Tales and Tails: Monthly Cat Stories Shared by Cat Lovers

This month - Dreamstone Bengals

A Small introduction of Dreamstone Bengals
Bengals are a remarkable breed! The creation of the Bengal cat breed was founded by Jean Mills in America. Jean had a vision of crossing a wild Asian leopard cat with a domestic cat, to create this new hybrid. Bengals have a striking beauty resembling a wild Asian leopard, their fur is like silk, covered in glitter and are a larger cat breed. Our boys range from 7-8.6kg!

We were fascinated by this new stunning cat creation and quickly knew we wanted to help develop the Bengal breed. Dreamstone Bengals was established in 2004.

We pride ourselves on importing the best bloodlines from around the globe to create our exceptional kittens. Our kittens are raised in a family home, where we have three age-appropriate rooms, each room specifically designed and adapted to cater for the growing needs of our kittens. RHR cat trees are an important element to our kitten rooms, making sure the kittens have opportunity to climb, play and burn off their Bengal energy. Bengals need to be mentally stimulated and require lots of interactive stimuli to keep them happy. It is very important Bengal kittens are well socialised from an early age due to their wild ancestor’s nocturnal instincts.

What does the life of a breeder look like
Life being a Bengal Breeder is extremely hard work as it means being dedicated to early mornings and late nights, 365 days a year. With breeding brings anxiety and anticipation waiting for the babies to arrive safely. We also have to focus on the mothers wellbeing as well as the kittens, to make sure mum is happy, content and feeding. There are lots of difficulties that can be experienced after the birthing process, for example, kittens are weighed daily to make sure they are thriving and properly feeding to get the nutrition they need to grow healthy, if not we will intervene. Sometimes this requires hand feeding a kitten/s every 2 hours throughout day and night.

Although breeding is a stressful job, it is balanced with the joy of raising kittens from birth to 13 weeks old, when they are ready to leave us. Watching them reach milestones such as starting to be weaned, watching the slow-motion play fighting around 4-5 weeks old, to their little personalities developing and confidence building. We capture their growth and development weekly on videos and photographs, which are shared with families so they have the pleasure of watching their new kitten grow until home time.

What kind of cat is a bengal
Bengals are known for their striking beauty and breathtaking, wild aesthetics, magnificent character, and high intelligence. A typical Bengal has a mischievous personality, that is intrigued by everything! They are not your typical lap cat because of their high energy levels but they certainly love a cuddle when they are ready to relax. Families do ask us, ‘How did you create a lap cat?’ as Dreamstone babies have the balance of a fun personality and loving nature because of the playtime and love received from our three children.

Bengals make the perfect fur friends with most other animals. Our Bengal cats and kittens adore playtime with our cocker spaniel and two Rhodesian ridgebacks. This helps kittens build confidence around dogs, and is particularly important for kittens joining a family with a dog. Bengals are certainly the ‘Boss’ of the dogs!

Bengals are very trainable; and have dog like traits, such as playing fetch and walking on a leash. Some of our kittens have even been trained to use the toilet! They just haven’t learnt to flush yet! We start leash training from 10 weeks old. This gives families the opportunity to continue the training and take their kittens on adventures, to explore beaches, woodlands and much more. Some of our kittens/cats even go on holiday
with their families!

What character traits does a bengal have?

We get to meet wonderful families and some of our Dreamstone kittens are privileged to join high profile families, jet setting across the globe on private planes to their new homes. The latest high profile family includes Jos Verstappen. Jos and family now have three Dreamstone babies.