Registered Bengal Cat Vet Visits

The first thing you should keep in mind is that Vets are a business.

Doctors are discouraged from giving expensive tests because they only get reimbursed for a small portion that the insurance company has worked out and they have to work at getting paid for their services.

Veterinarians, on the other hand, do not have to negotiate their pay from insurance companies and they don't have to work at getting paid, therefor they have the luxury of being in the business of encouraging every test, and appointment that they can. You should absolutely do your research and shop around to find the perfect balance between competitive prices and reputation.

A Cat-only vet is the best choice because there is a more specialized experience there.

Micro-Chipping

On the first visit to your vet with your new kitten most vets will check for a microchip.  Unless a buyer specifically requests it we micro-chip all of our Registered Bengal kittens The positive side to micro-chipping is should your kitten ever leave the house and be returned to a Vet or shelter, the Vet should will be able to find your contact information through the Microchip. Even if the kitten is stolen and eventually brought to a Vet, the Vet can find your information on the microchip and the unsuspecting person can be arrested for Grand theft (anything stolen $1,000+ is Grand theft)!  After you purchase your kitten you should call the Chip company that has your kittens micro number and make sure that it's active and in their system and update it to your name and address. The Registered Bengal breeder that you purchased your cat from should give you everything you need to transfer the information to your name and address.

Parasite testing
As part of routine care, most Vets opt to have a parasite test by having you bring in a fresh stool sample from the litter box which can be tested for worms, Giardia, and/or Coccidia. Unfortunately, these parasites are integrated in a Cat's life from the time that an ancestor ingested them from the wild and become passed throughout generations from mother to offspring while in the uterus or through breastmilk. Therefor it doesn't matter if your cats are indoor and come from a long line of indoor cats, all cats have the very likely possibility of harboring parasites. It is very difficult to stop this cycle although we at Registered Bengals work very hard to do so by utilizing an aggressive De-Worming Protocol. You should check with your vet on his or her de-worming protocol recommendations.

Usually, parasites stay dormant in egg form or held in check at low levels in a healthy cat and pose no significant health risk. Most of the time you won't even notice that a cat even harbors any parasites at all. However, during any time of stress certain stress hormones are released that parasites are very good at detecting. Upon detecting stress hormones, eggs are likely to hatch into adults and start to overwhelm the digestive system thus exacerbating the stress and continuing the downward spiral. Symptoms of parasites can include but not limited to excessive eating without growth or weight gain, a distended firm belly, diarrhea is the most common, and vomiting without actually upchucking any food.  The last symptom is part of the worm's life cycle caused when the worms have migrated themselves into the lungs and need to get back into the digestive track by causing the host to cough them up and be swallowed back into the stomach. Also sometimes cats will over-groom and cause them to become bare specifically on their belly area because of the uncomfortable feeling caused by parasites.

Anticipating when a cat will undergo stress and proactively de-worming them will significantly help in reducing a future issue with parasites. Weaning is when kittens transition from breastmilk to solid food and it can be very stressful. This is why we actively de-worm with multiple types of effective medications that target different parasites during the weaning time frame and again before they leave for their new home, which is yet another time they can become stressed when transitioning to a new home. Also, after any cat goes through a period of sickness it is wise to de-worm again. It is also recommended by many that indoor cats get de-wormed as part of regular maintenance annually while outdoor cats much more frequently.  

Regardless of our intensive De-Worming Protocol, it is not a bad idea to have periodic parasitic tests preformed. To save you a trip, in anticipation of this pretty routine test being preformed you should collect a piece of fresh cat poop within 24 hours of your Vet appointment as soon as it was pushed out and place it in a small snack size zip lock bag and store within a refrigerator. This test is most effective when the poop is less than 24 hours old and has been stored cold. Try not to forget it in the fridge either.

FIV/FeLV testing

Whether or not you choose to have this additional test done, you should know that there is no reason to suspect that your kitten would be positive for this. All Breeding Bengals at Registered Bengals have already been tested FIV/FeLV negative and there is Vet paperwork attesting to this that can be emailed to any Veterinarian facility for your kitten's records upon request. Furthermore, we make sure that every Breeding Bengal at Registered Bengals comes from a respected cattery that had all of their Breeding Bengals also tested negative. So, there are 2 generations of testing that have been done.

However, should you desire to have FIV/FeLV testing done on your kitten your Vet can perform this test in about 10 minutes.

Vaccinations

The most important thing you should know is that ALL feline vaccinations, with the exception of Rabies, is not required to be administered by a Vet or required to be given at all. They are completely optional. The only reason the Rabies vaccine is a prescription drug that is required to be administered by a Vet and based upon state laws is because it has a direct impact on human health. None of the other vaccinations impact human health. That being said, you need to draw a balance between the cost and benefit to vaccinations. You already know the benefit, which is mainly for cats that are mingled with other cat populations, but you also need to know the costs, and that's injection-site carcinomas.

Spaying/Neutering (Sterilization):

Unless you purchased your kitten as a breeder most breeders require that you have your kitten sterilized by 6 months the latest and have the vet paperwork of the procedure mailed to them for their records to comply with TICA's standards, as per your contract. However, we highly recommend doing this as early as possible, some Vets will do this by 4 months. You do not want your kitten anywhere near sexual maturation and some cats can mature before 6 months. Imagine what you were like all hormonally-charged during your puberty, and then imagine your kitten going through that! Most behavior problems are sexually driven!

Both intact males AND females after sexual maturation will become very vocal and start to holler and scream (known as "cauterwalling") at the top of their lungs day and night whether you're sleeping or not in hopes of attracting a mate. They will become restless and try to escape the house at every chance to get a mate. If your cat gets outside, they can be hit by a car, stolen, lost, or come back with diseases. They will start to spray urine everywhere in order to mark their territory and to signal their mating and health status. Any stray cats in the area, in response, may then start to spray urine on the outside of your house. The males can become aggressive with their testosterone surges. Heat cycles are extremely harsh on Bengal females. Just ONE heat cycle can decrease the over-all life-expectancy. When females go into heat their cervix dilates and if they're not mated to decrease the heat cycle then opportunistic bacteria can invade and cause a life-threatening deadly uterine infection known as Pyometria. If this all doesn't convince you than you should know that even if you sterilize after sexual maturation, not all of this sexually-induced behavior may go away. It may have become habit! So you don't want your kitten anywhere near sexual maturation before sterilization.

So what are the costs involved with sterilization?:

A lot of Vets have different requirements with sterilization and thus have widely different costs. It is wise to do some homework and shop around.  If your kitten's Rabies vaccine hasn't been done yet and it's law in your area, the Vet will likely require it at this time to proceed with sterilization. Some Vets require an Overnight stay or two for observation after surgery, which of course ups the price tag. Vets may require pre-surgery blood work or cardiac ultra-sound to determine if your kitten can withstand anesthesia, some Vets will supply post-op pain medication while others state that pain medication given during surgery is enough. Cautious Vets may give prophylactic antibiotics while most don't. I know of one poor kitten that got a nasty infection after surgery. Unfortunately, some Vets won't even offer a quote until you pay for an exam, stating that their quotes are based upon a case by case basis. Another major factor in cost is location, location. Don't be surprised if you can a higher cost in a "Posch" neighborhood than in the "boondocks." Even Walmart won't price-match a different Walmart because the exact same product is priced according to the location of the Walmart!

There are non-profit organizations that offer an all-inclusive (exam, bloodwork, nail trimming, vaccines, treatment, ect) deal for low cost.

For more information on Registered Bengal Kittens and cats visit us at registeredbengals.com

---