When it comes to the Bengal breed there are very HUGE reasons as to why we spay and neuter (or fix) prior to going home.
With our previous canine programs we were huge advocates for delaying early spay and neuters, but with our Bengal program we have had to make the needed adjustments to ensure that when our kittens go home they are already altered.
Being that Bengals are a hybrid from the Asian Leopard (ALC) their drive to attract mates is very strong. It’s a crazy mutation sort-to-speak that is generally not seen in most domestic breeds, but with Bengals their drive is very much like that seen in the wild. They are known to go into hard heats as early as 3-4 months of age. Regardless of your Bengals generation or how far they are from the ALC the drive to attract a mate is on the extreme.
**More Details coming soon!
Our current keeper girl for example: She was born August 5th had her first heat at the end of October and began spraying around that time. Our other Queen Jade is now 2, she had her 1st hard heat at 5 months. Males too are known to have reach sexual maturity and start to mark to attract mates by 4-6 months.
Some of our Kings even began using their bowel movements as ways of marking their cat wheels while they were still kittens. They did this as a way to keep the other Bengals off their wheels, cat trees-you name it.
Due to this, we alter all of our kittens prior to them leaving. This prevents these habits from forming or them going to our families homes and starting a behavior (one that is already strong and natural to them) that may not be fully reversed. Once a Bengal has begun marking it can be a very hard habit to break as it becomes more of a subconscious ritual for them more then anything. There are so many posts on FB groups of people sharing how their 4-9 months kitten is marking and the underlying cause is they were sold before being altered.
Once the habit forms, it can take up to 2 months to reverse and to allow the hormones leave the body. Post op though, many have to put their Bengal on Prozac to re-establish a good behavior and to cut off that habitual habit.
As an ethical breeder we would hate to put our families or our kittens through that type or trauma, especially if it was something we could prevent form happening let alone even forming. We want our kittens and our families to have to best lives possible and this ensures that you both will.
There are a lot of risks with surgeries too as Bengals can be allergic to some types of anesthesia so we do our best to take all the risks up front vs something go wrong and our families loose their fur-baby.
