One rule: record at the event, not at the end of the season
Almost every gap in a cattery’s records has the same cause. The event happened, someone meant to write it down that evening, and by the weekend the exact date had become “sometime around the middle of the month”. Nothing else in record keeping is as decisive as writing the entry while the event is still in front of you.
The cost of a vague date compounds. A mating date you are unsure of becomes a due date you cannot plan around, becomes a queening you were not fully prepared for, becomes a pedigree entry a buyer or a registry queries three years later. Precision at the start is cheap; precision reconstructed afterwards is impossible.
A workable habit is two-layer. Keep something disposable where the event happens — a whiteboard by the queening box, a note on your phone — and transcribe it the same day into whatever is searchable and backed up. The disposable layer catches the moment; the durable layer survives the phone.
What a complete breeding record contains
One litter generates seven kinds of record. Fields matter less than consistency: whatever you decide to capture, capture it the same way every time, so the entries can be compared across litters and across years.
| Record | Fields that matter | When to write it |
|---|---|---|
| Mating record | Date, queen, stud, natural or assisted, repeat mating dates, stud owner if borrowed | The same day |
| Pregnancy confirmation | Method, date, clinic, and the estimate given if any | The day of the check |
| Queening record | Start and end times, number born, number liveborn, complications, birth weight of each kitten | Within 24 hours |
| Kitten file | Identifier or collar colour, sex, colour and pattern, both parents linked, microchip number once placed | Day one, then updated |
| Weight log | Weight in grams, taken at the same time each day on the same scale | Daily through the early weeks |
| Health log | Vaccine or wormer used, dose, date, clinic or administering person | At each treatment |
| Placement record | Buyer, go-home date, contract reference, registration paperwork sent | At go-home |
Timeline of one litter
The timings below are the common pattern, not a schedule to hold your queen to. Individual variation is normal, and the method and timing of every clinical step is your veterinarian’s call.
| Stage | Approximate timing | What to record |
|---|---|---|
| Mating | Day 0 | Mating record with both parents, plus the stud owner if the stud is not yours |
| Repeat matings | Same heat, often across two to three days | Every date — this is what turns the due date into a range instead of false precision |
| Pregnancy check | Commonly around three weeks after mating; your veterinarian decides method and timing | Result, date, clinic |
| Due-date window | Feline gestation is commonly around 63 days from mating, with individual variation | Set the reminder from the earliest mating date and prepare the queening area |
| Queening | Day of birth | Start and end times, litter size, birth weight of each kitten, any complication and what was done |
| First weeks | Weeks 1 to 4 | Daily weights, any supplemental feeding, every veterinary contact |
| Vaccination course | Schedule set by your veterinarian for your region | Product, batch where available, date, clinic |
| Go-home | Minimum ages are set by law in some places and by registry codes in others — check both | Placement record and a list of every document handed over |
Weights: the log that saves kittens
Of all the records here, the daily weight log is the one with immediate consequences. Commonly cited references put newborn weight for many breeds around 90–120 g (3.2–4.2 oz), with larger breeds higher, daily gain around 10–15 g, and birth weight roughly doubling by day 10 to 14. Treat these as orientation, not targets — breed and individual variation is normal, and your veterinarian is the one to judge whether a specific kitten is doing well.
What makes the log useful is not the numbers but the trend, and a trend needs the same time of day and the same scale. Weigh before a feed, in grams, at a fixed hour, and write it into the same place every time. A single weight tells you nothing; four consecutive weights tell you almost everything.
Any of the warning signs below is a reason to contact your veterinarian the same day rather than wait for tomorrow’s weigh-in. Consult your veterinarian before starting supplemental feeding or any other intervention — a kitten losing ground can decline quickly, and the right response depends on why.
- No gain across two consecutive days.
- Any reading lower than the previous day’s.
- Weight falling back to or below birth weight.
- One kitten flattening out while its littermates keep climbing.
- A queen who stops settling with the litter, or a kitten who is cold to the touch.
What buyers and registries ask for later
Once the litter is thriving, the records shift purpose. They stop being a monitoring tool and become the paperwork someone else will read — a buyer at go-home, a registry processing a litter registration, or a veterinarian in another city three years from now.
Assemble the following as a set per kitten, so go-home day is a handover rather than a scramble.
- Pedigree with registered names and numbers, typically to at least three generations.
- Litter registration or individual registration paperwork from your registry.
- Vaccination and worming record with dates, products, and the clinic.
- Genetic and health screening results for both parents, with certificate scans.
- Microchip number and the transfer of registration details to the new owner.
- A signed copy of the sales contract and any health guarantee, dated.
Storage, backup, and privacy
Where the records live matters as much as whether they exist. Paper is lost, phones are replaced, spreadsheets are overwritten by whoever opened them last. The test to apply to any system is simple: can you pull the full history of one queen, five years back, in under a minute, from a device you are holding?
That is the case for keeping the chain in one place. FanMeowy Cattery Manager, for instance, holds matings, litters, kitten files, weights and reminders on a single linked chain with free core record keeping on the App Store — but the point is the linkage, not the product. One connected record beats four disconnected ones, however you build it, and whatever you choose should let you export what you put in.
Two habits close the loop. Keep at least one copy off the device that holds the original, so a lost phone is an inconvenience rather than a lost decade. And treat buyer details as personal data: names, addresses and payment information do not belong in shared albums or group chats, and only what the registry actually requires should travel with the paperwork.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should I keep breeding records?
Plan on the lifetime of the cat plus several years beyond. Buyers come back about health history long after go-home, registries occasionally query an entry, and your own breeding decisions lean on what earlier litters did. Keep at least one copy somewhere other than the device you use daily, and check once a year that it still opens.
I did not record the mating date — what now?
Write down what you can genuinely anchor: the heat you observed, the days the queen was with the stud, and mark the entry clearly as an estimate rather than quietly rounding it. Then treat the due date as a wide window and rely on veterinary confirmation instead of arithmetic. Consult your veterinarian, who can date the pregnancy far more reliably than a reconstructed calendar.
Do I need to record repeat matings within the same heat?
Yes. Cats are induced ovulators and pairs commonly mate repeatedly over several days, so a single date is false precision. Recording the earliest and latest mating gives you a due-date range, which is what you actually plan the queening around and what makes the record defensible if a pedigree question comes up later.
Is paper good enough?
Paper is excellent at the moment of the event and poor as an archive — it cannot be searched, copied or backed up. The common pattern is to keep paper or a whiteboard by the queening box for speed, then transcribe the same day into something searchable. What you should not do is let paper be the only copy of a pedigree.
What should I hand over at go-home?
Pedigree, registration paperwork or a clear timeline for it, the vaccination and worming record with dates, microchip number and transfer details, feeding and litter notes, and the signed contract. Keep an identical copy yourself — it becomes your answer if a question arises years later. Have the contract reviewed where you live before you reuse it; this is not legal advice.
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