I like to know as much as I can about something before committing to it, which often makes supermarket shopping somewhat time consuming…
Looking after an animal will hopefully be a commitment for many years so I/we wanted to make sure we knew what we were getting into for our own benefit and that of our Bengal cat’s.
Reading numerous online sources and contacting breeders from different parts of the world built up a picture of a breed that is bright, boisterous, sometimes mischievous, sometimes demanding, yet always rewarding.
Although prices vary a fair bit we knew a Bengal would not be cheap and ongoing costs would be higher due to special dietary needs (see Prices of Bengal Cats: The Definitive Global(ish) Guide 2021).
We discovered much to look out for and to ask potential breeders with regards to genetically determined illnesses, breed authenticity and how to avoid scams (see Bengal Cat Scams: List of the Top 9 Things to Know to Avoid One).
But research only gets you so far. It was time to start looking for cats…
Our Ideal Bengal Cat
Ideally, one that could do housework and was a wiz on the stock markets. Failing that, we put together a list of secondary criteria.
Bengals vary in appearance in terms of both colour and pattern.
We were after a spotted, I supposed you’d call it, an ‘orangey brown’ coloured cat, like one below. (image of the pattern we were after)
Female Bengals are apparently in general calmer than their male counterparts and don’t grow to be as large, which suited us and our home.
Price would be important too (unless it actually was a stock market genius…) and we didn’t want to travel too far to visit or collect either.
How and Where We Looked
The approach was quite simple.
We looked specifically at breeders’ websites, and on places with ads like Pets4Homes, where we could follow links to websites/social media (if any were present).
The more information and photographs each site or advert had the better as well as a social media presence with good feedback.
We then made contact with any breeder that had a kitten that fitted our criteria with the intention of arranging a visit.
Obviously, this was going to prove tricky with Covid-19 restrictions in place and changing all the time.
An arranged visit to see a couple of kittens fell through and the opportunity to see them again didn’t’ materialise as they were snapped up very quickly afterwards.
We had been told that kittens/breeders were receiving more interest than usual- probably due to lockdowns with people wanting company.
Many other possibilities were either outside our price range or the range in which we were prepared to travel.
Then we found a small breeder not too far away who still had one kitten from the litter available.
That kitten was Veena from Stormborn Bengals…
Further Reading:
