| Our Commitment to Excellence Here at Fire Mountain Bengals we strive for excellence in our bengal kittens. There is much more to cat breeding than genetics, color, patterns, contrast etc. After kittens are born it is crucial that the mother be capable of nursing them. She has to be in excellent condition before during and after pregnancy so she can adequately care for her little ones. Because of the amount of stress pregnancy and nursing puts on her body, she has to be eating top quality food to maintain her health. Here at Fire Mountain, our Queens have as much quality food available as they care to eat. Our queens stay in ideal physical condition so that they are fully capable of caring for and nursing their kittens. Kittens should be nursing up into the 8th week of life to receive the proper antibodies and immune strength they need. At this point I wean my kittens and wait for a week to administer the first vaccine. I wait this week of time so that the antibodies from the mother's milk are no longer acting to counter the vaccine, and instead it is able to activate the kitten's own immune response as it is intended to do. This full term of nursing combined with the vaccinations spaced at 3-4week intervals gives the kitten what it needs to counter common illnesses that plague kittens. No kitten ever leaves this cattery without all of these precautions being made for it up to the first vaccination. If I suspect a kitten is unhealthy I will simply not send it home with you until I am sure it is healthy. I guarantee the health of all of my kittens through the first 3 days of ownership. Beyond that, if it is determined the kitten contracted an illness prior to leaving my premise, I will gladly take responsability and appropriate action to assist you in bringing the kitten into good health. These agreements I enter into in writing in our kitten contract, which is designed to orchestrate a deal that is beneficial on all sides: for you, the kitten, and us as the breeder. IF YOU GO ELSEWHERE AND THE BREEDER ASKS YOU TO SIGN A CONTRACT THAT SAYS THEY HAVE NO RESPONSiBILITY FOR THE HEALTH OF THE KITTEN, OR YOU ARE BUYING THE KITTEN "AS IS" WITHOUT EXCEPTION, BEWARE, BECAUSE THERE IS USUALLY A REASON THEY HAVE THAT VERBAGE IN THEIR CONTRACT. IT'S USUALLY TO PROTECT THEM, BECAUSE THEY HAVE ALREADY SOLD A NUMBER OF SICK CATS! THERE ARE PLENTY OF ILLNESSES THAT COST MORE TO GET RID OF IN TIME AND MONEY THAN THE COST OF A HEALTHY PUREBRED CAT. I CAN TELL YOU FROM EXPERIENCE, IT IS MUCH EASIER AND CHEAPER JUST TO BUY FROM A RESPONSIBLE BREEDER IN THE FIRST PLACE THAN TO BUY CHEAP AND PAY LATER. There's no shame in paying full price for a healthy kitten. When you pay for a nice cat, you're paying not only for the cat, but the amount of work that has gone into that cat. If a breeder is selling their purebred kittens for really cheap, it tells you how much time and effort they put into their kittens. The other thing you pay for when you buy a pure bred cat is the breeder. The breeder of your new cat or kitten will be your source of help and information about the breed and how to care for your baby. Buy from someone who is accessible and willing to help you with your new baby. If you are wondering if we at Fire Mountain fit this description feel free to visit our References page and contact our former customers and friends who would be glad to tell you what we and our cats are like. Kittens, and especially wild hybrid kittens also require constant human contact in order to accomodate them with human interaction. Without this attention, cage raised kittens usually become very unsocialized and afraid of humans, and especially of humans holding them. This fear, once embraced by a cat, may never go away. My kittens all get handled individually on a daily basis from before they open their eyes. They grow up in the house around us and our dog. Most of my kittens won't mind if you grab them and plop them down on their backs in your arms like a baby, because I do it to them all the time. I name them at birth and I never treat them like a number. You are welcome to rename them once they become your cat, but I like to know them better than 1,2,3. When you buy a kitten from Fire Mountain, you can rest at ease knowing it was properly raised by a healthy, loving mother and helping human hands. I select my breeders with a fair amount of scrutiny as I can only keep a few breeders at a time and still give them the attention they deserve. I look for rounded profiles, small ears, leopard short tails, body shape, nice soft thick pelts, nice patterns both spotted and marble, rosettes, contrast, sometimes glitter, pedigree, and a human friendly disposition. So your kitten is likely to be strong in many of these traits. All of our kittens come with blue TICA registration paperwork so you can register your new pet as an SBT Bengal. SBT stands for Stud Book Traditional, which just means they are accepted as a full blooded Bengal cat by TICA. We do all of this because we believe in our commitment to excellence, and we want to know you, as a buyer will be satisfied. |
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| !!!SEE BENGAL 411 BELOW!!! !!!LOOK AT THE NEW QUEENS BELOW!!! |
