Hi all! We adopted a female bengal Winnie about 5 months ago now and we love her, she was already pregnant when we took her as the family was moving and unable to take care of her during her pregnancy due to the move. Their male bengal was the daddy and she had 4 beautiful kittens! Now they need to part with their male bengal and we are more than happy to take him in. We were wondering whats the best way to help ease him into our home? We have Winnie and 2 of her kittens who are now 18 weeks old ( one is be rehomed this week to her loving new home, and the other we are keeping ) Winnie is in heat and we don't want our male to jump her right when he walks in the door haha.
Any suggestions to make the move in easy and stress free for all 4 of the cats?
Thanks so much!!

I have to question why the family who is/has moving/moved are giving all their breeding stock to you, as it very irresponsible (being very polite here!) They sound like BYB and to be honest you are either very naive or you are going to continue BY breeding.

if you are not going to be a BYB then he needs to be neutered first and Winnie needs to be spayed asap if you are going to take him.

Winnie does not need a male, especially if you are keeping one of her kittens.

I am guessing that you have kept a girl?


Heather

Spay/neuter these cats. all of them.
You should not be allowing them to breed if you have no record of previous medical screening and are not screening parents and registering kittens ect yourself as a legitimate breeder should.
That is backyard breeding and its unethical.

(you mention nothing at all about previous medical records being given to you, or you obtaining new up to date medical screening and health checks ect)

We see the stories of heartbreak and ill/dead kittens on this forum from people who unfortunately purchased from backyard breeders that allow unscreened cats to breed and produce.

It sounds like you have a lovely crew of pet cats .. please let them be pets and not ''working animals'' being bred for no good reason.
I suggest this (should be ex-) stud will prolly be happier in a forever home of his own (and neutered) and he should have no problem finding one either, if advertised.

Also, Kittens raised living on top of and constantly around (all together in a person's house) entire/intact parents pick up spraying and territorial behaviours that are not desirable in pets.

I would be very cautiouswith this situation. I have taken in an ex stud almost a year ago and it was an extremely hard and stressful time for everyone involved and both of my cats are neutered. Even with that I still faced spraying issues!!!!! IMO you are extremely lucky that your intact female doesnt spray. If you do choose to add this male I can see a ton of behavior issues in the near future, not only withthe adults but kittens as well. Tread lightly!!!!!

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Yea, this situation seems really odd to me. From what I've read, breeders need to keep their intact females and males apart. As in different rooms or different buildings, and even then they indure a lot of difficult behaviors. And even after they have been "retired" and are fixed, those cats can be challenging to own, and are typically not sent out in pairs to their new homes. So in your post you aren't really clear about your intentions with these two. Also, the story about the family giving up first their pregnant female, and then months later their male, also seems really wrong. If they were able to keep the male, why didn't they keep the female? Why would they get rid of a pregnant female? Shouldn't that have been their priority? And if they moved and were able to accommodate the male, why did they change their mind? Also you referred to them not as a breeder but as a "family", which is suggestive of the types of things that other forum members have picked up on.

The whole thing just reeks of irresponsibility, and it's difficult to understand what is actually going on here.

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The little monsters 3

Hi everyone,

Thanks to all who gave helpful advice. We absolutely adore our girls at home and since weve never been in a situation where we would be bringing in a male ( my parents have all male cats at home and we have all female at home) this is something new and that's why we are asking for advice. I think the unethical thing to do is just do it blindly and not ask the questions first.
Here is a bit more background for all that have asked:

We moved into a huge 6 bedroom 6000 sqft home in hopes of eventually having more children down the road ( we have a 5 year old at home and she is so good with animals ) So we have tons of space for our cats to run around and play. We always wanted a bengal so when we found Winnie who needed a home we didn't hesitate to go meet her and we fell in love. We didn't find out she was pregnant until we got there. Regardless the intentions of the previous owners, all we knew was that she was bought to breed with their male ( so they already had the male and then the male got injured so they were dealing with that and found out they needed to move so they didn't want to keep the female while she was still getting used to them ) Their male mating with Winnie the day she arrived, but they didn't know until she was already up for sale, and her nipples started to get pink and show. We Took her in, took care of her through her pregnancy and was on standby during her birthing ( although she did amazing and didnt need any help ) we have taken care of all 5 and read up on how to take care of them, what to look for, how and when to rehome etc. All kittens were perfectly healthy and had homes found by the time they were born. 2 of the kittens were rehomed approx. at 15 weeks old and the 3rd is 18 weeks now and will be going to her home on christmas eve. They are all with people we know and are well cared for and are doing very well!

Now that the daddy cat is needing a home ( and again, regardless of what is happening with previous owners ) we are a great home for our loved ones, that have lots of space, get fed amazing food, well played with and are getting taken care of. We didn't even think there would be a problem bringing the male in since they were fine when they lived together previously.
We just want all our pets to be loved and feel comfortable which is why we are doing are research on the best way to do this.

All positive and helpful comments and suggestions are welcome!
Thanks so much

The first thing you need to do is get your girls spayed as soon as possible.

How did the male get injured? Has he fully recovered now?

Males are still fertile for a while after neutering and he needs to be done before you let him in your house. It would probably be better if he found a different home as an only cat, but I am sure you don't want to hear that.

The previous owners have been appallingly irresponsible, but you seem to realise that.

Please keep asking the questions!


Heather

I agree, fix these kitties and enjoy them as pets.

The first question I have is are you interested in breeding? If so, there is a lot of homework you need to do regarding HCM and a few other conditions that plague the breed before you make that decision. Cats that you don't have any medical history or possibly paperwork on is not the way to start that anyway.

If you are trying to do a kind thing by taking in the boy both need to be neutered/spayed before he enters your home.

It sounds like you have the space and desire to keep these cats and give them loving, happy lives. I am sure you don't want your home smelling of cat spray (intact males spray and it is powerful) and females in heat howl constantly...perhaps not the vision of a happy kitty family you are looking for. If that is something you are interested in, don't start with these two cats of questionable background. While the people you are getting them from may be fine people, I am not sure they are giving you all the information you need and beside that, they got these cats from somewhere else, so more uncertainty there.