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Re: Anyone for Marble Cake?
Hi Binxy!
I usually determine whether our Bengals are likely to have a good enough coat for showing in the first few weeks. The ones that look great are held 'under evaluation' as potential show/breeders.
At around three weeks their coat becomes fuzzed over with guard hairs, so you have to trust your original judgement with their coat. At that time too their ears will pop up, their eyes have opened and their features start to develop. It's not until eight or nine weeks that you can see whether you were right to consider them breeding/showing 'material'.
I have one cat here that was gorgeous as a kitten, but is now on the small side. She will be held back for another couple of weeks to see if she catches up with the others in size. Some just are smaller than the others. Breeding/showing cats have to be good solid examples of the breed, so that one will go out as a pet if she stays petite.
With Marble Cake I have another reason to hold her back - her mum has a terribly sensitive stomach and I wanted to make sure it's not hereditary. Mum is going to be spayed and sent to a pet home with understanding of her strict dietary needs. Cake can't be bred from if she has inherited something from mum - the line needs to be nipped in the bud (mum was bred from before we realised the extent of her problem).
Unfortunately Cake might be going the same way as her mum. She's not long been weaned but looks already to have a sensitive stomach. We really have to give her time to recover from worming and be properly weaned before we can make a decision about whether she is to stay here or whether she too goes to a pet home with understanding of her dietary needs.
Bet you weren't expecting an answer that long!
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