It was Labor Day weekend, 2012 and my beautiful 10-year-old kitty, Misty, had just died of stomach cancer; I was heart-broken over losing her.
When I went back to work the following week I told my cube-mate, Kathleen, about losing Misty over the weekend. After we discussed my grief, Kathleen hesitantly mentioned to me that a stray cat had given birth to a litter of three kittens in her front yard and she was hoping to find homes for them. Ironically, she and her husband had found these kittens on the same day that Misty died, so it seemed that fate was intervening. I went home with her at lunch time to meet the kittens. They were only one month old and so tiny and cute; I adored them instantly.
Over the course of the next week or so I went back to visit them a few more times. I even got the opportunity to hold and bottle fed them on one visit. Aria, the smallest (and most active) one of the litter fell asleep on my arm right after feeding her. That was when I lost my heart.
About a week later I brought two of the three kittens (Angel and Aria) home. Kathleen and her husband kept the third. I was sad to break up the litter, but my apartment complex would only allow two cats.
I continued to bottle feed them for an additional two weeks, and I loved every minute of it. It was a very bonding and wonderful time. During that period I did notice some peculiarities about them. First of all, they are both spotted. Aria has spots that blend together to look like lines while Angel (the biggest kitten of the litter) is mostly spotted with rosettes all over. Their coats are predominantly brown with black and gray spots and white highlights. The oddest thing I noticed about them initially was that they have fluffy paws. When I took a closer look it turned out that their toes are webbed! I began to wonder whether they were Bengal cats because of the spotted coats and webbed toes.
The third big indication became apparent when I brought them a fresh bowl of water not long after weaning them. When I set the bowl down one of them went to it and stuck her paw in the water and began splashing the water from side to side. She wasn't drinking, just playing. I had previously noticed big splashes of water around the bowl and about a foot up the wall and this was something none of my previous cats had ever done. It confirmed that I had two water-loving kittens on my hands!
After doing some research online I found that other features of Bengal cats are that they are highly intelligent, communicative and breed true for four generations. My kittens have all of these traits so despite the fact that they were born under a bush in my friend's front yard, I believe they are Bengals. I paid nothing for them but wouldn't trade them for a million dollars!
If you would like to see videos of Angel and Aria's antics, please visit http://www.youtube.com/user/glitterpated where I have over 20 videos with more coming.
To see pictures of them, please visit my website at http://littlespottedcats.com. There is general cat care information there as well as a photo gallery.
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