Hi,

I'm new to this forum but read a lot of useful things and I'm hoping that you can help me with my concerns in regards to my six month old bengal girl Aura. I've been to the vet and she doesn't seem to know much about the breed.

Aura has the tendency to sniff, or actually snort up, all of the dust that is available for her to smell, leaving her nose with filled with dried-up black dust. She was sneezing a lot and the vet gave her some antibiotics. No she doesn't sneeze much anymore but still has these black pieces stuck to her nose. Is this a bad thing? Can I help her get rid of that?

She is now six months old and her coat is very spikey. At the breeders I saw that every cat had a smooth silky coat, and Aura still feels silky, but the spikes in her hair looks less smooth. I've tried the furminator and a rubber comb but that only seems to have made things worse. I'm also giving her some salmon oil and she does shine, but still spikey. Now I don't know if there is something wrong or not, she still plays, and is very active and affectionate. Could it be that her hairs are just too long or is there actually something wrong? The only advice from my vet was that I should just wait.

The last thing is her weight. She is now six months old and weighs 2,7 kilograms. Since I've been worried about her health I decided to weigh her more often. And now she weighs the same as she did 3 weeks ago. I read that kittens grow 100 grams per week but she hasn't been growing that fast. Is this normal? How can I get her to grow? She is not a food-obsessed cat. I leave her some food and she rarely finishes all of it. I've tried several kinds of food, especially Hill's. I've just bought Taste of the Wild, since that was the food she got at the breeders, hoping that this will trigger some hunger and growth.

These maybe very stupid questions but no one in my environment seems to know a lot about it and I can't let it go. I've grown so attached to her that these things worry me all the time.

I uploaded a picture of her coat. It's very dark but you can see the coat sticking out. And one where she is looking at me funny

I hope you can help me with my questions.

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The little monsters 3

I dont completely agree with the girls being smaller than the boys : My Mellika is nearly 7kg and pure muscle, the 2 boys the same age as her are 5kg and 6kg
My 2 new kittens are 4 months old now and Gracie weighs 2.2kg and Merlin 2.1 so 2.7 at six months does seem a bit light but as long as she is playful and healthy I wouldnt worry too much about weight - they are a bit like us humans - thin, fat, short, tall - LOL

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Bengal Beauties

my binx coat goes like this sometimes, and i put it down to he is fluffier than alot of other bengals, sorry i cant help more x

Weight wise she is perhaps a bit lighter than normal but not abnormally light.... she will have growth spurts and times when she stays the same.

Foodwise, Hills is poor food quality. I would get her on some wet food at least which is a high meat content. You may find she eats more and is hungrier for it. Dry food is not the best food for cats to eat on it's own. For weight gain on my cat i used Royal Canin 36 (kitten). Some will say that RC is not a great food but it worked with getting weight on my girl when i needed it. I still use it for her with a combination of raw food as well.

Coatwise... I have always believed that cats coats exhibit how they are health wise. I have also believed that a coat 'sparse' like that shows when they are not feeling so good. Now that can be just having an off day or two to actually being ill. It may be that she is feeling a little under the weather lately and that is why her weight gain has been nil of late. I would continue to monitor her, get her on some decent food and see how she is in a couple of weeks. Still concerned then i would ask the vet for an opinion.

How is her poo?? Firm or soft or runny??

Any sneezes etc...?

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Lollo

Thank you for all your replies!

The spikes are really visible when she's lying down in a ball. I also thought that the spikey coat would be a symptom that she is not feeling well, but is playful and active. I can't find anything that could be wrong with her? Except for the weight and the dust collection she keeps under her nose. I just hope that the hairs will smooth out when she's grown a bit more. She sneezes a lot less than before, but sometimes I hear something obstructing her breathing (like there's some flem stuck), but she has already had antibiotics for that and the vet has not given any alternative, asides from going to a specialist, anesthetize her and look on the inside (kind of a big deal of course).

She is also learning to do her business on the litter kwitter. Maybe that gives her extra stress? Because sometimes she meows a lot before she actually does it. After walking away five times. Again just grasping at straws.

Her poo was runny a couple of months back, the vet tested it and it was a bacterial imbalance or something, anyway it dissapeared on its own. Now it's firm but sometimes a little bit of slime on the end. The vet told me not to worry about it that much.

And thanks on the food advice. Is it okay if I do the Taste of the Wild dry food (I've just bought six kilo's) and give her the Royal Canin 36 wet daily? And can I just switch like that?

You need to do any food change gradually - Mix 75% old with 25% new for a few days then 50% and 50 % then 25% old and 75% new until eventually her tummy is used to the new food and she shouldnt get an upset tum.

Mine are on a mixture of Taste of the wild and Orijen dry and they do really well on it so I can recommend it.

Take care
Sheryl x

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Bengal Beauties

Sometimes a spikey coat like that means something as simple as needing to be wormed.

If you rule out all health issues and her coat still remains the same then it could be down to good old genetics. Some bengal cat lines do carry the long hair gene. Although not all the kittens will be born with long hair, the short haired kittens can have a slightly longer hair length which means it does not always lie nice and flat to the coat and down the spine lines can look to be standing up spiked.

You have been given some good advice here and of course it is important that you are satisfied with her health first and foremost as the coat condition is often one of the first signs that something is not quite right.

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www.supernova-bengals.co.uk

i don't want to scare you but if you can hear flem when she breaths, you might wanna get her get her checked for HCM? cause i think it can clog up the lungs?

Hello!

I'm new to the forum and as a bengal owner, so was just having a nose through to see if there were any answers to some of my questions and stumbled upon this thread. My Winston's fur is exactly the same; it wasn't when we picked him up from the breeder and the first two weeks while he settled into his new home, however this past week we have noticed that his fur is not as flush to his body and looks spikes. He doesn't appear to have any health issues; is eating well, running around like crazy and going to the toilet regularly with no problems. He's also drinking plenty and seems really happy. It could just be that he is still settling in (he is only 3 1/2 months old)? Also the food that we are feeding him is the same as the breeder (raw natural instincts and dry royal canin - which he doesn't actually eat so could be the issue but he also didn't eat it at the breeders house either...but that's another issue). Any suggestions? TIA

Well, when bengals go into the "fuzzy" stage, their hairs stick up. I've never had a bengal kitten, so I honestly don't know when they start or when they end. The pelt will eventually lay flat on the body.