| Welcome to Fire Mountain Bengals. We are a Bengal cattery specializing in high quality silver, golden, and brown bengals of both spotted and marbled rosetted patterns. In this short document I will attempt to answer many questions you might have about what Bengals are, where they come from, what constitutes a "good" Bengal, why you should choose them as a pet over any other animal, and why you should buy your Bengal from Fire Mountain. Bengals are a domesticated hybrid breed derived from the Asian Leopard Cat (Prionailurus Bengalensis), a relatively small hunting leopard indigenous to many parts of Asia from India to Korea. Notice that the Asian Leopard Cat is in a genus seperate from the domestic cat (Felis Silvestris), making Bengal Cats an intergeneric hybrid. I have often seen the ALC genus mistakenly listed as Felis. The species name of Bengalensis comes from the Bay of Bengal where the type specimen for the species was captured after swimming over to a boat in the bay! (Pocock, 1939) Needless to say the ALC is at home in the water, and also has webbed toes. The ALC is referred to more generally as the Leopard Cat, and is so variable in size and coloring etc. that it was once considered several different species and called several different names including: Jerdon's Cat, Elliot's Cat, Sumatra Cat, Java Cat, Chinese Cat, and recently the Iriomote cat (declared a new species in 1967) has been DNA tested and shown to be a subspecies of Leopard Cat. Prionailurus Bengalensis can weigh anywhere between 7-22lbs, with the heavier versions of the species being found further north in its range (Russia and Northern China). In the northern portions of its range the Leopard Cat is silvery gray and can have a longer coat, whereas in the south it is more brownish, or yellow (Heptner et al., 1992; Pocock, 1939; Dabroruka, 1971; Roberts, 1977). The Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) has several characteristic traits that Bengal breeders attempt to preserve as we domesticate the leopard by mixing in the genes of various other domestic cats. Among these traits are the following, in order from tip to tail: prominent whisker pads, a prominent chin, a profile that runs from the nose to the top of the head without a dip, large eyes surrounded by white oceli, small rounded ears set to the sides, a general head shape that is wedge shaped, and longer than it is wide, a long thick body with thick limbs and relatively broad footpads with black toes, the beautiful leopard pattern (which, in the leopard, may or may not be rosetted but is always horizontally to diagonally aligned and relatively free of barring), very thick, soft, "pelt-like" fur and a short stout tail with a black tip. In the process of creating the bengal breed some other traits which have been deemed desireable, but not necessarily representative of the general ALC population have been selectively bred for, and other traits foreign to the ALC have also been introduced to the breed. Among those traits are the following: clear coating, glitter, rosetting, and the marbled bengal pattern. CLEAR COATING Clear coating is a relative non-expression of agouti ticking. Ticking is an alternation of the coloration on individual hairs in the cat's coat. Ticking can dull the coat of a cat or decrease the overall contrast of the cat's coat. All Bengals are tabbies, and have the agouti gene, so they all express some degree of ticking. Ticking is also not exclusive to domestic cats. It is a trait in the gene pool of the ALC. Ticking can cover the coat from the belly to the back, or be almost absent from the center of the coat but still strongly present along the back. Very ticked cats can still win at cat shows, especially if they exhibit high contrast. Extreme clear coating often comes with a less dense pelt and silky fur consistency, which gives the cat a less wild appearance. Many cats with a lot of ALC blood display strong ticking, but also look much more like the ALC. Generally if a cat looks good overall, ticking is a relative non factor. If you are buying a pet this probably isn't something you should worry too much about. GLITTER Glitter is a trait that has been introduced to the breed. It should be noted that this gene is not associated with clear coating. Glitter is a feature of the individual hairs of the cat. "Glittered" hairs appear somewhat translucent, and reflect light in a unique way. When a "glittered" cat is held in sunlight or other intense light, the tips of "glittered" hairs light up like the end of an active fiber optic cable, giving the cat the appearance of being covered in glitter. (Everyone has seen those toys with the flashlight below a series of tiny plastic filaments that light up on the tips when the light is turned on.) However, the appearance of "glittered" fur is not completely described by the light at the tips. Glittered fur also changes the coat appearance of the cat, making it more reflective. Perhaps a better and more mechanistic description of "glittered" fur would be "optic" fur. Often you can spot a "glittered" cat by looking at the paws, legs, and other curved surfaces of the cat. You will notice in well-lit pictures, the round edges especially of the legs will be over exposed where the highly reflective fur has reflected the ambient light or the light of the flash. Glitter can be exhibited in different degrees. The gene is