Bengal Rescue

River’s surgery is tomorrow - and another $3,600.00 will be due at drop-off.

FINALLY - River will receive his complex / lifesaving skin graph surgery to remove his infected skin and bind his healthy skin to the open wounds - which will encourage the regrowth of healthy cells.

Thank you to EVERYONE who has donated so far - we’re grateful beyond words.

So far we’ve spent $3,260.37

Tomorrow’s required deposit is $3,600.00 (estimate is $3,624.00 - $4,120.00).

In all we’ll reach $6,884.37 in expenses - by tomorrow. We’ve raised $2,012.00 so far.

Please, if you can send your well wishes to River, and any funds to help - we’d be grateful beyond words.

You can donate at www.bengalrescue.org/donate

We’ll update everyone once he’s out of surgery and recovering at his amazing, and loving foster home.

Bengal Rescue now accepts Credit Cards / Apple Pay / Google Pay!

Today we have fully integrated Zeffy - an encrypted donation platform solution that allows us to accept credit card donations - directly - with no donation platform fee that reduces the total donation.

With the Zeffy platform, Bengal Rescue can now accept payments via:

Credit cards
Apple Pay
Google Pay
Bank Transfers
Click the link and check it out!

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/donate-to-bengal-rescue

We really appreciate all who have donated and River thanks you from the bottom of his patient and loving heart.

We still are $5,000.00 short of our goal so we'd appreciate any amount that you can possibly give.

River has MRSA and he’s headed to the OR! We need your help!

Tomorrow we have to make a $3,600.00 deposit for his surgery. The estimate is $3,624.00 - $4,120.00

For the last three months, River’s been fighting for his life. After finally getting him to a specialist, he received a biopsy to look for the cause of his wounds not healing - and it’s MRSA.

MRSA (Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in cats is a resilient bacterial infection that resists many standard antibiotics. This is why he couldn’t heal. He’s now on the correct antibiotics but he won’t heal completely without a combination of drug therapy and surgical intervention.

Due to the severity of his infection, he requires skin graph surgery to remove his infected skin and bind his healthy skin to the open wounds - which will encourage the regrowth of healthy cells.

Despite all the misery, River remains in good spirits. Gabapentin is helping him rest while he gains the energy for tomorrow’s significant surgical event.

We would be deeply grateful for your help. Donations have been at a trickle this year, and we urgently need to raise funds to cover River’s surgery while continuing to care for our other cats with medical needs.

Current River Expenses: $3,004.29

Total Expenses After Tomorrow: $6,628.29 - $7,124.29

Please consider a direct donation (no platform fee so we receive your entire donation) https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/donation-form/river-has-mrsa-and-is-in-the-hospital

Every dollar not only brings River closer to the healthy life he deserves - it also ensures that Bengal Rescue is still here for the next terrible situation where we’re needed.

UPDATE: River was diagnosed today with MRSA!!!

Next steps - 7-day course of Clindamycin, then retest to determine if we need to repeat for another 7 days. At today's Vet visit, they said the tissue was looking good, and turning pink again, which a sign of healthy tissue and needed for grafting.

Original Post:

River survived the streets, but now he’s fighting for his life.

(Trigger Warning!)

Yesterday alone, we spent $1,180.00 on a biopsy. So far, his medical expenses total $3,004.29 and if he needs complex flap surgery to close his deep wounds (quite certain he will), the estimate is $3,600.00 - so we’d be up to 6,600.00 in expenses.

He has endured a horrific attack, likely from a dog or coyote that tore the skin from his neck, while surviving on the streets of Salt Lake City for over a month. He finally found safety on April 5 when he wandered through a doggy door into the right home. Since then, his devoted foster and her son, a nurse, have provided constant wound care and endless compassion. Yet despite weeks of expert treatment, his wounds still refuse to heal. Through it all, River has remained sweet, gentle, and trusting, as if he knows he is finally safe.

We are awaiting biopsy results to understand why he is not healing and to determine the next step in his recovery. River has fought so hard to survive and he deserves the chance to fully heal.

We would be deeply grateful for your help. Donations have been at a trickle this year, and we urgently need to raise funds to cover River’s surgery while continuing to care for our other cats with medical needs.

Please consider donating at www.bengalrescue.org/donate.

Every dollar not only brings River closer to the healthy life he deserves - it also ensures that Bengal Rescue is still here for the next terrible situation where we’re needed.

We take the hardest cases ever. We're not trying to do that, but the Universe has picked us.

Wait until you see tomorrow's post. (God-Awful!)

Xena (Savannah) wants to off-set that.

Xena is in foster care in Orem, UT. She is approximately 7 years old but we're not sure. She came to us from a hoarding case.

