Meet Our Family
In 2023 we were very pleased to be chosen to do an interview about bengal cats for Catster Magazine. Below is part of our interview. Catster is a great resource for all things related to cats!
🐾 Our Memberships in the Cat Community
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TICA member & attend TICA cat shows
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CFA member & attend CFA cat shows
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TIBCS ~ The International Bengal Cat Society
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The Bengal Cat Club
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The Ragdoll Fanciers' Club
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Greater Baton Rouge Cat Club - member and help with the yearly BR cat show
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I'm also involved in many Facebook Bengal groups. Too many to list!
🐾 Cat Show Participation
I absolutely LOVE going to cat shows! Unfortunately, having a young daughter on the spectrum and two older kids in school, I can only attend about 3-5 shows a year. Most of the cat shows are pretty far from where we live. But we still go to as many cat shows as possible. They are so much fun! If you would like to see pictures and awards we have won, visit our cat show page.
🐾 About Our Cattery - How it Began
We are located in southern Louisiana, but our kittens find homes all over the United States. Our cattery name is Belle Ami. “Belle Ami” means “beautiful friend” in French. I truly couldn’t have picked a more appropriate name for our cattery, since Bengals and Ragdolls are indeed beautiful and wonderful companions!
Growing up, there were a lot of stray cats in our neighborhood. Our parents allowed my sister and me to “adopt” many of the stray cats that showed up hungry. A few of them were pregnant, and we were allowed to make accommodations for them for the arrival of their kittens. I even remember one mama cat having her litter in an armoire in our bedroom! It was so much fun watching the baby kittens grow and play, so from a very young age, kittens were always very special to me.
I'm allergic to cats, but my reaction can vary depending on the cat. I never really cared. I'd rather suffer with allergies than not feed all the hungry kitties that came to our house! My mom always let me keep some inside as permanent family pets. I can remember so many times as a kid when we would see a stray kitten in the middle of nowhere and stop to rescue it.
I started breeding Bengals in 2008. My sister had purchased a pet Bengal, and I happened to be staying at her house for the weekend. To my surprise, I had no allergic reaction to the cat. Not only was it beautiful, but it was SO interactive! We had a balloon, and every time we hit it into the air, the Bengal would go flying up to take a turn keeping the balloon up. I was obsessed!
We added Ragdolls to our breeding program in 2022. I had always wanted a Ragdoll, but I thought my allergies wouldn't tolerate them because I had been severely allergic to a Himalayan I'd owned in the past. To my surprise, my reaction to the Ragdolls was minimal! Once we brought them into our family, we completely fell in love with the breed.
Even though there are lots of differences between them, Ragdolls and Bengals get along so great together! We love watching them play and snuggle together. It's like opposites attract! Both breeds love attention and human interaction, and we feel incredibly lucky to be able to raise two such wonderful breeds.
Our newest addition to the family, Brooklynn, absolutely loves spending time with the cats and kittens.
🐾 Raising Our Kittens With Our Family
All of our Bengal and Ragdoll kittens are raised INSIDE our home with our family. My three daughters, Bailey, Blair, and Brooklynn, just adore kittens! Their job is to help by playing with them, cuddling them, and giving them lots of attention. Because of all the love and attention they receive, our kittens are very social and affectionate. If our babies aren’t taking a cat nap… someone is playing with them!
Our kittens are born in our special nursery room inside our home. This gives the moms plenty of privacy and a little less noise compared to the rest of the house—LOL! I can also sit with them or sleep right next to them all night, ready to assist if needed. After the kittens arrive, I’m able to check on them constantly throughout the day to make sure everyone is eating well and gaining weight. My girls have full access to the kittens at all times and love spending time with both the babies and their moms.
Bailey and Blair have been raised with Bengals since they were infants and have helped me socialize kittens since they were toddlers, even though they may not have realized what they were doing way back then! Brooklynn has grown up surrounded by our Bengals and Ragdolls too, and she absolutely loves spending time with the cats and kittens. Now all three of my girls help give our Bengal and Ragdoll kittens the love, attention, and socialization they need from the time they are tiny babies.