supposed to be recessive, meaning a cat has to carry two glitter genes for it to be expressed, but I have seen it expressed in low intensity in cats I assume are carriers. ROSETTES As I mentioned earlier, some Asian Leopard Cats are rosetted and some are not. Breeders, and most people will agree that rosettes improve the appearance of the leopard coat. For this reason breeders have selectively bred for rosetting in Bengals. This may be overly confusing, but there are different kinds and multiple sources of rosetting. There are cluster or pawprint rosettes, which are spots surrounding an area darker than background fur, there are arrowhead rosettes, which look like arrowheads with the base of the arrowhead fading into background color, and there are donut rosettes, which are areas darker than background coat outlined by even darker fur. Some rosettes come from the Asian Leopard Cat, and some have been selectively bred and enhanced by incorporating the marble pattern. THE MARBLED BENGAL The "marble" pattern was introduced early on in bengal breeding when domestic american shorthair cats with the classic or marbled tabby pattern were bred with Asian Leopard Cats and high wild percentage bengals (or Foundation Cats). The marbled tabby pattern is a recessive pattern gene, and requires two marbled tabby genes to be expressed. So to have a marbled kitten, either both parents have to be marbled or both parents have to at least carry a recessive marbled tabby gene. The marbled tabby gene tends to produce a pattern that looks much like a bull's eye with a large round spot in the center of the cat's body, with a cirlce around it. However when mixed with the leopard's horizontally aligned spot pattern, marbled tabby bengals tend to look much more exotic. The goal in marbled patterns is to get as far away from the bull's eye shape as possible. Marbled bengals can have solid patterning or rosetting. Rosetted marbles are often referred to as "tri-colored" meaning simply that the inside of their patterning is a different color than either the main marking coloration or the background coloring. BENGAL TEMPERMENT Because bengals are derived from the Asian Leopard Cat, they are behaviorally somewhat different than regular domestic cats. However, because bengals have more domestic blood than leopard blood, their behavior varies quite a bit based on which domestic cats were used in their breeding as well, and also from one individual to another. The fact that the Asian Leopard Cat is highly variable, combined with the broad range of domestic cats used in their breeding, and the individuality of all living things makes it VERY difficult to make behavioral generalizations about this breed. I would even argue that the amount and type of human contact kittens have growing up makes a HUGE difference in their temperment and behavior. However, there are some traits fairly unique to bengals. Bengals and other hybrid breeds tend to be very intelligent, especially foundation cats. Some bengals can be trained to fetch, go on walks, or use the toilet as a litterbox. One of mine observed people using the toilet after following them into the bathroom, and started emulating their behavior by jumping into the tub next to the toilet and urinating directly into the tub drain. Bengals, and especially bengal kittens tend to be relatively active and athletic cats. I have one that can jump from the floor up onto a six foot high ledge flat-footed. Bengals love play time. As a breed, bengals probably prefer being petted to being held, but I have also had bengals who would jump up onto my hip and climb into my arms when they wanted attention. Bengals tend to like playing in water. Not all bengals like water, but I have one bengal that jumps in the shower, and will actually complain at the door if I don't let him in when I take a shower. Bengals get fairly attached and mine run to the door when they hear me coming home. Bengals are often called "dog cats", because their behavior is closer to that of dogs than other cats. They are incredibly curious and boisterous animals. They tend to follow their owners around the house. I take my cats to Petsmart and Home Depot, and they stand up in the front of the cart to see where we are going. If you think you are not a cat person, give a bengal a chance to change your mind. Bengals make excellent and unforgettable pets. Nobody will ever come to your home without saying something about your little leopard. FIRE MOUNTAIN BENGALS Because Bengals are hybrid animals, it is important that they are exposed to human contact and human environments in the early stages of life. A bengal will only be as good as its upbringing (See our Commitment to Excellence Below). All of my kittens are brought up with daily human contact. My kittens are well cared for and safe guarded. I take great care to keep my animals healthy, and they receive all of the preventative medicine necessary to keep them in top condition. If you are able, you are welcome to visit the cats here in their environment to see what they are like. You are also welcome to visit my References page and contact my past customers. |
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| N E W K I T T E N S ! |
| N E W K I T T E N S ! |
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