Hi folks

I'm thrilled to be living with my first cats since boyhood days: two beautiful Bengals, Mungo Sexpanther and Barbarella Bitchpussy

IMG_0098.jpg

Sorry about the quality of the photo; difficult to get 12-week-old kits to hold a pose!

They've been with us for just 2 days, and already our hearts are taken. I have a couple of questions; would be very grateful for any advice you can give on the following:

1. The kittens appear to be full of life and are bounding about the bedroom, playing with each other. I believe the breeder (Soulmates, Gauteng) is reputable and from what I could see on my visits to the cattery, all the kittens will have had daily exposure to cat lovers before we adopted our two. What can/should Heather & I do to give Mungo & Barbarella the best chance of being well socialised to humans, and comfortable around us and our house guests?

2. What is a good age to have the cats spayed? I want to ensure that Mungo & Barbarella get sufficient hormones to develop into beautiful full-bodied felines. The breeder has given me its opinion; I'd be interested to know what the collective wisdom of this forum thinks.

3. Mungo was the smallest of the litter (5 kits born to a first-time mum). Is this likely to have been the result of being "last to the teat" when the kits were jostling at mum's belly, or is it hardwired into his genes? Can we expect him to grow to a normal full-size? If so, is there anything we can/should do to help him attain "full cathood"?

(His small size doesn't appear to be affecting his confidence, though!)

Thanks folks - looking forward to reading any tips you can offer.

Best
O

Welcome. What beautiful cats you have

Welcome to the forum. To answer your questions:

1) i would have hoped their breeder would have socialised them appropriately to them and their house. Is this not the case? It can be very difficult to fully socialise kittens that have been caged during their first weeks. It is possible but takes a lot of time and patience. Other problems can arise with litter trays etc. The best way to help them feel more comfortable is to minimise loud noises and movement around them until they are used to you. To sit on the floor and allow them to come to you, feel comfortable with you just being there. To play with wand toys etc so that they are encouraged to interact. This can take time.

2) You can have kittens neutered from the age of 8 weeks. Some vets will not do it before 5 months in the UK but in otehr parts of the world neutering is often done before 12 weeks of age. There is absolutely no reason to wait for hormones. In fact, you can run into problems if you do such as spraying etc. Girls can start calling for a mate from 4 months and will lose weight and condition with each call so neutering asap is very important. There is little evidence that it stunts growth to be neutered early. My last litter of kittens were all neutered at 12 weeks and recovered very quickly with no problems at all.

3) Has Mungo always been the smallest? Was he the smallest born? It makes a difference as they are always playing catch up. If they are quite a bit smaller they can get knocked off the best nipples so struggle against the bigger siblings. There may be reasons why they were small to begin with. They may have suffered illness at some point growing up which would account for their size. Being the smallest alone does not mean they are necessarily going to have health problems. Many kittens like Mungo grow up to be fine. My first litter i had weights of: 124g, 120g, 119g, 94g, and 55g. The last baby needed help to make sure she got a good nipple at feed times. She was always smaller though, right up until they left at 13 weeks old.

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Lollo

Thanks for the reply, Lollo.

Just to let you know - the kittens are growing up adorably. They are very social cats, always around whichever humans are in the house and they sleep on our bed every night Mungo has also caught up to his sister; he's actually 300g heavier than Barbarella now. Here's a more recent pic...
Sleepy Bengals.jpg

I have only just noticed the date you first posted.... sorry you never got any replies when you did post originally.

They look gorgeous!

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Lollo

P.s the picture is gorgeous