Just wanted to post and say Hi. I'm new to this forum and have two Bengals. Winston, age 8, is a BIG (17+ lbs) spotted snow lynx-point boy with beautiful blue eyes. Cinnamon, who will be 5 next Monday, is a funny little brown spotted tabby. I got them both from a former co-worker who breeds and shows Bengals and has done so for several years. My two were both "rejects"-- Winston didn't develop his spots until he was almost a year old and Cinnamon had a bad case of feline herpes as a kitten, and so couldn't be sold for health reasons.

The only health problem that I have had with them is that they both seem to have bad teeth-- lots of gingivitis. The vet doesn't think that the problem is the diet, and agrees that it is odd for cats so young to have such extensive gum disease. I was just wondering if anyone else has experienced this with their Bengals, or if it's just my two.

Thanks!

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SharonCville

Thanks for the replies. Both of my Bengals have had severe gingivitis all of their lives. I used an antibacterial mouthwash for some time, which I really should have filmed in use. Let's just say that neither cat was a fan, and they quickly learned to run and hide if they saw me getting the bottle out.

Because my little girl has a compromised immune system (feline herpes), the vet did not think that a raw diet was a good idea. I agree-- I used to live in poultry farm territory, and I would never feed an animal raw chicken or turkey unless I was sure it was organic! I've been feeding them Science Diet, Innova brand and Iams for their hard food. The Innova is in larger pieces and they have to chew it, so that has helped. I also make sure that when they get cat treats, they get the tarter-control variety, which are larger and hard and have to be chewed.

My vet says that just like some people have "bad teeth", so do some cats, and my two were just unfortunate. He isn't really familiar with Bengals, though, so was questioning whether it was a breed thing or just my two kitties. They came from the same breeder, so it's possible that it's something in their heritage, but they may just be unlucky. I hadn't heard anything about Bengal teeth, but I figured you guys would probably know if anyone would. I don't breed or show Bengals, though, so I wouldn't necessarily keep up to date on genetic anomolies that might pop up.

My husband's two "pound kitties" have benefited from the healthy teeth diet, though. Even his 13 year old cat has perfect teeth! My two Bengals are just destined to be hillbilly kitties. (I can say that, I'm from the Virginia mountains). I just keep an eye on them and have them cleaned regularly. They have each had several removed, though.

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SharonCville