breeding half brother and sister ragdoll

Question
We have a 2 six month old ragdolls - a girl and boy with different mothers but the same father. We would love to have kittens, but are there too many health risks? They were both placed on the inactive register by their breeder.

Answer
Hello Rebecca
There are two questions on ethics here so please do bear with me and I mean no disrespect but want you to fully understand the rationale behind my answer

The first ethical dilemma
If the two animals were placed on the 'Inactive' register by their breeder then she feels that they are not the best examples of the breed for breeding purposes and perhaps should be neutered or spayed at the earliest convenience without having any litters at all.

By looking to breed from them you may be in violation of any contract that you signed with the breeder when you took them on, I don't know if she did give you a contract to sign but it is worth investigating first. Please do not take this the wrong way I am merely saying what normally happens when kittens are placed on the inactive register.

The second dilemma
These two animals are related by father, so they are in fact half brother and sister. Within delving too deeply into genetics let me say it could be possible for such a close breeding to produce kittens with major genetic defects. So my view would be do not breed from them if at all possible.

I would also suggest that you have a quiet word with the breeder or if you can, join the breed club and discuss this topic with other members as well.

You may find that the breeder had specific reasons for placing the kittens on the inactive register, so ask her.

Finally if you do breed and have kittens what were your thoughts on re-homing of these etc

I hope this helps

Ray