Even when the babies still have their eyes closed, we go in to pet them and their moms. This is so helpful with early socialization. The kittens become so used to being petted and handled that at a very young age, many of them will start to roll over for belly rubs or purr like crazy. It's very sweet!
Brooklynn playing with 4 1/2 week old Bengal kittens.
🐾 Early Age Socilization
We start taking the babies out for short periods of time right after they open their eyes. We put them in a basket with a warm blanket, and they will either go in the living room next to the sofa or in one of the girls' rooms with them. You'll see lots of pictures of kittens in baskets on our social media. This very early socialization is beneficial during their development. This way, they are immediately used to seeing people and being touched.
Around 3 weeks old, kittens become very curious about their surroundings. At this age, we start taking them from their mom for longer periods of time every day to sit in our laps. This is a critical period for them to spend time with people and learn not to be afraid of them. If they don't learn to trust and bond with people at this age, in my opinion, they will never be as social as cats that do. We make sure to spend extra time with them at this age. They are also starting to walk around, so we keep a small litter box nearby. Our kittens are very smart and learn by watching their moms, so they usually start using the litter box on their own at around 3–4 weeks of age.
As the kittens grow, the amount of time they spend with my girls or me gets longer and longer. If it's a weekend or there's no school, and they have started eating solid food, they will spend the whole day with them. Doing this makes our kittens extremely sweet and outgoing. They absolutely adore my girls and love being around people because of all the attention they get from our family.
The kittens are very used to household noises like the TV, vacuum, blow dryer, screaming children, husbands yelling at football games on TV, washing machines, etc. They are also used to cats other than their mom. We always have a few of our queens in our house with us and a few cats that are our personal pets, and they will visit with the kittens. We rotate our breeding girls from our queen house to inside our house so that everyone gets to spend time with the family. This also helps separate the hormonally more easily agitated pregnant girls from the rest of the group.
Socialization is so important! It takes an enormous amount of time, but it really makes a lifelong difference in the personalities of both our Bengal and Ragdoll kittens. Beautiful kittens are wonderful, but to me, their personalities are even more important. When choosing a breeder, please take your time and choose one that you know really focuses on the socialization of their kittens.
Adorable kittens playing with my girls and their mama.
🐾 What Our Kittens Come With
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Five-year health guarantee
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Spayed/Neutered
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TICA registration papers
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Vaccinated
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Microchipped and vet-checked
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Raised in our home and fully socialized
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HCM scanned, PRA & PkDef Neg Parents
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Lifetime help and support
Plus so much more! See everything our Ragdoll kittens come with and everything our Bengal kittens come with.
🐾 Spoiling Our Sweet Babies
All of our breeding cats are considered our pets and are loved unconditionally. We spend time with them, lavish them with affection, play with them, give them special treats, and spend an enormous amount of money on them because they deserve the best of everything!
Our kittens are very spoiled, too! We have tons of toys all over the house and nursery, scratching posts, hideaways, climbing trees, window perches, shelves to climb on, hammocks to nap in, a cat wheel, and tunnels for them to entertain themselves with all day.
We raise our kittens on a diet of the best quality, extra high-protein, grain-free, corn- and soy-free, by-product-free, filler-free kitten food. We also use high-quality wet food daily to ensure that they are gaining weight well and arrive at your home in optimal health.
No expense is spared when it comes to our cats and kittens. Having babies is a lot of work—I know, because I'm a mom of three. It's very important that the queens are made extremely comfortable and have extra pampering.
One of my favorite old videos of my twins at about 5 years old playing with the kittens.
🐾 Kitty Accommodations
Our Bengal and Ragdoll queens stay in our house with us or in our luxurious “queen house,” built especially for them with all the fancy kitty amenities. They have wall-climbing accessories, a loft, toys, cozy beds, window perches, and of course, air conditioning!
When one of our queens is about to give birth, she stays in our nursery room in an extra-spacious enclosure where we can monitor her and the new babies by nanny cam and keep everyone safe. We all know how much mama cats love moving their kittens around and finding places that aren't always ideal!
You'll often see the mama cats in the videos we post of our kittens. Sometimes they like to take a break from their babies, and other times they want to join right in for playtime.
