My son and I went to the local Animal Shelter this last Saturday, April 14, 2012 in hopes to rescue an adorable kitty. We were told that in order to make room, they were giving away kittens downtown at a local Feed Store and that our "best bet" would be to go there to find a new babe. I am a softy for kittens, but at the same time, the older Cats are usually more lovable (depends of course, as with everything) and already trained and a bit "calmer". I asked the lady if I could see the older cats before I went downtown, and so she took me to the room with all the cages and only like 3 were empty out of 20. It was a tough decision, but after about 2 hours of playing with the ones that wanted attention (the ones that didnt, were a bit intimidating) I narrowed it down to 3. I held them, and as soon as I held the one we brought home, she put her paw up onto my shoulder. Like... reached out and touched me. Nothing Id ever seen from another cat, unless they were pawing you away... She stole my heart.

Shes gorgeous. As I was leaving, one of the guys at the shelter told me that "they say she may have some Savannah Cat in her..." So when I got home, I did some research. But as it turns out, she looks more like a Marble Bengal. Of course, Im no pro, but the nose, the paws, the way shes "all hands" the LOUD crying she did every 3 seconds on the dot, the WHOLE way home, until she could find a place to hide- all screams Bengal. Id like to get a second opinion though. So... here I am. I will try to add a photo.

She isn't SO energetic... as some say Bengals are. But I realize that with each come a different personality. I have NO idea how old she is. She is SO sweet natured. And loves for me to bend down to her, so she can jump on my back and ride around, laying on my shoulders. Of course shes a bit picky about this, she HAS to have her head to my right- she kind of curls around my neck, and is constantly "kneeding" with her paws on my shoulder. I LOVE IT. She also HAS to be touching me with both her front paws if shes in bed with me sleeping.

Ive noticed some things that are making me a little nervous though and I plan on making an appt with the Vet tomorrow morning (were military and have a Vet on base, but their only open on Wednesdays), and obviously I would have made this appt anyways, considering shes a new pet, and I need to get her checked out, but just in case the Dr isnt knowledgeable about Bengals- I thought id post here too.

Her nails, look horrid. Their pretty flaky, and although its been a little bit since Ive had a cat, I dont remember their nails looking like this anyways. Hers are kind of larger, like dog nails... thick. But again, flaky. Is this normal? or is there maybe a deficiency somewhere? Also, I noticed her teeth arent really on the white side... in fact, her fangs all have VERY dark spots on them, mostly towards their points. And... shes not eating much. This could be because shes still new to the household, but shes pretty fond of me already, and Ill sit with her to see if she'll eat (ive read some are so picky that they want to be watched while eating, etc) but still, nothing. She didnt eat anything the first day except 1 tiny piece of a treat. The 2nd day she maybe ate 6-7 pieces of her food that i bought (highest protein i could find in our town, gluten free). the 3rd day she ate almost the whole bowl (i wasnt watching her... i just, found her bowl empty). And today... nothing again. Is this "common"... or what could be wrong? Surely its not that she doesnt "like" the food... bc i had a miscellaneous cat food brand with some left in it (I hate to see cats go hungry, so yes, I feed the strays) and she wouldnt touch it. So... i dont know whats going on.

sorry for the horrible photo quality... shes not so fond of holding still for the camera. lol
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aw isn't she wonderful and a great story too.
Its great when they sit on your shoulders, although my boy has stopped doing it now because he's got too big!

I'm no expert but I'm not convinced she is a bengal, but she sounds great.
Get her to your vet when you can for her check up and make sure you take a list of everything you want to discuss with your vet otherwise like me you'll walk out and have forgotten something!

Hiya, welcome and congrats on your new arrival...Im sorry to say but Im fairly confident your cat is a tabby cat and not a Bengal - there is nothing about her that looks Bengal to me - the marbling you see is a tabby pattern.

Maybe ask the local feedstore where you got her from what they were feeding her on first. Its best not to change their diet too quickly and she may get bouts of diarrhea whilst adjusting to her new environment and diet. You can always change her diet later when she's more settled but you'll need to introduce the new food slowly.

I'm no expert either but she doesn't look like a bengal to me and your description of her behaviour sounds typical of any cat under the circumstances. Its great that she is so responsive to you already and she is very sweet looking.

