New Egyptian Mau and Bengal kittens

[Rosella moggy]

Reflexis a beautie and as Absolutely all Bengals are stunning, you are very lucky 

[Linda (Bengalbabe)]

Lovely kittens 

On the question of feeding dry only.  My kittens are reared on wet and dry food as well as chicken.  Being honest most of my bengals have not developed an appetite for dry food until they were older always preferring the wet.

I wouldnt starve him but feed him the wet meat he clearly loves.  I have some bengals who eat mainly dry now and others who eat mainly wet.  I dont personally see any difference in their health......the most important thing with your kitten is to feed a complete food he likes and will eat. 

The other thing we recommend when bringing a kitten home is to put him/her in a small room where they can have time to familiarise before introducing to the rest of the house.  This can help alleviate some of the stress the kitten will have in making the transition.

If you have any questions at all, happy to help.

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

Can I ask how old is Reflex?

3 months and 1 day.

He really is such a cutie. I love the ears! Wasn't sure if he'd grow into them of they'd grow with him.

[sunama]

Can I ask how old is Reflex?

3 months and 1 day.

[Gillian Harvey]

EDIT: one other thing - in the wild, felines would generally feed on meat only. Given this, why cant their domestic counterparts do the same? Why do they need vitamins etc, from their food? Surely meat is all they need? Would someone care to explain?

The answer is - they can! - well not just meat, but a balanced meat diet is exactly what cats need. Dry food is only a relatively new way of feeding cats and unfortunately is not a natural diet for a cat. I would only ever feed dry food as a treat - it doesnt clean teeth, in fact it can contribute to dental problems - so if your kitten prefers meat to dry, then perhaps try some of the high meat content wet/canned/pouch foods on the market.

Edit: - little Reflex is gorgeous by the way! 

[Mark]

None of mine have ever taken to RC but they love Science Plan.

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

Dry food is good for their teeth Unless you plan on brushing them. Course treats help with this as well.

Can I ask how old is Reflex?

Cats in the wild get various foods besides just the good meat, they probably eat bones of said animals, feathers, dirt, grass etc. Domesticated cats get man made food with hopefully is the best possible diet for them.

Leave a bit of dry down, you might be suprised. Mine tend to nibble this through the day.

[sunama]

Thanks for the advice/comments guys.

I heard that Royal Canin was fantastic, so thats what I tried him on yesterday and this morning - he had none.
So I then opened up a pack of Hills Science Plan, kitten, chicken flavour.
He wharfed that down pretty quickly, though not as enthusiastically as he did the real chicken.

He later went and drank some water for the first time, which was a relief.

I still want him to be as strong as possible, so obviously starving him into submission isnt ideal.

1 problem was that although he was eating dry food, he was still suckling his mother's milk, so yesterday he had his last drink of milk. Perhaps he misses the milk and is now in the processing of adapting to life without mum.

I have a sample pack of Hills wet food, for kittens - perhaps I should see how he likes that and if he does, then that could be his staple food. I'm just a little dubious of the dry food, as he isnt really taking to it. After playing with him with the cat toy, which really does push him hard, I want him to eat well.

I havent come up with a name for the Bengal yet, as I have yet to see his personality. One thing that struck me was that he was on the large side, so I was thinking something like Colossus. Though I would really need to see what he looks like now...remember that pic was taken when he was only 5 weeks old, so he has probably changed a lot now.

EDIT: one other thing - in the wild, felines would generally feed on meat only. Given this, why cant their domestic counterparts do the same? Why do they need vitamins etc, from their food? Surely meat is all they need? Would someone care to explain?

[Millys Mum]

Its really important that he eats well so feed him a wet kitten food that he likes or he will lose weight 
Wet food is best for him   

Hes very cute 

[Gail Bengal Slave]

You lucky devil.

Bengaly Bum is  - so is Reflex  xx. Any ideas on your Bengal's name.

[Maddiesmum]

They are both adorable

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

In a new place with new noises he may just need a bit of time to get used to things. Leaving the radio on will help, especially getting used to noise in general.

Mine freaked out because I came in the house by our back door one day, I’ve never done it before and you would have thought they didn’t know me!

Yeah mine go through the toys pretty quickly as well I’ve got a Burmese that’s never really learned how to gently play, she’s a force of nature really.

