Folic Acid in Bengal Cats

Why Is Folic Acid Important to your Bengals development?
Folic acid a B vitamin and also called Folate, provides many benefits to Bengals, including increased oxygen levels, aiding in the production of oxygen, assisting in metabolizing fat, and helping to promote healthy growth and development. When your Bengal doesn't get enough folic acid in his or her diet, nutritional deficiencies can occur.

Just as in humans folic acid is essential to pregnant cats / queens and may help to reduce some health issues is kittens before they are born.

Sources of Folic Acid:
Folic acid / folate comes from kidney, liver, yeast, wheat, green veggies and grass and more. The vitamin is in a mothers milk and is a component in some but not all cat foods. Check the labels.

​The recommended daily dosage for cats of folic acid is 47 mg. Most cats receive sufficient folic acid in their daily diets.  Cats that spend a lot of time outdoors may receive some folic acid from grass, as folic acid is a main component in grass'.

The use of antibiotics may effect folic acid levels as these drugs kill the beneficial bacteria responsible for aiding in the production of folic acid in the body. In addition, cats that eat people food or treats, could experience a deficiency in folic acid.

Possible health issues:
A deficiency of folic acid can lead to anemia, additionally Folic acid is vital in the production of oxygen in the bloodstream. Folic acid also helps create hemoglobin, a protein important for oxygen transportation in the blood.
 
Visible Signs:
When a cat suffers from insufficient folic acid levels, the results are not always visible. A slower than normal growth rate is a telltale sign of folic acid deficiency. Although the deficiency can affect cats of all ages, growth and development issues are a problem primarily for younger cats / kittens. If your young cat's physical development seems to be slower than usual, take him or her to the veterinarian for a blood test.
 
Solutions:
Your veterinarian will be able to help you put together a nutritious, folic acid rich diet to get your cat back on track.

Who are we?

We are registered Bengals / Bengaltime Cattery, we are committed to breeding healthy, happy, well socialized companions. We specialize in brown rosetted, TICA Registered, purebred Bengal kittens.  We are Not veterinarians but we do spend all day every day with our Bengals, we read a lot and work hard to insure we are feeding a nutritious and balanced diet.

Our Bengal Queens eat cooked and raw meats, organs and ground bone from RAW paws as well as cooked / boiled organic chicken during pregnancy and nursing to give our kittens the best start possible. We offer dry kibble from Royal Canin at all times. (Royal Canin queen has folic acid added)
 
At approximately 3 to 6 weeks we assist our Bengal moms by offering  supplemental bottle feedings of raw goat milk and KMR to each kitten several times daily. 

We also provide probiotics and vitamins from Nu-Vet labs to our Bengal moms and kittens to get those little immune systems going.
 
When our kittens start weaning, we feed them a mixture of shredded cooked organic chicken,
chicken broth and Royal Canin "Baby Cat" dry and wet food.   
 
We leave dry food out for our growing kittens at all times and feed our wet food mixture three, four or more meals a day depending on the kitten’s appetite.

Andy & Lyubov
Registered Bengals / Bengaltime Cattery
Kalama, Washington

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