Quality Bengal Kittens

One of the benefits of purchasing a pedigree pet is a known health history.  Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects one in seven domestic cats.  Pedigree cat breeders can reduce these odds IF they do their part.

What should pedigree breeders be doing to reduce the risk of HCM and other heart diseases?
They should be testing their breeding cats with an echocardiogram performed by a Board Certified Cardiologist every 12 to 18 months until the breeding cat is over the age of five years old, preferably until the cat is eight years old or older.

While the first test on a breeding cat is done at around one-year-old, heart testing needs to be repeated.  Many forms of heart disease, including HCM, are progressive. Cats may not exhibit the first signs of it until they are 4-6 years old, occasionally even later.  If a breeder is only testing their cats until they are four years old, they may never see the first signs of heart disease.  

What makes Quality Bengal Kittens different?
At Quality Bengal Kittens, we have been testing our cats' hearts since 2004. This does not mean we can guarantee none of our cats will develop heart disease, but we are reducing the likelihood of that happening.  Below you will find a list of cats in our breeding program that we have tested to over age five and a list of cats we have tested to over age 8.  How long we test a cat is typically dependent upon how many offspring the cat has contributed to the breeding population of Bengals. You can check your cat's pedigree to see how many of the cats listed below are in the pedigree.  We are working towards building pedigrees that have multiple generations of cats whose hearts were tested to older ages.  If a cat is not listed on this list, that does not mean it tested positive.  Cats not on this list may be: under five years old, retired without producing many kittens, or have parents who were tested to age eight or older. 

For a more detailed explanation of why it is important to get multiple tests to older ages, please read Why we HCM Test Our Cats for so Many Years.