Not all kittens are the same, there are Bengals and then there are Bengals, not all kittens are raised indoors, indoors in a pen is not the same as indoors running free.
Use your common sense, if you have done your research, you should be able to decide whether the kitten has been raised properly, there are loads of Bengals advertised, there are loads of Bengal breeders, not all are the same, as a Bengal breeder trying to produce cats that truly resemble the ALC, it upsets me when I see Bengals advertised that have an appearance of a domestic cat, a Bengal should be sleek, but muscular, have a wild appearance, you should be able to tell a Bengal in silhouette, you should be able to tell if its a Bengal instantly, I've been breeding Bengals for the last 9 years, and even I sometimes struggle to tell if its a Bengal or just a nicely marked tabby.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What to feed your Bengal.
We feed all our cats, Bengals, Bsh and Selkirk Rex on a mainly raw food diet, turkey, chicken, beef, rabbit, lamb, raw fish. We also feed raw chicken bones and raw lamb bones. The Bengals love to play with the bones, and will throw the bones in the air and act like they have caught and killed there food. Raw bones are very good for cats for helping them to chew and this helps to clean their teeth and helps their gums. Cubes of raw meat also helps to clean teeth. Kittens as young as 6 weeks know how to rip meat from a bone. Its amazing to watch.
My cats also have dried biscuit, Royal Canin or James Welbeloved this is down all day. I occasionally feed tinned food, Kitten Meatloaf (Whiskas) and Felix. Water should be available all the time.
Vaccinations
Our kittens are vaccinated for Feline Enteritis (Panluek) and Feline Herpes and Feline Calici (Cat flu), Chlaymidia. We do not vaccinate our kittens for Leukaemia, as we are a leukaemia free cattery. A cat can only be infected with Leukaemia if they meet an infected cat. I do recommend that any cat that is to go outside, should be vaccinated for Leukemia and Feline Aids. (FIV)
Should my cat go out.
This is a real difficult one, there are loads of dangers for cats, not just roads, but diseases, poisons and people. Unfortunately, people do hurt animals. I always let my cats out until we moved to our current home, its on a main road, now that I breed, my cats are unable to go out, what they don't know, they don't miss. I do feel that each home has to be considered as a separate case.
Bengals need a lot of space, they are lively, and full of energy, so I do feel that they need some outside space, but this can be provided either with an outside run or by cat proofing your garden. We have a huge run off the back of our house, which the cats access from our conservatory, we are also hoping to enclose our whole garden with electric fencing. There are numerous options available on the market to cat proof a garden. I do feel that some outside time is ok, but this should be monitored, I don't agree with a cat being allowed to run freely, all day and all night. This is when accidents happen and if your not about, then your cat can be left to die in agony.
The cheapest and easiest way to cat proof a garden is to use chicken wire and tip the top of the fence. A 18" piece of wire placed along the fence on an angle, you will need supporting rods, to hold the wire up, this needs to be secured to the fence but should not be firmly placed, along the top edge, the overhangs stops the cat from going over the fence, as its not secure, the cat does not feel that it gives enough support for them to climb over, it works very well, not 100% cat proof, but it certainly gives them some deterrent. If you wish to cat proof your garden like this and want more details, please give us a call. There are companies that will provide the equipment and will also fit this for you. http://www.purrfectfence.co.uk/info.asp
A REGISTERED PEDIGREE. A cat that is advertised as a pedigree must have a slip to state this, a pedigree alone is not proof that the cat is a registered pedigree. the breeder must supply you with either a Pink Slip from the GCCF or a Tica transfer slip. This is proof that this cat has been registered, some breeders will hold this until the cat has been neutered.
PRICES ~ FOR Bengals ~ As I have stated previously, not all bengals are the same, prices can start as low as £100, why, the basic vaccines cost on average £65.00, to raise a kitten costs around £150+ and this doesn't include the cost of keeping mum or dad, or paying for stud fees, Bengal stud fees are around £300.
The prices for Bengal kittens do vary, you will see kittens from £100 to £750, this depends on colour and pedigree. Kittens sold for breeding are sold for anything between £1000 to £2500+, depending on pedigree and colour. I personally would rather my kittens went to pet homes so very rarely sell for breeding. I think that an average price for a bengal is between £350-£450, may be slightly higher for an outstanding kitten.
PET INSURANCE ~ Most breeders offer six weeks pet insurance with Petplan, we do not pay for this, this is something that Petplan do in a way of hopefully you keeping the policy going. However, I do feel that Petplan is one of the best insurance companies, they pay out very quickly, and are for LIFE. Please check any policy you take out and make sure this covers for Life, this means that if Tommy gets a nasty eye infection and this is reoccurring, Petplan will cover him for life any policy that does not state Life, only covers for the year of the policy.
Bedding and toys. ~ Bedding, a cardboard box is usually preferred, I am always asked about buying a nice bed, most of the time the cat ignores the bed and prefers the sofa, or your bed, or a nice cardboard box. Mine love to curl up in their cat carrier, I leave my cat carriers out around the house so its less stressful when they go to shows or the vets and they love to sleep in them. A scratch post is certainly a good idea, it will hopefully stop them scratching the sofa, buy a good quality scratch post, one at least 4ft high, a cat needs to stretch out when they scratch. Bengals love toys, they love feathers, and will destroy any feathered toy very quickly, I go through no end. There is a toy on the market called a Da Bird and you can buy these from Ebay. These are brilliant and the cats love them.
LITTER TRAYS ~ Litter trays are very important, use a good quality litter, and empty the soiled bits daily, if you only have one cat, then you can empty the whole tray once a week and then wash with diluted bleach and leave to dry. If you have multi cats, then you should supply one litter tray per cat plus one extra. These should be cleaned regularly, daily if possible ~ empty completely, wash with dilute bleach and leave to dry.
