I guess you gotta ask yourself which one you are, patient or impatient, broke or rich or inbetween...you'll need to adjust your shopping tactics accordingly, if you wait it out, you will ALWAYS find a deal, if you look a little bit you will always find a cat you want but at what price? is like the weather, don't like it maybe it will change, don't have time? then learn to like whats available right now or at hand then I guess. Well with kittycats luckily its not hard to love them in everyway so have fun! And you really should shop based on what it is you like the most, everyones different, Some ppl only like one kind of fur, some ppl like to have one of every kind some ppl only want collectibles or retired one etc,
right now the most recessive things are worth the most money too i'm sure you already have an idea by now

And about selling geneiss / menagerie cats, In my opinion don't be afraid to try it 0-3T ranges from 50-150L In fact I myself just menaged a whole bunch of kitties just now cause i didn't have any money for food for some of the other cats, in a week's time I may definitely have more money , its just slow right now its always slow right after any holiday actually, very soon I myself may indeed want or need menagerie kitties sold at cost , you will get more of your money back than if you just menaged them, although you would have to be patient enough to wait to make the sale though, I highly reccomend using the Marketplace since there is practically no overhead cost, if you have more than 75 - 100 kitten boxes then I would use more than one magic box, For over 200 cats i myself use 8 magic boxes, they tend to misdeliver when too full, but it may help if you were to advertise that you have menagerie kittys for sale, i always look for this when i need them and strangely i have a hard time finding ppl with them , I think it would be strange to look down upon selling them instead of menaging them, I think both should be seen as acceptable, as long as you refrain from using any prices in your advertising i don't think it should upset anyone, it really helps out ppl when they are in need and have a slow week to menage cats in exchange to buy food. But it also helps even more if they have a chance to pay a little more in exchange to retrieve this cat later

[Adana Ember]

Good advice. My new babies certainly aren't worthless to me... I can't wait to go see them when I get home from work. If they'd let me log in from the office I'd watch them play(or sleep) all day long.

[Hathor Xaris]

awww I wanna see pics! You should get into flickr you will luv it! Unless of course you already know about it hehehe i just discovered it last month, so much fun and when you do a search on kittycats you will be pleasantly surprised at how many amazing kittycats photographers there are out there on flickr from or SL community , what a fun hobby!

[Adana Ember]

(04-22-2014 01:13 PM)Hathor Xaris Wrote:  awww I wanna see pics! You should get into flickr you will luv it! Unless of course you already know about it hehehe i just discovered it last month, so much fun and when you do a search on kittycats you will be pleasantly surprised at how many amazing kittycats photographers there are out there on flickr from or SL community , what a fun hobby!

Hmmm...funny you should say that. I took this just this morning to show a friend:


Pinto and Purrsilla at 4 days old

The boys weren't being very cooperative, I'll get them next time.

[Hathor Xaris]

aww cuties, hehe i luv the shoulder ride period so much,it's fun to bond with yur kitty like that, cute chateau btw thats my favorite kind of chateau actually,& silver tabbys can be cute too sometimes with the right eye color, but watch out when breeding them they tend to take over the cattery hehe Although they are usually considered practically guaranteed hiders of something more recessive or rare given their place in the dominance charts, Lovely kitties! & they look very happy indeed will look forward to seeing more! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Petronilla Whitfield]

You can go into the menu of each kitty cat and turn off breeding. It is very simple to do. Then you don't have to worry about how close together they are. Also, once breeding is turned off, the cat will eat 50% less food, so non-breeding cats cost less to keep.

If you change your mind later, just go back into the menu and turn breeding on. The cat will start eating at breeding level and in a week will start gaining love. When love reaches 100% (about ten days with just food), the cat will be ready to have a kitten.

Either way, once the cat reaches 120 days old, breeding stops automatically.

[Adana Ember]

(04-22-2014 03:10 PM)Petronilla Whitfield Wrote:  You can go into the menu of each kitty cat and turn off breeding. It is very simple to do. Then you don't have to worry about how close together they are. Also, once breeding is turned off, the cat will eat 50% less food, so non-breeding cats cost less to keep.

If you change your mind later, just go back into the menu and turn breeding on. The cat will start eating at breeding level and in a week will start gaining love. When love reaches 100% (about ten days with just food), the cat will be ready to have a kitten.

Either way, once the cat reaches 120 days old, breeding stops automatically.

Hi Petronilla,

Can I turn the breeding off while they're still kittens? ... just in case I forget? I really would like to keep them all together.

In a little less than 4 months (ah ... September, right?) they will become infertile, so if I breed I should do it before then... got it. That is truly good to know. I would have been sad if I'd tried to breed them and couldn't at that point.