We do a dry food down all day, Hill’s Feline Adult Chicken (used to be kitten when Lirael was under 8 months) and wet food in the morning to snack on (which is whiskas whatever in jelly). None of mine are picky when it comes to food but if I don’t feed them a bit of wet in the morning they try and trip (or possibly kill) me by getting under foot. Sometimes you have to try different foods until you find something they like. If you do feed him just wet, make sure it is a complete wet food as some aren’t and don’t have the full vitamins etc that a growing kitty needs.

[sunama]

Thanks for the advice.

The kitten was only scared of the music for a few minutes, but got used to it quickly, once it realised that it was not a threat. In fact, I'm scared to put the music off now, fearing that he might start crying and yelping, in response. The real test will come if I crank up the volume to some dance tracks.

The hot water boil idea sounds good to me.

I have the fishing rod type of toys. One is already broken and I have 2 left. I think 1/week is likely, though I must learn to be more gentle. Because the kitten is so fast, its difficult to gentle.

Also, any advice regarding dry vs wet food will be appreciated. Right now, he only wants to eat wet food.

Thanks.

[Sabrina (Auferstehen)]

Congrats on your new kitten! Reflex is such a cutie.

All kittens/cats react different in a new home. If he’s afraid of music maybe if you sit in the room with him and read. This will get him used to your voice and yourself.

My poor foster kittens sat through 2 harry potter books and 3 terry pratchett books as well as the only radio station I could find (it’s an old radio). (you can also record your voice and play it back if you have the technology)

Another thing you may want to try is one of those hot water bottle things with the animal cover (there’s snugglesafe ones just for pets) to give him a friend until your Bengal arrives.

I got one for my older cat for winter and well, one of my younger cats adopted it.

Don’t know what kind of toy’s you’ve purchased but if you have the fishing rod type toys that’s a great way to bond without making them feel threatened.

[sunama]

Well, after much research I decided upon getting 2 kittens. An Egyptian Mau and a Bengal. Both male. Last night, the first kitten came home with me.

He is Egyptian Mau and has super fast reflexes (characteristic of this breed). I have thus called him Reflex.

Reflex loves the cat tree:





85% of his time is spent on/in it. He even slept in it. I bought a nice cat bed, which he totally ignored, choosing instead to make his bed in one of the dark covered area in the cat tree. This is Reflex, the Egyptian Mau:





What happened last night...

Got him home at around 2130hrs.
 
He was scared of me a little, however, he insists on following me around the house, even though he is stand off-ish. He is used to living in a HUGE cat family and he clearly misses his feline friends. Anyway, he only needs to hang on for a month when his Bengal playmate arrives. I think they will be ideally suited to eachother because, the Egyptian Mau is very athletic, while the Bengal is a dominating breed which harrasses fellow kittens/cats. Hence the Egyptian Mau will have the energy levels to deal with his younger Bengal friend.
 
It was a tough night last night. The kitten slept in spits and spurts, as he is still very scared. I slept in the lounge with him, as whenever I would leave the room, he screamed and made a racket.
 
He is still not eating much. He likes "real" chicken. Loves it in fact, but the breeder did tell me to give wet food only as treats. Once every other day. His dry food is the stuff that will make him grow up healthy, which he doesnt seem to like. If this situation doesnt improve in the next few days, I may have to starve him until he eats the dry food. We shall see.

He has not drank any water yet.

Litter tray activity - 100% spot on. No accidents.
 
One thing that Reflex did was very strange last night. I got him home and after about 3hrs (during which time he was making a lot of screaming noises), I switched on the music. He immediately got scared and ran out of the lounge and hid in the hallway. He eventually came back in, but this time was totally quiet. He seemed confused as to where the music was coming from and was looking in the direction of the speakers. He then got back onto the cat-tree and went to sleep.
 
Oh, and he loves his exercise. He runs and runs till he gets out of breath. He then waits 10secs to catch his breath, then starts again.

I'll take some more pics today, of his actually standing up, rather than the half-asleep pics, Ive posted above.

The 2nd kitten shall be a Bengal, arriving in 1 month. The pics below were of the Bengal when he was 5 weeks old, taken I visited him in Bournemouth: