Don’t buy a Bengal on impulse.
Think about it for at least a few days and talk about it with your family!
If possible, prepare a nice, not-too-small, room especially for your cat.
When you want a break from your loving, but busy cat friend, at night or when you are cooking, you can leave the cat in there. Cat shelves on the wall of your in your living room are also very appreciated by cats.
Don’t buy easily destroyed cat toys.
In my experience Bengal ruin cat toys much faster than ordinary cats. A strong playing rod is ideal, particularly if children want to play with a Bengal. A plastic ball cricuit is good, and small tennis balls.
Don’t give away your own food.
When you are preparing your own food and your cat approaches you meowing to have some, don’t give it any whilst cooking or eating. You don’t want to stimulate whining behaviour. Preferably I feed the cats first, before I cook and eat myself.
Don’t let the cat play with your hands.
This may look sweet with a kitten, but when an adult cat bites or scratches, it is not pleasant. From the start a cat needs to learn to play only with toys, not hands.
Don’t force your new kitten to pet and cuddle
Give him time and let him come to you by himself. Trust me, he really will!
Buying from a trustworthy and reliable breeder
Beware of people who sell Bengals at relatively low prices.
When this is the case, very often, there is a good reason. You might be dealing with a scammer, or someone who breeds Bengal cats under bad conditions (small cages or whatever), has sick animals or unsocialized (read: wild) kittens. Or it is a breeder that does not pay to test the health of his cats, because that is expensive.
Always be alert.
If possible, visit the breeder before buying a kitten, even if it involves a long journey. If this is not possible, take a close look at the background of the breeder’s pictures. Does the enviroment of the cats look good and clean? Also be alert if you only see beautiful set-up pictures of the cats in a room where it is not presumable for energetic naughty cats to live in (like delicate decorations).
Look at the conditions at the breeder’s home.
- Have a good look at the stud areas; are they kept in small and dirty cages without windows?
- Does everything seem hygienic? (Unneutered males mark their territory with urine so that does smell bad, but apart from that the areas need to be clean)
- Are the kittens anxious or do they approach you carefully, but curiously?
- Are you able to see the parents of the kittens?
- How do the adult cats react on the breeder? Can the breeder pet them or pick them up or is contact avoided, or do the cats seem afraid? (they should have a good relationship with the breeder) When the breeder makes no contact with the cats, don’t be shy to ask if he can demonstrate to pet his cats.
- Can the breeder show you the family tree of the parents of the kitten you are going to buy?
- Can the breeder show you the health test results of the kitten’s parents? Important diseases are Fiv, Felv, PK-Def, HCM and PRA.
- Does the kitten have up-to-date vaccination papers?
- Does the kitten look healthy? (clean nose, ears and eyes, shiny fur, energetic?)
It is possible to ask other breeders if they know the breeder you have selected. TICA has a list of Bengal breeders. Ask the opinion of more than one cattery to get a good overview. Breeders are competitors and gossip about each other a lot. Try to filter out the information you find important, and, proof when they talk badly about another breeder. On the Facebook pages of catteries, you may find reviews as well.
