Schimmel Siamese & Orientals are delighted to introduce our Bengal cat................................

Initially, Frangelico was brought into our home as a future breed/show queen by "supposed" friend. At the time of collecting Jelly, we were more than aware that the registration paperwork for her would be delayed. At least that is what we were told. Jelly was approximately 5 months old when we collected her and she did settle into our home quite well. As the months passed by, we grew more and more excited about showing Jelly, as well as having future little Bengal babies from her. However, this wasn't to be.

Contact was made with the breeder time and time again as to the whereabouts of the registration paperwork. We had even, on more than one occasion, offered to pay for the registrations ourselves as we were very keen to get her out on the bench. Still more promises were made as to the paperwork which was apparently being sorted out, and still nothing happened. Each time we managed to actually get hold of the breeder, we were told a different reason as to why the paperwork had been held up. As breeders ourselves, we know full well that there is absolutely no excuse whatsoever for any kitten to be unregistered, and yes, sometimes, if paperwork is sent in late, then the registration paper may not arrive until a couple of weeks after the baby has left home. In this situation though, (and yes it has happened with our own babies) we always put in writing in our kitten agreement that the paperwork will be forwarded to the new families within a month of collecting their babies. Of course, with Frangelico, there was no written agreement, nothing was signed, and we thought this would be perfectly okay because we were under the impression we were dealing with a friend whom we could trust. This, of course, couldn't have been further from the truth!

It got to the point where we were sending emails, letters, and telephone calls to the breeder, our letter was not replied to, our emails were not answered, and we were getting absolutely nowhere. Unfortunately, at approximately 14 months of age, Frangelico developed Open Cervix Pyometra as a result of having called more than 3 times. Of course we were unable to mate her because we had no registration documents for her. Our only other alternative would have been to mate her with Ashanti, register the kittens on the reference register, and then keep a girl back, and do the same for the next 5 generations, in order to produce a girl that could be exhibited but the only point to this would have been to try and improve on the pattern in our Oriental Tabby line, and we did discuss this but overall felt that more harm than good would come from it.

Frangelico has now been spayed, and whilst she is wonderful addition to our family, and whilst she will always have a home here with us for life, we do feel cheated and we are extremely angry at being taken in by a breeder who was supposed to be a friend. We have now have put in a formal complaint with the appropriate registering body.

As for Jelly herself...................well she is such a delightful girl, she is incredibly pretty, quite affectionate and she is stunning markings. She is also such a little character with many quirky habits that at times make us laugh, and at other times, make us sigh. Not a day goes by when Jelly doesn't "drown" all the floors in our home by going swimming in the water bowls (a Bengal trait for those who are unaware). She also totally adores our Rottweiler, Jag, and they both play together throughout the day. Jelly enjoys spending time outside in the cat run, lazing around on the shelves, or stalking imaginary creatures. Having her in our home has certainly been an interesting experience, and whilst she is not here for the reasons she should have been, we wouldn't swap her for anything in the world.