The first Bengal cat we were lucky enough to get for free. He was a returned kitten (6 mos).
The name that was given to this gem was Simba (yecch), we renamed him Cinnabar. He was a wonderful cat. He taught our dog that “Cats rule & Dogs drool”.
He loved the warm dryer full of clothes.
Lying around the coffee table in his box,
Eating snow. When snow was out of season, he drank water that was poured from the water cooler.
“What’s that saying, “There is no such thing as a FREE LUNCH”.
We had Cinnabar for about 6 months, when I noticed that there was something wrong with him. There had been no initial vet visit, when we got him, because the “breeder” had said that he was a returned cat. The previous owner had claimed that she was spending a fortune on vet bills, and the cat was just not acting right. The breeder advised us not to take the cat into the vet until his next shots were due. We thought he acted just fine, after the initial, “I’m in a new home, and I’m scared” phase had passsed. He came when he was called. He ate well. He even did gymnastics on one of our kitchen chairs. Cinnabar was a joy.
At 6 months he was not as active, and I scheduled a visit to the vet. We found out that he had Feline Leukemia. Because Bengals are bred from ‘Asian Wildcats’, they cannot be given innoculations with live virus vaccine, because they will get what they are being innoculated against. They definitely cannot be given Feline Leukemia vaccine, because they will get it. He was so sick his hemoglobin was down to 10%. With a score like that an ordinary cat would be dead.
The prognosis was that in his best interest, he had to be euthanized. The vet said it should be done right away, but I asked that we schedule it for the upcoming Sunday, so my husband could be there too. It was heartbreaking to lose such a beautiful cat, but in the end I would rather have had him for the time we were given, than have not known him at all.
This resulted in some other acquisitions, one super vet, and 4 more cats.
Stay tuned for Illusions. The breeder nicknamed him Louie (yecch) or as we call him, MICA.
GranmaLadybug 