Look at her photo. She is adjusting beautifully! We love her to pieces.

You can ABSOLUTELY apply for her even though she's not ready yet. Please apply only if you have spicy cat experience.

Xena needs a dental (scheduled next week) but she's simply too cute to be real! We love her soooo much!

We haven't officially posted her yet - but when you meet her and see her- you will melt. We'll get back to you with an official Bio soon. Until then, please enjoy her as much as we do.

PS: Yes - she is a Savannah Cat.

Apply here: https://new.shelterluv.com/matchme/adopt/BRUT/Cat

From House of Horrors to Hope - in Just One Week

Remember Harvey from Texarkana, TX? We posted him urgently, only a week ago.

-Harvey was pulled from a HOUSE OF HORRORS. He, along with two other domestic cats were the soul survivors.

-The house was FILTHY and filled with deceased animals (cats, lizards and snakes!!). Everyone was completely malnourished and Animal Control determined that they died of starvation.

-The owner was arrested, and the living cats who remained were immediately attended to.

It’s only been a WEEK since Harvey (now Orion) has been in the loving company of one of our very most experienced foster families. We knew that they would know exactly what to do to help this shut down terrified cats learn to CAT.

You don’t need words to understand. We think the photos say it all.

ONE WEEK.

That’s all it’s taken to see Orion leave the horror of his past behind him.

But we won’t tell the story - we’ll let our foster do so.

‘We picked up Harvey/Orion and brought him into our home last Wednesday.

Initially, he found every tiny, dark, hiding spot he possibly could, and if he sensed any movement, he would freeze up absolutely terrified, and then eventually find a different tiny, dark hiding spot to try not to be discovered.

Luckily, we’re pretty good at knowing the kitty accessible hiding spots in his “home introduction space” (many of them are even there by design), and we made sure he had access to food, water, and litter boxes in places he felt safe and secure.

He stayed in hiding for 4 days, slowly building up his courage little by little under the cover of darkness at night, and then on day 5, at 4:00 in the morning, I awoke to find him sitting on top of the cat tree, out in the open!

He explored the room, relatively confidently all things considered, for about 45 minutes and then ran back under the bed. Later that day he started to poke his little face out at me intentionally to cautiously say “hi!”, and eventually, a few hours later as I was sitting in the bed getting some work done, he came all the way out during the daytime, made eye contact with me, and posed for a picture!

From that moment on, he started exploring more and more during the daylight hours, and he now officially has a favorite spot on the cat tree where he likes to hang out.

My next step is getting him to take treats from my hand. At this point, he doesn’t run away if I place them right in front of him, and he smells my hands and lets me pet him, and then he will eat them eagerly after I take a few steps away, so the trust is definitely building.

Showing an abused and neglected cat that humans can be trusted is a slow, gradual process, and I absolutely do not want to rush it.

He has been eating, drinking, and using his litter box like a champ, and he doesn’t show any hostility towards me (he just doesn’t really want to be picked up — but neither do a lot of Bengals).

He has made absolutely incredible progress in a remarkably small amount of time for everything that he has been through, and I can’t wait to see how far he will go with love and patience on his side.”

We are grateful to the Texarkana Animal League for reaching out to us and trusting us to give this boy everything we have to learn to love and to trust. We hadn’t worked together before and we are thrilled to show them with Orion’s progress, exactly what we’re capable of.

Love is a powerful thing! We absolutely owe it all to our stunningly patient and talented foster family, who just made all the difference in the world!

TY PAID THE PRICE!!!!

(WARNING - this it what happens when you try to rehome your Bengal without us!)

We’ve been telling you about Ty in Oakland for the last few months and something pretty incredible happened today.

A breeder who is friends with this rescue happened to see one specific photo of him. She alerted our team that she knew EXACTLY who he was.

Our team spoke with Ty’s original breeder (retired now) and found out what had happened to him (there were a lot of pieces to put together).

Ty’s name is actually Tai Lung (for the Kung Fu Panda character). He isn’t four either - he is EIGHT. Tai was a much beloved cattery cat responsible for making a long line of beautiful, healthy, and happy Bengals. His own journey was followed by a HUGE amount of social media fans.

When it was time for Tai to retire - he was neutered and placed in a loving home.

That is - until the owner got a dog, and he started spraying (clearly, he didn’t want a dog). The owner reached out to the breeder for help - received it - and then the cattery never heard back. They assumed that the issue was resolved.

It wasn’t.

In March we got a call from East Bay SPCA telling us they had a TERRIFIED Bengal who needed out. He was in rough shape and suffered from terrible gastrointestinal issues. Our amazing foster in the area, immediately got in her car to get him.

