Thinking of getting another cat - Bengal?

[Sway]

Currently have two cats, Whisper who's a tiny old rescue lady. Claims a spot on the sofa and wants cuddles for twenty hours a day, then will go and kill something for dinner. Plus Banksy, an Egyptian Mao/moggy cross three year old boisterous boy. Acts like a stroppy teenager, wants cuddles one minute and a fight the next. Clumsy as all hell but is still growing!

Whisper never learned how to play as a kitten. She takes it seriously and gets quite freaked out. She'll stand her ground if in her spot, but otherwise will run a mile and hide. Banksy is the opposite, always wanting to play, and can't figure out why Whisper doesn't want to.

So we're thinking of getting a kitten, possibly a slighter older rescue, but definitely not an adult. Something that can play with Banksy, and enjoy the cat niches that aren't currently claimed - the long wide windowsill and the dining chairs!

We live in a rural seaside village on the South Coast. Not much traffic, the beach is 100m away, and there's fields and hedgerows running the other side of the road. Decent sized back garden, next door has a lab puppy.

I've always loved Bengals. Banksy has many of the same aesthetics, and I think they'd get on well. Hoping that it wouldn't bully Whisper.

Are they fine as a regular cat with free access to the catflap and outside? I've heard they are very territorial, but would it be fine having been brought up in the house with my two? Any special dietary or care needs, I don't really want two feeding/care regimes?

Would be great to hear people's experiences with introducing a Bengal into an existing kitty house, most of the threads I've read have been Bengal only, is there a reason for this?

Cheers,

Sam

[Erasmia]

We have two Bengals now 12 and 11 and a rescue cat now 5. The two Bengals despite being from the same breeder are very different personalities. One has to be involved in everything we do the other is semi-feral so to me in depends very much on the individual cat. The elder one will play with the other cat, the younger Bengal avoids her. This isn't an issue as they have decided on their own areas within the house.


Bengals are huge fun, but very vocal and like to get their own way. Ours are not afraid to chase foxes out of our garden.

[Sway]

Cheers. How was it bringing in the rescue? I assume that's tougher than bringing a young Bengal with existing moggies?

I've seen the youtube vids of them calling. I thought my current two were vocal - they are but with nothing like the volume!

[Erasmia]

Nimbus was a kitten when we got her and the introductions were fine. One Bengal was interested, the other did his best to avoid her and still does. Allowing them to have their own areas in the house certainly helps so they can meet or not on their own terms.

I know lots of rescues think Bengals should be only cats, but we had far more problems at the start when we had one Bengal on his own. We tried to keep him indoors and he was on his own all day when we were at work. The result was he would wee and poo on our bed as we returned from work in a clear sign of unhappiness. This stopped the minute we got him a friend and let him outside. The Bengals for two closely related cats (uncle/nephew) could not be more different but they are both really fun, really noisy cats who are great fun to have around.

[Sway]

Really appreciate your experiences - as you say, we've been told everything up to 'a Bengal will rip apart any other cat in the area'!

Now to look for a decent breeder, always gone with rescue (or unwanted litter) before, never had to think about it before.

Oh, and decide what coat and gender!

[Erasmia]

Here are our 2 Bengal boys who are best pals:




and this is Nimbus our rescue with Sabre who get on well together: