We Are Expecting!

Katniss is expecting a litter of kittens. Cats are pregnant from around 60-65 days on average and we think she has around 14 days to go before this litter of kittens is born. We have put her in a room of her own away from all the other cats and the noise of the rest of the house so that she can relax and have peace and quiet. We aren't sure how many to expect but we are making preperations for the big day to make sure she is as comfortable as she can be. 

 Our local vets have been informed and are on standby in case we need them but we all came to the decision that because of Katniss's nature it would be best not to stress her out further by taking her in to find out how many she is expecting etc and to let her carry on as she is unless she gets into difficulties and needs assistance. We can see she is doing well and looking really healthy and still moving about well even with her growing waistline. I can't imagine how much bigger she might get in the next 2 weeks.

We never really set out to breed any of our cats but knew there was a high possibility of it happening with them all being intact. We have all the relevant paper work but since the discovery of Katniss being pregnant we made the decision to have Heizi neutered and Celestia spayed last week. When Katniss has had her litter and all the kittens are weaned we will then have her spayed too. Misty is already spayed and has been since 5 months old. Its something we have debated long and hard about but to us we wouldnt be adding anything to the bengal breed by breeding from our cats and first and foremost they are our pets so this will be a one off litter.

Neutering and spaying cats not only helps to calm cats down but can prevent unwanted spraying in both males and females. Luckily for us we have never had this problem apart from when Katniss first arrived with us, due to stress, but it was short lived. Heizi was beginning to get a bit macho around the other cats but he's returned to his usual big softie self since having the operation. Spaying and neutering also prevents unwated litters and with so many cats without homes in general I am all for this one. It can also help prevent cancer in both male and female cats. It also means that the female cat won't go into heat which means no yowling! 

Unless you have a pedigree cat and intententionally plan to breed from them then its best to have your cat spayed or neutered for their sake and yours. Even though ours are pedigree cats we took the decision that breeding was just not for us.  

As for the litter we are expecting we are excited and already have homes lined up for how ever many there are in the litter. It will be hard to convince our children that we can't keep them all but maybe one . . . or . . . two!