Since then we’ve spent ~$1,500.00 to get him patched up and to soothe his frayed nerves and to teach him that not ALL humans are awful. He’s starting to believe us.

We found out that the person who got him from the breeder, made the decision to rehome him. WITHOUT contacting his breeder who was actively trying to help him, and WOULD have taken him back.

Heartbreakingly, the person he was re-homed to -- neglected and abused him.

When Tai landed himself at Hope for Porterville Cats - he was in terrible shape. They did everything that they could. They transferred him to East Bay SPCA and eventually he was transferred to us.

We aren’t sure how long he was at his second home, but when the breeder showed us photos of what he USED to look like - we didn’t recognize him at all.

Today Tai is thriving in his foster home. It has taken months of around-the-clock effort from his foster and our team, to repair the damage that was done to him.

Tai’s hellish journey didn’t need to happen!

-The breeder would have taken him back.
-Bengal Rescue would have taken him (obviously we did).

If you are struggling with your cat and thinking of rehoming them - please think about what happened to Tai.

We have so many resources to help owners vet potential adoption candidates! It’s all over our website:
https://bengalrescue.org/adopt/adoption-process/

• VET your candidates.
• Do a background check (like we do).
• Have them fill out a formal application.
• Do a house visit (or Zoom meeting).
• CHECK REFERENCES (Veterinarian, Landlord).
• Charge a fee of at least $200.00
• Have them sign a contract agreeing to return the cat to you if things aren’t working out.

Whatever you do - remember:

YOU made a commitment to your cat. It’s YOUR job to protect them!

By the way - Tai is available for adoption right now. If his story moves you and you think he would be happy forever in your arms, please fill out our adoption application: https://new.shelterluv.com/matchme/adopt/BRUT/Cat

So many people love the wild look and active / curious nature of the Bengal cat breed. But looks aren’t everything! Unfortunately, not EVERYONE can handle how challenging Bengals can be.

🎤 The Pop Star / Opera Singer Edition 🎤

Do you like LOUD screaming?

Do you enjoy being woken up by that in the middle of the night?

No???

😹 Perhaps a Bengal isn’t the right breed for you. 😹

Not ALL Bengals are loud. But the loud ones - they are LOUD. They literally SCREAM! For fun!

Over the years we’ve had three scenarios:

Scenario One.

Bengals who scream for fun, and their owners don’t mind. These are cats that have plenty of stimulation, Catification, and daily / frequent play time. In the end, they’re screamers. They love it!

Scenario Two.

Bengals who scream, the family is sick of it, so they surrender to us. Yet in their foster home - they DON’T scream. Which tells us that there was something going wrong in the home. Usually it’s due to lack of stimulation. Bengals are EXTRA. Most people don’t realize that what a person “thinks” is enough play - it isn’t even close.

Scenario Three.

Bengals who don’t scream. At all. We get MANY of those.

This series is intended to share the good, the bad, and the mayhem of being owned by a Bengal.

Be prepared - for anything!

This one is a heartbreaker.

Last week we were URGENTLY contacted by Texarkana Animal League (Texarkana, TX).

Harvey, a Bengal boy was pulled from a HOUSE OF HORRORS. He, along with two other domestic cats were the soul survivors.

The house was FILTHY and filled with deceased animals (cats, lizards and snakes!!). Everyone was completely malnourished and Animal Control determined that they died of starvation.

The owner was arrested, and the living cats who remained were immediately attended to.

At that particular moment, we had no foster to help Harvey. We began to draft a post to see if we could find someone - quickly. The problem - we knew this cat would be shut down and would be in need of lengthy rehabilitation. He would need a QUIET and PATIENT foster home who had experience with traumatized and shut down cats.

Just before we went to post looking for a foster - we had a thought.

We have a VERY talented foster home in Texas located two hours away. This foster LOVES to help cats that are emotionally traumatized and shut down. They have OODLES of experience with the breed, including but not limited to Early Generation Bengals.

We took a risk. We asked our foster if they might know of anyone nearby who could help this boy who we’re currently calling Harvey.

The foster said: “Yes! We will help!!”

So today, Harvey got his freedom ride and he’s already settling in.

Yes he’s scared. He’s seen horrors that none of us can even begin to imagine.

Starting now - he’ll never have to worry about lack of resources, fear, and danger. This boy is safe and he is already loved, by all of us.

We all know that the comfort of other felines will be key to his success. Luckily there are other Bengals in the home who will be able to show him just how safe he is.

We expect it’s going to be a VERY long road of rehabilitation for Harvey - but we’re here for it. We are all envisioning the day when he decides to walk through the middle of a room with his tail proudly held up in the air.

Welcome to Bengal Rescue, Harvey! Here’s to your beautiful future!!