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Lily

I would ask what the rescue shelter were feeding and whetehr she had much of an appetite there. It is normal for cats to be off their food for a day or two when being rehomed. You could cook her some chicken to see if that will entice her to eat, pop a chicken breast in some boiling water and simmer for 30-40 minutes. It is lovely and juicy/tender this way and the liquid smells/tastes of chicken so you can give her some of that as well.

With regards to her claws, it could be that she just hasn't had the chance to scratch at something. Cats do this to help shed the outer layers of their claws. A nice scratching post will help tremendously.

With regards to being a bengal, i'm afraid that she appears to be more tabby than bengal (like otehr have said). That said, she is still a cutie and we would love to hear more about her. Whilst it is not completely impossible for her to have some bengal heritage, it is impossible to tell for sure as there is no test to determine it. Just enjoy her for what she is and we would love to hear more about her so stick around. This is a useful place to learn about nutrition and health of any cat! Plus, we like seeing pictures

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Lollo

She's very sweet, but not a Bengal x

That sounds like a very sweet cat. Congrats on finding her, and it's nice that you went with an adult.

3 days with very little food. yikes! No, that needs to be remedied asap. You mention that her teeth don't look right, that could very well be the problem. One characteristic that I noticed when I had a cat with teeth problems was that they would have a bunch of enthusiasm while the food was being prepared, run over to the bowl, take a couple of bites, then very abruptly stop eating with a look like they were stung by a bee. Then walk away. After some days of this they start equating food with pain, and you have a big problem.

Also it sounds like you are feeding her dry food and dry treats. This is definitely not ideal from a nutrition standpoint, and also of course would be the toughest thing for a cat with teeth problems to eat. There are numerous threads in the nutrition section you can peruse where diet is discussed in depth. Long and short though, I would get her some varieties of canned food to try right away. Also, I don't follow your argument that surely she likes the "misc brand" food because it's an old bag that other cats had eaten in the past. Cats, just like people, have strong individual preferences with respect to food. And the longer a bag has been open, and the older it is, the less tasty it is to a cat.

Also, I think it's a pretty big concern to have a vet that is only open one day a week. When health problems occur, you often don't have the option of waiting a week to treat them, and when your cat does have an urgent need, it's certainly better when a vet that understands her history is able to treat her. I'd look for a different vet if that is possible.

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The little monsters 3

congrats on your new girl, I'm not experienced in identifying bengals from tabbies, but they do look very similar! I was amazed when I went to my first cat show and the number of tabbies I saw that I got excited about, thinking they were bengals, was astonishing! I didn't know they were tabbies until I saw the plates in front of their enclosures, but then again I'm not a cat expert - I had dogs before I had Tigger and Nala

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Hello,

She looks lovely but defiantly looks like a tabby to me. Bengals have different coats to other cats, they have a pelt so their markings are crystal clear (apart from the odd one which has a ticked coat).
Also, her eyes look different, bengals look like they are wearing thick eyeliner lol.

You have a lovely little tabby. She sounds like a character : )

Actually if you want to get technical a bengal IS a tabby (its categorized as such much like flowers of the same family are categorized in that family) To simply dismiss the animal as not being bengal is a little short sighted - plain and simple you have to do a DNA test to be sure; much like that girl claimed Justin Bieber was her baby daddy - tests have to be done to prove 'yes' or 'no' though common sense said 'no' - common sense is not scientific otherwise I'd be Einstein. Its still possible your baby is Bengal - I think its funny people want to dismiss things because it doesn't have proper breeding. Breeding throughout history with animals AND humans (think royalty) meant breeding with your family.....so IMHO breeding doesnt make anything more unique or better.

Okay. So the breeding doesn't matter. Well, then, you have what appears to be a cat.

I think she would certainly come closer to being a bengal than a savannah but there is now way to tell! She might have a grandfather that is a bengal or somewhere down the line she has bengal some where , you will never know! I honestly dont think she is a bengal or even half bengal. You have a beautiful cat that obviously stole your heart and thats what matters. She choose YOU, love her Bengal or not! I would take the advice of the breeders on here as they know what they are doing I dont breed yet I plan to but not yet I am still young and have a lot to learn my self, but like mentioned before I would listen to the expert breeders that are on the forum! Bengal or not congrats on your kitty and good job for saving a special life!

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