Hey cleo,
Have you looked into genetic diseases that are inherited by bengals through the parents? I did a bit of research on this before I bought my own bengal and was looking for breeders, and I can tell you that it made my life 10x easier finding a breeder who could give me peace of mind that the babies wouldn't have predisposed genetical diseases that would cost me a lot at the vet and not be fun for the cat. My breeder also provided a 5 generation pedigree, which I'm not sure if you will be able to do. But at the very least, you could check them for these genetic diseases so nothing gets passed on to the babies.
As far as I know (and I am extremely new to this bengal world), I believe there are three big diseases that most *responsible* breeders will check for. These are: PKdef, PRA and HCM.
PKdef stands for pyruvate kinase deficiency, which is a disease where a cat will be missing a certain enzyme (pyruvate kinase). This enzyme is needed for creating energy to give to red blood cells, and without it, it causes anaemia. This has been noted as a cause of death in bengal cats. (Read:
viewtopic.php?t=11963)
PRA stands for Progressive Retinal Atrophy and causes blindness in bengals. (Read:
https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/cat/BengalPRA.php)
HCM stands for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is a a heart disease that (from my understanding) contains abnormal genes in the heart that start with certain things in the heart not working properly, or working harder than usual, and then eventually there will be "thickening" of muscles which will in turn cause blockages in the heart (which obviously will lead to death). (Read:
http://www.bengalbreedersukunited.co.uk ... ssues.html)
Hopefully you understand genetics a little to get this next part:
PKdef is a recessive gene. This means that you need 2 carriers (mom AND dad) for the baby to have PKdef.
PRA is also a recessive gene, so you will need 2 carriers as well.
HCM however is a DOMINANT trait, meaning that any carriers will automatically transfer this disease to its babies.
This means that if your female or your male are carriers of any of those diseases, you would probably want to know about it or you would risk having babies with predisposed health problems. This following diagram shows the outcomes of what can happen when the mom and dad are carriers of PKdef or PRA. So any box that is red means they have the disease, yellow means carrier, and green means free of that disease. A "+" sign means they are a carrier for that disease, and a "-" sign means they are free of disease.
For HCM, I believe it works like this: (dominant gene). Let's say "R" stands for a cat that is a carrier of HCM and "r" stands for a healthy, non-carrier. This diagram shows that R paired with R will obviously give you a kitten with HCM. If you pair an "R" with an "r", your cat will still have HCM because the gene is dominant and you only need one gene to be affected. The only pairing that is healthy in this scenario is "r" with "r".
Here is a website that will give you swabs to test your dame and sire for PKdef and PRA. They are a little pricy but worth it if you care about the kittens and your prospective buyers.
https://www.vgl.ucdavis.edu/services/cat/index.phpAnd I believe HCM is only able to be checked through an echocardiogram of the heart by a qualified veterinary cardiologist, and this test is supposed to be done on all breeders at least once a year.
Hope I do not come off as judgemental, that is not my intention at all. Just wanted to give you a friendly reminder about those three diseases. I am by no means an expert at this subject so if any of the more knowledgeable members of the forum want to chyme in, feel free! If you have fully committed to this breeding idea, then nobody can stop you. But I advise you to not rush into it and do as much of your own research as possible. Finding out whether a non-neutered male will spray is pretty basic information- and if you are trying to breed them, you might want to delve a bit further into the knowledge pool before doing so. ;) If you already knew about all this stuff, then dont mind me. Just trying to help. Good luck!