Orphans

We were delighted recently when we got a phone call asking for assistance with a new litter of nine kittens born to mum Rosie, who had become very ill and could not manage herself. Ann Kendall, a much respected and knowledgeable breeder of Bengals, had quite a few litters to attend to and asked Dean and I if we could help.

Although we are relative new comers to the Bengals, we were pleased and honoured to be asked and to be able to help. We took on four of the little ones, 2 male and 2 female, which we subsequently set about hand rearing.

As anyone who has done this before knows, this is a huge commitment. Two hourly feeds, burping, poo-ing and wee-ing - all take time and patience. Making sure they have all the right vitamins and nutrients - and in real terms, there really is nothing like a mum’s milk.

Thankfully, our girl Magic had just had her brood of five kittens. Magic took the two girls into her litter and did all the dirty work for us. Magic managed to feed Rosa, and Felicity was hand-fed along with the boys but stayed in Magic’s care.

Here we are, three months later, and the beautiful survivors have gone home to the Kendall's - all except Shai, which we are delighted to tell you that Ann has very kindly allowed to stay with us as our stud boy for next year!