Willi Schumachers has been breeding Bengals since 1996. He tells us his history with this extraordinary small feline.
We already dedicated two in-depth reports to the Bengal on aniwa, one was the breed portrait, the other was called “The Bengal: Today’s Trends And Tomorrow’s Challenges”. With its muscular body and always curious expression, its active behaviour, always ready to climb up and down whatever it will find to climb to, the breed attracts more and more owners, who sometimes don’t hesitate to acquire a second cat, then a third one. This is somehow what happened to the Schumachers, who now live at Bengal time.
“when we acquired our first Bengal in October 1996, me and my wife didn’t know that we would be so happy with it. And we were even farther from imagining that we’d be so successful as Bengal breeders.
In the beginning, we had no intention of showing cats, even less breeding them. But we soon were contaminated by the virus of breeding and selection. Our first Bengal, which we nicknamed “Hangover”, was a Spotted. His real name was Schatti. he it was about 8 months, we thought of neutering him…But things changed – Schatti was particularly beautiful – and despite our initial idea to have him only as a household pet, we decided to exhibit him in cat shows. Which we did only a few weeks after. Then there was no doubt about the fact that we had really taken to cat shows… and all naturally to breeding.
The first time we showed Schatti, it was like a dream: indeed, not only did he obtain the Best Of Breed, but also was awarded the Best Of Best. The judge we were talking to all of sudden told us “ I hope you have no intention of neutering him, do you?” This came as a revelation. And we decided to find him a “girlfriend”, a marbled female. After a long and cautious search, Marmisu came into our house. She not only met our expectations, but she also became the most titled Bengal cat in Germany, with 11 Best Of Bests! In 1999, the first litter of the Vom Simdri cattery was born. It was of course issued from Schatti and Marmisu. There were 4 kittens, 3 marbled and one spotted. We decided to keep at home two females. This was the beginning of our successful story in the world of international cat shows, both in Germany and abroad.
In 1998, we had also acquired a female called Mystery, which was of golden colour, with a white belly. She was the mother of very beautiful kittens, to which she transmitted all of her qualities. One of a daughters, called Black Orchid, still lives at home with us. She is a living dream. In our house, all the cats live us, and we spend a lot of time with them. It is very important for us that each cat is balanced and independent. We favour quality over quantity. Now, we couldn’t possibly live without our Bengals. Our main concern is their welfare, and to work in order to improve, generation after generation, this wonderful breed, which is increasingly popular.
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