I was first introduced to cat shows in the summer of 2013 by my friends Nick Chapman and Melanie Sweby, who at the time showed some stunning bengals and this is where my love of Bengals was born.
In September 2013, I met a very influential woman in my life, Sandra Humphrey. She introduced me to her cat Dino on the show bench when I was stewarding for one of the judges and I fell in love instantly. She told me she had a girl, Dino's half sister, available and I reserved her there and then.
In December 2013 I collected my first two neuters from Sandra naming them Bella (Kamrita Tricksy Bellatrix Lestrange) and Percy (Kamrita Albus Percival Dumbledore) taking them to their first ever cat show a week later!
In June 2014 I then decided to take the plunge and start breeding these beautiful cats, buying my future queen Fleur (Kamrita Elsa Fleur Delacour) in August 2014. Then, the final piece of my breeding family came to me in March 2015, my beautiful stud boy Robin (Kamrita Skimbleshanks).
I registered my prefix with FIFe in June 2015, becoming the official and proud owner of "Benagic Bengals".
In 2015 through knowing Sandra, I was lucky to also meet Tracy Baker. She breeds Burmese and Bengals and it has been fascinating seeing her early generation Bengals and learning from her. I also got to meet my partner Paul Baker, who is her son, who is now the love of my life and helps where he can with my cats (even though they aren't his thing). We got married in December 2017 and had our first child in May 2018.
After seeing the hard work and love that both Sandra and Tracy put into their breeding programs, I was really pleased that they both offered to mentor and help me along the way if I ever needed them and finally, on the morning of the 5th October 2015, with their help and advice, I helped my queen Fleur deliver her first litter!
Fleur then went on to have another litter on the 8th April 2016, after which I decided to give her, and her boyfriend Robin a good break. After placing him on the supre loren chip (which has worked wonders) I made the decision to neuter him once he had reached his Supreme Champion title. At his last certificate, his judge Sabine Mosch said she was amazed about his fantastic temperament, and that I should be very proud of this boy. These comments meant more to me than his actual title.
I am very proud to say that I am one of two owners of Team GB Category III cats who have been nominated at the World Cat Shows in recent years. Kamrita Albus Percival Dumbledore was nominated in 2014 by Gianfranco Mantovani and Kamrita Elsa Fleur Delacour was nominated in 2016 by Alexey Schuchkin.
Fear not - although I will no longer have a stud boy, I am going into partnership with Tracy Baker of Pantherajedi Bengals and looking at our lines, hope to pair Fleur up with one of her stud boys in the near future.
We are also looking forward to a partnership with OneWorld Bengals owned by Miia Grasten and Kevin Prahl in 2018! We hope to send one of our future kittens to add to their cattery and have one of their breedng in return to improve and develop our lines! Development, growth and new lines are very important to both mine and Tracy's lines, and we hope that pairing with Miia and Kevin we can bring some new blood into the UK and in turn send some British blood over to Sweden!
In September 2013, I met a very influential woman in my life, Sandra Humphrey. She introduced me to her cat Dino on the show bench when I was stewarding for one of the judges and I fell in love instantly. She told me she had a girl, Dino's half sister, available and I reserved her there and then.
In December 2013 I collected my first two neuters from Sandra naming them Bella (Kamrita Tricksy Bellatrix Lestrange) and Percy (Kamrita Albus Percival Dumbledore) taking them to their first ever cat show a week later!
In June 2014 I then decided to take the plunge and start breeding these beautiful cats, buying my future queen Fleur (Kamrita Elsa Fleur Delacour) in August 2014. Then, the final piece of my breeding family came to me in March 2015, my beautiful stud boy Robin (Kamrita Skimbleshanks).
I registered my prefix with FIFe in June 2015, becoming the official and proud owner of "Benagic Bengals".
In 2015 through knowing Sandra, I was lucky to also meet Tracy Baker. She breeds Burmese and Bengals and it has been fascinating seeing her early generation Bengals and learning from her. I also got to meet my partner Paul Baker, who is her son, who is now the love of my life and helps where he can with my cats (even though they aren't his thing). We got married in December 2017 and had our first child in May 2018.
After seeing the hard work and love that both Sandra and Tracy put into their breeding programs, I was really pleased that they both offered to mentor and help me along the way if I ever needed them and finally, on the morning of the 5th October 2015, with their help and advice, I helped my queen Fleur deliver her first litter!
Fleur then went on to have another litter on the 8th April 2016, after which I decided to give her, and her boyfriend Robin a good break. After placing him on the supre loren chip (which has worked wonders) I made the decision to neuter him once he had reached his Supreme Champion title. At his last certificate, his judge Sabine Mosch said she was amazed about his fantastic temperament, and that I should be very proud of this boy. These comments meant more to me than his actual title.
I am very proud to say that I am one of two owners of Team GB Category III cats who have been nominated at the World Cat Shows in recent years. Kamrita Albus Percival Dumbledore was nominated in 2014 by Gianfranco Mantovani and Kamrita Elsa Fleur Delacour was nominated in 2016 by Alexey Schuchkin.
Fear not - although I will no longer have a stud boy, I am going into partnership with Tracy Baker of Pantherajedi Bengals and looking at our lines, hope to pair Fleur up with one of her stud boys in the near future.
We are also looking forward to a partnership with OneWorld Bengals owned by Miia Grasten and Kevin Prahl in 2018! We hope to send one of our future kittens to add to their cattery and have one of their breedng in return to improve and develop our lines! Development, growth and new lines are very important to both mine and Tracy's lines, and we hope that pairing with Miia and Kevin we can bring some new blood into the UK and in turn send some British blood over to Sweden!