Bellagio Bengals was established in 2003.

Hello Friends and Welcome to our Bengal Cattery.

This page is to give our customers a little insight as to how are kittens are raised and to what kind of upbringing our kittens have.

I am joined in life with my husband SGT Chris Hansen of the US Army and my daughter Alexis Hansen. You can see pictures of our family of the "Fun Photos" page. We now live in Central Iowa, and enjoy the slow pace of life.

Most of the times our lives are anything but slow.  :)

Bellagio Bengals is a small cattery where all my cats and kittens are raised in home and literally under our feet!

Our kittens our born in our bedroom where mom and kittens are watched carefully, weight is taken daily, (morning and night) until the kitten is about two weeks of age. Mom is also weighed to make sure she is eating well and maintaining her proper weight. She is also given KMR mixed with Nutri-cal once or twice a day, depending.  All my females are kept on kitten food, dry and wet. Wet is given two to three times daily. Fresh water is given once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and again at night if needed. Fresh water is checked several times a day for debris, food and dust particles. Our "Mothering" condo in our room is to keep mom and kittens safe and to make them feel like they are in a den. Condo's are usually furnished with petbeds, or a hammock. Condo's are also to keep mom from picking up her kittens and moving them around. She is confined
to her condo, so she can go either upstairs or downstairs, she is usually downstairs with her kittens. Kittens are kept with mom until they can start walking and exploring. We then start introducing them to the rest of the house slowly. Because they are still so little and fragile they still must be watched very carefully. Little intervals of an hour or two away from mom is needed to give mom a break and to start them on their independence. Gradually as they get older they can be away from mom a little longer.

Kittens are also fed Iams, NutroMax kitten and Eukanuba kitten dry food.

As the kittens become better on their feet, they are taken out back on a harness and leash. This is not done to get them used to outside, this is to teach them to be in unfamiliar situations. I usually take kittens outdoor to get better pictures with natural light. I do not let my cats run free outdoors EVER!!!

Also to get my kittens familiar with unfamiliar surroundings and situations I sometimes, while running quick errands, will put them in a carrier and take them with me. This helps them get used to car rides, as if you would do when taking them to the vet.

Usually Momma will help them with litter box training. Sometimes I will help but for the most part they learn by watching mom. Litterboxes are cleaned daily. The pellets are dumped, and then the box is scrubbed cleaned with kitten safe cleaner "Odokleen". Enclosures and condo's are cleaned on a daily basis, vacuumed and disinfected!

My cats are fed with dry Iams kitten food. Occasionally my cats will get fresh snacks or treats, and are rewarded accordingly with good behavior treats when I train them. I have never fed raw meat to my cats.

Our females are kept in a seperate bedroom away from any males, with cat trees, beds, climbing areas, and stimulating toys and a custom built CAT WALK that goes around the rooms walls. I also painted a mural of forests in their room. I usually rearrange and redecorate every couple weeks to keep them active.  Their room also get vaccuumed and disinfected on a daily basis.

All pet dishes and containers also get washed daily. I use stainless steal because it is the most sanitary. Plastic and other dishes sometimes can crack or absorb and can create bacteria deep within the dish, and can lead to problems. Stainless steal does not. Plastic dishes can also cause "chin rashes".

Since I am a homemaker, I have plenty of time to spend with my feline babies as well as my outgoing three year old daughter. Some people ask if my kittens are good with children. I answer, "When a three year old plays rough with them since birth, there is usually nothing they cant handle!!!"     :)

                        Why a Bellagio Bengals Kitten?

One good reason to purchase from Bellagio is we only breed Bengal cats so our time is devoted to them and not to several different species as many catteries now do. We have one litter at a time to socialize our babies, instead of many different litters at the same time, so we can pay special attention and make sure our kittens are VERY well loved and we are not overwhelmed by too many kittens.

Our cats come from cutting edge Championship lines and are carefully chosen to produce what we believe to be top quality show quality kittens. We pride ourselves on our selective planned breeding program, as we extend our breeding program into other catteries lines to improve the bengal breed so we can provide our customers with kittens that are profound in color and markings along with an approachable demeanor. Each kitten is raised from birth with daily human interaction as well as different pet socialization. Our kittens do not behave skiddish or aloof in anyway. We pride ourselves on our kittens outstanding behavior with adults, children and other cats and animals. As a good breeder we socialize our kittens with not just our child but with children in the neighborhood who come to see our cats and kittens. This promotes good behavior in our breeding stock and in turn they will pass this on to their kittens. Socialization is the key to breeding, no one will ever want an animal that is unapproachable and runs skiddishly away from people. As a breeders of animals we should all take extra steps in socializing our cats and kittens. I have seen and owned bengals (adult bengals from other catteries) that are skiddish and fearful of human contact. It takes alot of dedication and honest work to turn them around and in the majority of cases it is futile to even try. This is why Bellagio has gone to extreme ends to build a stock of breeders that are amazingly friendly and love to be held. Health goes hand in hand with socialization here. Healthy kittens that are full of bounce and dripping with individual purrsonalities is a must. We give our kittens all their appropriate innoculations before leaving our home along with personal time with each kitten to get to know them and thier individual purrsonalities. Each kitten comes with TICA registration papers which indicates the kitten is a purebred (bengals are also man-made hybrids, therefore the word tabby will be on the kittens "papers") and bloodlines that are traceable thru a worldwide organization.

Breeding Bengals has been sometimes a demanding hobby but also a very rewarding one. By rewarding I dont mean financially, I mean the happy pet owners that live around me that still bring their kittens to my home and share they're tales of their experiences with their babies. I get to see them grow each month of every year and watch each one develop and see them have a life long relationships with thier owners. One that the owner and cat will cherish their entire lives. Thats rewarding!!!