Answer: The age at which cat becomes sexually mature and is able to reproduce is known as puberty. In the female this is evident by the cat coming into heat (‘calling’) for the first time. The age at which female cat first calls is very variable, depending on the breed and the time of year, as well as individual characteristics.
Most queen com on heat first at between seven and ten months of age, although Siamese and the oriental Short-hair often come into heat at five moths’ old. Burmese and other short hairs usually call at first at about seven to eight months’ old, whereas Himalayans and Persians, as well as free-ranging (feral) cats, delay their first oestrous until ten months of age sometimes until they are eighteen months’ old. However, if it is winter when the cat reaches the age at which it could be excepted to start calling, then calling will generally be delayed if queen are kept in dark surroundings, particularly if they are isolated from other cats. Conversely, exposure to light, and the presence of tom cats and/or other queen in oestrous, usually hastens the onset of puberty.
Those cats which reach puberty early, i.e. five months; old or earlier, certainly shouldn’t be deliberately mated at the age. As a general rule it is not advisable to meat cats until they are a year old, or ten months at the earliest, i.e. until they are fully grown. Otherwise a cat which is still growing itself will find it very difficult to cope with the additional demands of developing kittens for adequate nutrition, and there might easily be difficulties in the actual birth because of the small size of the pelvic canal.
Generally in the United States, breeding queens are mated at the first heat if this occurs after ten months’ old, whereas in Europe mating is more usual at the second heat, provide again that the animal if fully grown and well developed. After that, it is good policy to let most cats have only one litter a year so that they do not become similar breed can often cope satisfactorily with two litters a year.
Male cats usually reach puberty at nine to twelve months’ old, but again there is a great degree of individual variation and some may mature at seven months of age. Although stud toms are ideally aged between one to six years, male can go on siring kittens until they are thirteen years or more.