Breeding Cats

Our Breeding Cats are part of our family. We are very selective when we choose them because they have a huge impact on how the Bengal kitten you select develops physically and socially. The first thing that we look at when we select breeding cats is genetic health and the health of the cats in their pedigree. While there is no way to breed out all genetic diseases we strive to make sure that our breeding cats are as healthy as they can be. All of our breeding cats are tested through a company called Wisdom Panel.  

Wisdom Panel screens each cat for 40+ genetic conditions. It also breaks down the cats genetic DNA so that we know what each cat carries color-wise, this way we can predict what color kittens we may have available each litter.  

Another health test that we perform annually is a Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) screening at a cardiologists. When a cat has HCM the muscle walls of their heart thicken over the span of their life. This causes the heart to have to work a lot harder to pump blood throughout the body and can cause a lot of complications with a cat’s health, lifespan, and quality of life. Unfortunately, unless there is an extreme case, this condition usually crops up later in life sometimes as late as 8 years old.

By screening annually the cardiologist can sometimes detect changes earlier however, so it is a very important heart ultrasound to have done regularly. A lot of breeders neglect to do this test because it is often hard to find a cardiologist in their location with availability and it can be an extremely expensive test, sometimes costing up to $1000. We believe here at Buckaroo Bengals, that is an important one, so we will always have HCM results for each of our breeding cats either annually or biannually depending on testing availability.  

The next item that we look at when we select our breeding cats is personality. It does no good to breed gorgeous Bengals, if they aren’t family friendly! We screen the parents of our breeding cats to make sure they are friendly and will most likely pass that trait on to their offspring.

We also try to raise our breeding cats from kittens. While it would be easier and cheaper to buy breeding cats older as a lot of breeders do, we want our breeding cats to trust us completely so that their kittens can learn trust of humans from them. A lot of People don’t realize what a big part the parent cats play in the kittens learning experiences.

If a kitten sees it’s Mom striking out at a human, they are going to learn from that experience. Therefore making sure that Mama cat trusts us goes a long way towards creating a wonderful, friendly Bengal kitten to enter into your home! In my time as a Bengal Cat Breeder, I have seen personality traits passed down from the Queen who is continuously with them, as well as their Dad who is around them far less frequently.

Ultimately Bengal Cats should have energetic, friendly, and outgoing personalities. They should be very people oriented and very mischievous. It is our goal to choose adult Bengals who will impart these personality traits to their Bengal kittens.  Finally, the characteristic that draws people to the Bengal breed in the first place: physical beauty. Bengals are known for their wild cat features so it is important to focus on them! Some of these include large round eyes, small heads and ears,  defined whisker pads, a horizontal flow of spots or rosettes, and a shorter tail. 

There are so many features that come from the Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) that it would be impossible to breed for every one specifically. We aim to focus on the overall structure of the Bengal Cat! We want the body to be lean and muscular, longer back legs than the front legs, smaller heads, and large round eyes. We are also looking to expand the colors that we produce as we love to have a rainbow of Bengal kittens to play with! Ultimately, we want you to be able to see that your kitten has wild bloodlines.