hi Elaine

2. hobby breeders, sell registered kittens mostly as pets, have a set price, often do not have a stud of their own and often used the same stud service again and again, make absolutely no contribution to the breed

I have always classed myself as a hobby breeder, simply because:
1. Breeding bengals is not my main occupation.
2. I do not profit from it (apart from filling my life with bengals i love)
3 We rear small amounts of kittens.

But on the other side of that coin.
All the studs/queens we have owned over the years have been handpicked by us to try and move us closer to our aims.
We are influenced by trends in the bengal lines, but i am driven by our vision of what a bengal should be.
i have for many years been working with lines the have been cast aside by breeders because there not in trend and I`ve found many gems in those lines.
It almost makes me laugh that people are so dazzled by rosettes that the cats could have a hooked tail or turned eye or some genetic problem they are totally blind too.
At the moment i have two sets of kittens the first fabulously rosetted kittens with a very wild look that are in trend.
The second litter i have one solitary girl among the boys that holds for me that next step in my journey on the path we have chosen.

"When all sheep follow the herdsman they share the same fate"

it may that be our cattery`s impact is very small on the bengal world, but like a small pebble thrown in pond will create waves.
i have upmost respect for all breeders weather large or small as long as the animals welfare comes first.
Am i a hobby breeder? i dont know
The question is does it matter?

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Regards
Alec

http://junglefxbengals.webs.com

not a long time ago my friend (after she was admiring my Pedegree cats) desided to contact a Back yard breeder...
that drives me nuts! this Back yard breeder never register kittens so that you cant find out any past generation! But she has beautiful facebook and all seams to look so cool, I was astonished.
She goes even father, she lent her pregnant queens to different people in exchange of 800 dollars (she lent a queen and gets money, probably she has no place to keep all her queens), and then taking all litter (no metter how much kittens) by giving 1 000 dollars to the people that keeping her female. No registered, not sterelised, not vacsinated kittens Back yard breeder selling aroundt 1 500 dollars. Same queen making babies 2 times a year, full time job for a poor... and "breeder" has very large number of females, placed around.

I would like to know wheather it does exist any Black list for this kind of "breeders"?

I know a breeder that sales top quality bengals, quite frankly I have yet to find another breeder(in the states) that compare to her program! If I get another Bengal it WILL be from her! She has the best looking kittens I have seen EVER! With that being said, she does not vaccinate and this decision came from her experience with kittens vaccines! So does that make her a BYB? Does it make her unethical? I don't think so, I don't believe in vaccines either! The only one I give my cats and dogs is the rabies! Don't get me wrong I vaccinated BB when she was a kitten and Jasper was tested and vaccinated before coming to us, but I don't do annual vaccines and my vet doesn't recommend it either! So who is to say that "cutting corners" is not the right thing in some cases? Is not vaccinating cutting corners? Even if you truly believe you have healthier kittens? Like I said( and please don't give me too much hell) but I will get my next kitten from her and plan to fly there to get him! Even tho she doesn't vaccinate! I know this breeder has the best intensions and she is HUGE in the charcoal world! Putting together groups and making strides in the direction of testing and genetics so I know she has what is best in mind and at heart!

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Lollo

Oh wow I would never not give initial vaccinations - even breeders (of dogs) I know who naturally raise their puppies give initial vaccinations

I vaccinate my cats yearly - it pains me to do so, but its for showing. The manufacturers themselves don't recommend yearly vaccinations, some like cat flu are, others like Panleuk I believe is recommended 3 yearly which I guess is better for those not happy annually vaccinating. But not to give initial ones is just plain wrong.

What if she would vaccinate upon my request? I REALLY want one of her cats or one from Silver Storm bengals, but I can not afford to have a cat shipped from the UK!!! I am having a REALLY hard time finding a breeder that meets my criteria and of course that is screening for HCM and PK def, also one that breeds QUALITY silvers! I really want to show in the future! I have found one other breeder that does scan and vaccinate but they don't have the "type" of silver I am looking for! I know call me crazy but I am not looking for the two tone rosette but rather a big inky jet black spotted! That's not to easy to come by! She produces mostly charcoals and from my understanding the inky spots come along with the charcoal lines? Am I correct or am I looking in the wrong place? I know as long as I have been a member on the forum I should know how to find what I am looking for, but I can honestly say for every 200 bengals I have seen there has been maybe two or three that are what I am looking for! The market is soooooo saturated by less than breed standard that I can't find anything! Honestly that's why I have already started looking is to find a breeder that I can trust will have quality kittens! Another thing I am running into is that the breeders that do have good quality are selling as "breeder only", which I some what understand that but I don't want to breed I just want a pretty cat that represents bengals to the breed standard! I have also looked at another marble, but again the breeder I have looked at sales her top quality kittens as breeders only! That's frustrating!!!!

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I recently fell in love with the Bengal breed and started doing my research to find a kitten to buy. Using the internet I found a lot of breeders, as you would, but the one thing I felt more and more uncomfortable with was how many had 3-5 year old cats looking for a "retirement home". I thought the point of having any pet was to give it a life long, loving home? No offence, but looking for a "retirement home" for a cat gave me the impression that the breeder had "earned $$ the maximum" and now it was time to shift the poor cat on as it could not produce high quality kittens. I am not saying all breeders do it but in my research I found the vast majority are which put me off buying from a breeder.

Anyway, I felt a bit sad for the cats so did some local research off-line at some cat pet shops I know and asked around. I found a 5 month old kitten who was bred by a lady who has 4 cats, all of various ages and breeds. She has a 2 year old female which she decided to try breed once with a male she had found from a local forum. Both female and male are registered pedigrees and I was able to see the mother with all papers for both parents. The lady who owned the cat told me that she wanted to breed her cat just once because she thought both her cat and the male had beautiful marking. Anyway, I really loved this lady's view and that this was not just an earning opportunity but for the love of the breed and the welfare of her cat. I bought the kitten from her and she even met me at the Veterinary practice that had cared for the kitten and introduced me to the vet.

Be it a breeder or a "hobby" breeder I do think its important to find out how ethical and genuine the person is about the breed and long-term welfare of their cats. Just my thoughts.

P.s. Out of interest, the cat has now been neutered.

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Lollo

lollo, that's really interesting reading what you said about retired studs/queens. I've always wondered why I see so many ads for them and it all makes sense now.

I've thought about taking an ex-breeding stud/queen but worry if they would be socialised enough? I know some breeders keep their cats in their house but others keep them outside in pens.

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Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie

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Lollo

Sorry, distracted somewhat.

Retired breeding cats are often very sociable but it does depend on how they were kept as breeders, so do your research.

I believe Elaine posted about several breeding cats looking for new homes in ?Kent? The breeder is lovely but is retiring from the breeding world so looking for lots of new homes for her girls. Only fair they get to live in the lap of luxury after they have produced some lovely kittens for people.

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Lollo