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| Who are Norcastle Bengals? |
Five kittens suckling from their mother, Tessa (Click on any photo to display it in much more detail.) See photos of kittens we have bred on our Gallery page (more photos added 8th June 2004) or Search : | We (Shirley and Hugh) no longer breed cats. Please try our links page for other breeders. |
| Our guidelines on pricing Bengal Kittens
We tend to think of kittens and cats in four quality bands :
Show quality To us this means no significant faults. No full rib stripes, glitter to be seen easily, no lockets, short sleek coat, muscular with good strong bones. The cat should also show strong contrast between spots and background colour with a crisp spotting pattern. Breeding quality This means one major fault (e.g. a locket, whip tail or full rib stripes) or just a few much smaller faults BUT otherwise a nicer-looking cat than normal quality. This means that a prospective breeder would expect some kittens from this cat to show the appearance flaw, but where the flaw did not appear, those unflawed kittens would be show quality. If a cat is called breeding quality, this does not mean that you are entitled to breed pedigree kittens from it - see the description of Active and Non-Active status below. |
 Jasmine at one week old |
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Normal or Pet quality To us this means several show faults or more than one major fault. The cat might show glitter - but maybe only very slightly, if placed in just the right light. The markings may be indistinct, with less contrast between spots versus background coat and there may be little colour in the background coat. We would normally price Bengal kittens of this quality from £450, fully vaccinated and GCCF registered, sold non-Active. (Note : "fully vaccinated" - this does not include the Feline Leukaemia vaccine - we recommend that your Bengal kitten should receive the Feline Leukaemia vaccine, but it should not be given too early.) Grey ticked These cats are less attractive than black and gold cats and rarely show any glitter. They are still a real pleasure to own but should be less expensive than normal quality kittens. Paying for your kitten We have heard more than one story of decent Bengal cat breeders not being paid for kittens where part of the payment was agreed to be made later. Due to this, we regret that we cannot let a kitten go until payment in full has been made and (unless cash) cleared. We are sorry about this but hope you will understand. |  Asian Leopard Cat (Basil) |
Jasmine at 12weeks old |
What do Active and Non-active mean?
The normal price you will be quoted by a breeder will be for a Being sold "non-active" does not necessarily mean that your kitten is less than Breeding quality - it may just mean that you are being sold the kitten at little more than a Pet quality price even though your kitten is good enough to breed. If you may want to breed from your kitten later Ask your breeder whether they would take a fee to lift the endorsement on your kittens registration later on ( "turn the kitten Active" ). If not, your kitten may have genes they want to keep control of themselves or they may be unhappy about some genetic aspect of your kitten even though your kitten is perfectly healthy. If they will lift the endorsement, ask your breeder roughly how much they would charge to do this - the price will usually be very similar to the difference between the Active and Non-Active prices for your kitten. Only your kittens breeder can remove the endorsement. They might allow you to pay a slightly lesser fee for a male cat if he is to be used only for your own queens. However, the registration papers will not show this restriction so you are asking your breeder to trust your promise on this - some will just offer full Active status. Ask your breeder about this before you buy if it is important to you. The GCCF Code of Ethics for cat breeders and owners is worth reading, as is their advice on buying a pedigree kitten. If you buy your kitten "Active" i.e. without the "Progeny not to be registered" endorsement on the registration, so that you are able (if all goes well) to sell pedigree, Now why not go to our Home Page for the basics about Bengal Cats or browse the buying advice on our Choosing your Kitten page or see if we have any kittens for sale on our for sale page. To find breeders elsewhere or helpful books about Bengal cats, try our Bengal Links page. See photos of kittens we have bred on our Gallery page. |
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