Smart Breeding

    By selective breeding we try to select the good and  eliminate the bad.  Health  is the only route to prolonged success.  With health you can create beauty - without it only vet bills and misery are created.  The aim of good breeding is consistent quality, generation after generation.  This can be accomplished with patience, careful planning, and judicious in-breeding, out-crossing and line-breeding.
     Desirable qualities can be achieved by breeding together related cats having that quality, or sharing ancestors having that quality.  As a general rule, never double on a fault.  Out-crossing to known healthy lines on alternate generations is a safe rule, as consecutive generations of in-breeding can lead to sterility or worse.  Avoid son to mother, father to daughter, or brother to sister matings.  The results do not justify the risks.  Great granddaughter to greatgrandfather can be very successful.  Always bring in some extra blood along the way to avoid intensive doubling on some possible unknown recessives that might endanger health.
     This kind of breeding program is long range and takes patience, but the quality of your cats will consistently improve.  Take your cues from nature.  Don't try to force breedings out of weak animals.  If the generations don't improve, try different lines.  One show-stopper among dozens of inferior or weak kittens is not successful breeding.  Stick with healthy and successful lines, repeating good combinations as often as you can.  Don't just mix every winning bloodline together, two unrelated champions bred together often produce kittens inferior to either parent.
     Some cats, usually from generations of line breeding, are called pre potent.  No matter what they are bred with they produce cats resembling themselves.  A fine quality stud or queen in this category can make your line.  Other cats produce different kittens with different mates, these cats usually have a large mix of many lines behind them.  A study of the pedigree can give you some idea of what a cat is capable of throwing.  Aim for balance rather than extremes.  A perfectly balanced animal has appeal - and try to breed for  what the standard requires.  Your cats will never go out of style if you breed to the standard rather than some current fad.