I was just watching a video on Youtube taken by a Bengal breeder. This is one that forum members know and recommend. In the video all the cats were in small cage like enclosures, which I found kind of disturbing. It was a very short video, so I have no idea how long they had been in there but I'm wondering how much contact, play, human interaction and so on do breeding cats get? Is it normal for them to be kept in confined spaces and are they kept there often? I hope someone with experience can answer this for me because I don't want to have the wrong idea about how these cats are kept.

From what I saw of the setup the breeder I adopted Inky from, her 2 early generation cats were in large enclosured that had access to the outside. She said that they were going to be with her for their lives, they were bonded to her and she was finished breeding them. Her studs were in large enclosures too. There were probably 4 or 5 huge enclosures in a converted 3-car garage. The females and kittens had free reign in the main part of the house, everybody with color coded collars. She said when the male kittens got old enough to reproduce she keeps them in another area of the house so they don't impregnante the females (like their mom or sisters). Each breeder has their own setup and while it seemed really crazy at first, she answered all of my questions and everything she said made sense in terms of ethics and well-being of the animals.

I think it's absolutely normal with stud cats. Most breeders I have seen let their females have free roam of the house and their is usually a kitten room for the new mom's and babies. A very well known breeder and one that has been breeding for a long time, and is highly respected here in the states keeps her kittens inside a kennel until they are litter trained. When I say kennel I mean a huge ex pen type thing set up in the home. It all depends on the amount of socialization they get. I understand having designated areas for each cat as precautionary measure but they should not be in there 24/7 or the majority of the time. The breeder I am talking about also has an ALC that she allows out an about with the bengals. It's just a matter of how it's done and what you think is appropriate. IMHO I would rather go to a breeder with a nice set up than go to one with cats running everywhere in their home. If you don't have some kind of control over who is where and what is going on you will not have a nice stable cattery with healthy and sanitary cats. You will not be able to control who is breeding and couldn't determine when litters will be due or what genetics are at play. If something were to happen and a cat was sick, it could be contained without harming the other cats in the home. But again I will repeat it's a matter of how it's done. Cages on top of cages of cats in unsanitary conditions is not a nice set up.

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I think the nature and temperament of the cats speak better than the perceived environment....for example if they look frightened and backing off then I expect that answers the question re Human interaction. Then look at the environment, is it clean, tidy etc