Our boys each have their own separate enclosure for their safety. Their enclosures are inside a building we custom-built especially for them and are raised off the ground so they never touch grass or dirt. The building has large doors that are closed at night and during inclement weather and opened each morning. They have air conditioning when it's hot, heat lamps that turn on automatically when it's cold, and fans to help keep mosquitoes away.
Each boy also has hammocks, multiple levels to climb on, perches, scratching posts, and his own little house to hide away in. The entire building is shaded by our big oak trees, and they have a great view of our yard, back porch, and all the squirrels and birds!
View my TICA Bengal Cattery or Ragdoll Cattery listing to see recent registered kitten litters, the last TICA cat show I attended, and my membership info.
🐾 Beware of Scammers
Unfortunately, kitten scams have become extremely common, especially when searching for a Bengal or Ragdoll kitten online. Over the years, I've heard so many heartbreaking stories from families who sent money for a kitten that never existed.
I've put together helpful information on how to choose a reputable breeder and how to avoid kitten scams. I encourage anyone searching for a kitten online to read through these tips, even if you don't choose one of our kittens.
I've actually had people contact me afterward to say the information helped them recognize a scam before sending money. If something doesn't feel right when you're talking to a breeder, take your time, do your research, and make sure you know exactly who you're dealing with before sending a deposit.
We taught Abby these tricks in just a few days!
🐾 Colors We Specialize In
Bengal Colors
Bengals come in lots of beautiful colors, but we specialize in brown and snow Bengals because those are our favorites! Our snow Bengals include seal lynx, seal mink, and seal sepia, while our browns range from lighter, cooler shades to rich, warm golden browns.
We also love glitter! Our Bengal cats have beautiful glittered coats, which gives their fur that incredible sparkling appearance when the light hits it.
Ragdoll Colors
Our Ragdoll breeding program focuses on beautiful blue bicolor and seal bicolor Ragdolls. We also occasionally have mitted and lynx patterns, as well as kittens in gorgeous lilac and chocolate shades. No matter the color or pattern, we absolutely love their soft coats, beautiful markings, and those gorgeous blue eyes!
🐾 Our Goals As a Breeder
Our Bengal and Ragdoll breeding cats are carefully selected for their health, pedigrees, temperaments, and beautiful breed characteristics. Our cats come from Champion bloodlines, and over the years I have brought in cats from around the world to add new bloodlines and genetic diversity to our breeding program.
With our Bengals, we strive for large, flowing rosettes, great contrast, clear coats, puffy whisker pads, highly glittered pelts, and beautiful wild-looking faces. With our Ragdolls, we focus on gorgeous blue eyes, beautiful coloring and patterns, soft coats, and the sweet expressions the breed is known for. With both breeds, temperament is extremely important to us. We want our kittens to be just as sweet and loving as they are beautiful.
Although many of our Bengal and Ragdoll kittens come from Champion bloodlines and may be show or breeding quality, I rarely place kittens into breeding programs. I prefer for most of our babies to go to loving pet homes where they can be spoiled, adored, and treated like part of the family.
🐾 Why Choose Belle Ami
I put an enormous amount of time, love, and effort into our cats, our kittens, and the families who choose us. I truly want every family to go home with a healthy, well-socialized kitten they completely fall in love with and a personality they can't stop bragging about!
After breeding cats for so many years, I know how important everything that happens during those first few months of a kitten's life can be. We give our Bengal and Ragdoll kittens the best care we can, spend tons of time with them, and love and socialize them like crazy from the time they're tiny babies.
Whether you fall in love with one of our Bengals or Ragdolls, I would love to help you find the perfect kitten to become part of your family!
Special thanks to Mrs. Gene Ducote, owner of Gogees Cattery, who was instrumental in the development of the Bengal breed, for mentoring me and always giving me such good advice. It was an honor to have owned two Bengals from her cattery, and I'm thrilled to be able to continue the Gogees bloodline that she worked so hard to achieve. I hope that with the knowledge I've acquired from her, I can continue to produce Bengals as beautiful as hers were! Learn more about Gogees contributions to the Bengal breed.
Our family minus our newest addition Brooklynn!
