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Middleburg Woman Breeds Bengal Hybrids Cats

One of Rebecca Miller's Bengal kittens perched atop a scratching post inside her cattery. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Miller.
One of Rebecca Miller's Bengal kittens perched atop a scratching post inside her cattery. Photo courtesy of Rebecca Miller.

When Rebecca Miller returned home late from a girl’s night out, she noticed the light in her bedroom turning on and off. Fearing someone had broken in, she called the sheriff’s department and had a deputy escort her inside.

Upon entering, Miller learned it was her cat, Luna. She was sitting on the dresser next to the light switch flicking it on and off,  watching the ceiling fan start and stop.

Luna isn’t your ordinary cat -- she is a Bengal cat, a hybrid of the wild Asian leopard cat and domestic cats.

Miller, 35, has been breeding these hybrids at her cattery, Sun & Moon Bengals, for about two years out of Middleburg, Fla.

Starting the business was tough though.

“I shopped for a Bengal for about a year, and in the cat world not everyone is so nice to you, especially when you’re a lot younger and a newbie,” Miller said.

During this search she met Carolyn Maddox at the Sans Souci Bengals Cattery near Orlando.

Maddox was the first person who helped educate and mentor Miller on Bengal cats, Miller said. “She gave me hope.”

However, just two weeks after Miller met Maddox and paid the $1,000 down payment on her first Bengal cat, Maddox suffered a stroke and passed away.

“She was one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met," Miller said.

Miller started breeding Bengals under Sun & Moon Bengals from Luna, one of Maddox's last Bengal cats.

“People think this is like just a walk in the park, it’s not,” Miller said. “It is a full-time job that you don’t make money at. You do it for the love and the passion."

Miller said that as pets the cats go for $1,500, but if they’re sold for breeding or showing, then they go for $2,500. It's a small profit compared to the roughly $10,000 cattery Miller built from a storage shed.

For anyone interested in owning a Bengal cat, Miller warns prospective owners to do their research beforehand.

“They’re nothing like a domesticated cat, nothing,” she said. "Their personalities are more like a dog than they are a cat. They love to play in water, they swim, they walk on a leash, they play fetch, they will bring whatever you’re throwing back to you."

Bengals are categorized on a scale of F1 to F5 based on how many generations have been bred from the original Asian leopard, the former being closer to the wildcat and the latter being furthest and best option for a house pet.

Dr. Julie K. Levy, 56, professor of shelter medicine at the UF College of Veterinary Medicine, said that those first generation crosses are not very social and are usually not content with confinement in a house.

“[Prospective pet owners] should get cats that are very well socialized,” Levy said. “We see a lot of Bengal cats in shelters and in rescue groups that have been abandoned because of some behavior issues that were making it hard for them to live with their families.”

Miller said she makes sure that her Bengal cats go to good owners.

“I want someone, way ahead of time, to know what they’re getting into, because I want my cat to be a forever cat. I don’t want it to be re-homed 20 times because they got it thinking they wanted this cool, wild-looking cat and they weren’t prepared,” she said.

“It’s fun if you like the entertainment of a kitten. When I sell my kittens, I tell people plan on having a kitten for life.”

Conor is a reporter for WUFT News and can be contacted by calling 352-392-6397 or emailing news@wuft.org.