Multicat households, are more prone to diseases, one being corona virus which are passed through faeces, if the corona virus mutates, this causes something called FIP, Feline Infectious Peritonitis which is a deadly disease, which there is no cure for (some cats have survived FIP, but its believed that they were wrongly diagnosed). This is a very strange disease and no one knows why the corona virus mutates in some cats, it doesn't necessary attack the weak, it can sometimes be the healthiest of kittens, I do feel that its something that cat owners should be aware off.
It is called Feline Infectious Peritonitis, but it is not infectious, the corona virus is infections, once the corona virus mutates, the infection has gone, if you have lost a cat recently to FIP and are very concerned about your other cats, try not to worry, you will probably never see FIP again, PLEASE do not let your vet put your cat to sleep until all tests have been done, numerous cats are wrongly diagnosed with FIP. A cat that has a titre does not necessarily have FIP, 95% of cats that are sent for post mortem DO NOT have FIP.
Bleach is very good at killing corona virus, keep stress levels down, think of stress as a challenge to a cat, vaccinations, new home, new kitten arriving, visits to the vet, neutering, going to cattery. Try and minimise your cats stress levels as much as possible, DONT DO TO MUCH AT ONCE, especially when young.
FIP is more likely to attack young kittens and old cats. I didn't know very much about FIP until my mum lost a kitten to it a few years ago, her vets knew very little too. It is one of the diseases that all breeders dread.
If you would like to make a donation into FIP research please click here. http://web.mac. com/cat_toons/ iWeb/feline- care/DONATIONS. html
CAT DISEASES and PARASITES
These are only a few of the more common ones.
Cat Flu ~ Feline Herpes and Feline Calici ~ These are both cat flu, which all reputable breeders will vaccine for. They DO NOT stop infection completely, but they do minimise the infection if a cat is exposed to it. Both make the cat feel unwell, cause weepy eyes and sneezing, Feline Herpes will be carried forever, and the cat may shed the disease at times of stress. Feline Calici, cause ulcers as well as the other symptoms, but can be cured, it takes about two years for a cat to rid the Calici virus completely. If not re- exposed to it.
Feline Enteritis (Panluek) ~ this causes terrible sickness and diarrhoea, and will eventually kill if not treated, it apparently has a very distinctive smell, this is fatal in small kittens, is highly contagious and can live in cloths, bedding, toys, its is very important that if you suspect your kitten or cat has Enteritis that you immediately contact a vet.
Fleas ~ these should be treated regularly if your cat goes out, if your cat is an indoor cat, he cannot get fleas unless introduced to a cat with fleas, fleas can however live in carpets, curtains and furniture, so if you cat does have fleas, you need to treat your house as well as the cat. Special treatments are obtainable for these and can be obtained from you vet.
Worms ~ cats should be treated regularly for worms, your vet will be able to give you advice as to how often this should be done.
Ear mites ~ Bengals do seem to suffer with ear mites, but these can be very easily treated with Stronghold, this is similar to the flea treatment Spoton and is used in the same way. Stronghold also treats fleas.
TRITRICHOMONAS ~ http://www.fabcats.org/owners/digestive/index.php ~ this does not kill its just a nuisance.
Three years ago, I purchased a beautiful bengal boy, he was wonderful, beautiful profile, wonderful markings, what I had been looking for for a while. He was to be my new stud boy. Troy arrived and had terrible diarrhoea, bengals do suffer with their tummies, so I just presumed it was food related and it would clear up, this went on for weeks, my vets did loads of tests but could find nothing, he was booked into Newmarket Animal Hospital for further tests, thankfully Troy was insured, Id done some research of my own and had also spoken to another breeder who had had the same symptoms in one of her cats, diarrhoea, cow pat like stools, mucus, blood, and this most horrendous smell, like sweet rotting meat. Ill never forget the smell. Troy was eventually diagnosed with TriTrichomonas. By this time he had infected some of my other cats, Tritrichomonas is very infections.
I had ten other kittens here, all around 12 weeks, all of these become infected, they all had to be tested, and then treated. TM is not easily detected, and it is also very similar to Gardia, both parasites are identical in shape but they swim differently, after loads of tests, around 50, my vet only found two of my cats to have TM, even thought I am sure that the 10 kittens did have TM, this could not be detected on tests. The treatment for TM, was worse than the parasite itself ~ Ronadizole. This had been band for use in the UK and had to be imported from USA. This took 6 weeks to arrive, and had to be given to the kittens twice daily for 14 days, at first I thought, brilliant and it will soon be gone and the kittens will be able to go to their new homes. The kittens hated this medicine, it made them foam at the mouth and tasted bitter bitter, (I actually tried some after my vet said how awful it was) the taste stayed with you for ages, even after a long drink, it just didnt go away, the kittens were so scared of having it, I couldn't give it to them, so I looked for an alternative treatment. RAW FOOD.
I had spent £100's on vets fees, special food and medicines, and all I needed to do was change their diet to RAW FOOD, this cleared up the diarrhoea within days, TM cannot live without a wet moist condition, once the diarrhoea went, the parasite was killed, because it can lie dormant for a number of months, we were advised to continue feeding raw food for sometime. The difference in my cats was amazing, they were not constantly hungry, they ate all that they were given (not just the gravy) they didnt ask for food constantly, and they were really healthy, their coats were amazingly shinning, and my kittens were huge.
Even though the TM was a nuisance, 10 kittens running around with chronic diarrhoea, was not easy, but no one died, all 10 kittens are still alive and doing really well, one is a show cat.
There are tablets now to treat TM so its not so bad, when we used the Ronadizole it was a liquid, the tablets are not such a problem, and they certainly do work.