Saying farewell to Streaky Bell

I have written in the past that the toughest part of having an animal companion is saying goodbye, and it strikes home hard this week.

By the time you read this, we will have said goodbye to our loving little buddy, Streaky Bell. Yes, that was his name, the choice of nine-year-old Mary, who liked Supergirl and was studying the invention of the telephone in school.

Streaky Bell joined our family 20 years ago, a mischievous little Bengal kitten, looking for whatever trouble he could get into. We knew what we were getting into with a Bengal, in fact, we sought it out. And he lived up to the billing.

Bengals are known for the way the ‘wild’ genes affect their behaviour. They are more muscular, have striking markings, and love water. Streaky snuck into the shower or bath whenever he could. Bengals owe their uniqueness to the fact they have a recent injection of Asian leopard cat into the domestic cat line. Each generation removed from that mating increases the F number, with F1 being the first generation; thus, F5 is five breedings away from wild. The higher the F number, the less influence the wild cat makes. Streaky was an F6 from what we were told, so he wasn’t oversized or overly wild, but still had enough to make him different, and he had the striking coat.