Hello! - We are glad to welcome you to our site
Who/Where We Are
Hi, I'm Jeffrey Johnson, co-founder of Luminous Bengals along with my son Shane. Our cattery is registered with ANCats, World Cat Federation, and The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy Australia & Victoria Inc. We specialize in raising purebred Bengal cats that are registered with these governing bodies and certified against major health diseases. Our location in Diggers Rest VIC Australia is just 20 minutes away from Melbourne's major international airport.
As a smaller cattery, we take pride in raising our kittens in our home to ensure they acclimate to living with people, dogs, other cats, and our family's daily activities. Our kittens come to you super-socialized and love human interaction as it is a learned behavior. With our experience in the science of breeding, we are dedicated to improving the Bengal breed in Australia to the best of our abilities.
Our History
We are a passionate breeder who is dedicated to improving the quality of breeds. We moved to Australia from the United States where our story begins with Weimaraners, where we noticed a trend of the breed becoming smaller and more delicate in Australia. To combat this, we imported a champion male with larger and stronger features from the United States, which was extremely well-received and very successful in improving the breed.
Our family then moved to the USA, where we bred Quarter Horses as a side business. But our passion for breeding never faded, and we continued to seek opportunities to improve the breeding of our horses. Now, we're back in Australia, and we've set our sights on Bengals.
Despite COVID restrictions preventing us from importing a cat from the US, we didn't let that stop us. We searched the entire country for the finest examples of the breed, with exceptional temperaments and confirmation, to create the finest breeding program possible. Above is a kitten from our most recent litter, that we showed and she WON!
Why Bengals?
Through the years, our family has had other breeds of cats (typically a couple of cats at a time) as pets. But when we honestly looked and did thorough research on various breeds of cats - what cat for us to have as a pet and what would be the best cat to breed for others - we were left with and fell in love with Bengals! We feel that way for so many reasons, as we have attempted to outline in the 'About Bengal' section on this site. Not just a gorgeous cat!
Bengals are AMAZING pets, playmates, and loving friends. They are the opposite of a cat that just lays around and is indifferent to you. They really bond with you - want to play with you, and sleep in your lap. Just gorgeous, loving & FUN! Please check out our 'About Bengal' section and if you are 'on the fence' at all about what breed of cat to get or just need more information to make an informed decision, this section should help you make the right decision for yourself and your family. I think you might just come up with the same decision about Bengals we did. You're truly gaining a wonderful active new family member and not just 'a cat'.
Key: A Critical Time Period (SOCIALIZATION)
We are talking here about from when your kitten is born to when you take them to your home. To us, if you have a child and treat them with great love, understanding and care, they do better in their life. For a cat, the first 3 to 5 months of their lives are like the first 20 years of a child's life. It is an INCREDIBLY important formative period. It is all about complementing their natural affection & play while successfully channeling their good habits/manners and having them gain real confidence.
We are newer and will stay a smaller cattery, where we don't keep our kittens in cages. They are in our home as part of our family, free to roam the entire house. Between the time they are born to when you bring them home, we take great care to ensure your kitten will be properly socialized (with people, other cats & a dog) and given lots of love, toys, attention, and playtime with us. Also, litter trained and accustomed to using a scratching post/pad (NOT your furniture). Not a big deal until you get a kitten that isn't.
The amount of time we spend socializing our kittens is HUGH. (I am retired and love playing with the kittens). This makes them totally - Happy, Playful, Loving & CONFIDENT! Like just a totally different type of Bengal. This is not just 'some pet'. This is your future active family member. We take our role in making this happen for you and your family very seriously and are extremely proud of the kitten's socialization he/she will have.
Breeding Program
The goal of our breeding program is to get into the hands of Bengal Lovers, healthy Registered Purebred Bengal cats that are strong examples of the breeds standard, fully Socialized, Litter trained, & Scratch post trained, De-Wormed extending for the first 3 months after you take them home, Vaccinated, Neutered, Micro-chipped and a Guaranteed against genetic disease, 3 Generation of Beeding history certificate and a veterinarian health booklet with full vet history.
Please understand that 'Temperament' is partially a breeding characteristic that can be reinforced in a professional breeding program and one we pay a lot of attention to. Also, how your kitten was raised before you take them home, makes a lasting impression on their temperament. This is HUGH!
Our Kings (father) and Queens (mother) are tested to be free of the 2 major genetic diseases that can be found in Bengals: PRAb -Progressive Retinal Atrophy and PKDef - Erythrocyte Pyruvate Deficiency.
National Association of Cats of Australia
ancats
This association is where cats/pedigrees are registered and the governing body for rules on the breeding of cats in Australia. While we are not into attending cat shows (very time-consuming and can be stressful for cats), we recently entered our Stud cat and 2 kittens to represent our latest litter in a Melbourne cat show. We were very happy with the results as shown.
- PLEASE SEE THE PICTURES BELOW -
