Considering adopting a Bengal - am I mad?

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I lost my boy a fortnight ago and I am emerging from the fog of grief.

This feels incredibly disloyal but I looked on a local cat rescue site and there's a neutered one year old Bengal. They have always intrigued me but I wouldn't buy from a breeder - have always had moggies.

I have two redoubtable middle aged ladies who have lived with a variety of dogs, hens and a large dominant, chatty, intelligent male cat sadly no longer with us. No dogs or children, just me.

Loads of experience introducing cats to each other. Large house, large garden. Decades of cat ownership but realise taking on a Bengal and the potential behavioural problems is another matter altogether.

Should I take the risk?

Have you owned a Bengal? What are the good and bad points?

He is Monty at Yorkshire Cat Rescue if you want to look. ( can't link, sorry)

I won't. A neighbours killed my lovely little cat. Horrible breed.

We’ve got one, and also a tabby with some bengal in him.

Fab cats, both soft as shite and wouldn’t hurt a fly.

actually that’s a bit of a lie as they hunt and eat flies. And spiders. Good boys.

very playful and chatty. Get on well with each other.

give it a try, could be fine

If you live in an isolated house miles away from anyone else and have no children or other pets in the house, then maybe get one. Otherwise, please don’t.

We have a Bengal; she’s a lovely girl who looks like a big cat in the jungle but acts more like a snoozy puppy most of the time. She’s very light-boned (weighs almost nothing despite eating like a horse) and is often seen leaping up a tree or hanging out on the roof

She does hunt. We live in the country so it’s mice and rats and squirrels, plus the occasional baby rabbit. She eats them so it’s quite efficient - and we’ve never had any mice in our outhouses since she arrived. She’s not aggressive at all to other cats (and in fact gets bullied by our neighbours’ cat who is a farmyard thug)

She talks A LOT; I’ve never heard a cat so loud. Sleeps on my bed every night and lies on someone’s knee all evening if we have a fire. She’s gorgeous

We have a Bengal cross Egyptian Mau, she's definitely more Bengal in temperament and was very unhappy once she had to live with her sister a few years down the line, she didn't get back to herself until after her sister passed. They do tend to be better as only cats, she's not as feisty these days as is an older girl, but at 1 year was a scratcher, defensive and ruined our furniture and curtains. Obviously love her, but not the easiest and not a lap cat, oh and was a hunter, they both were.

I had a half Bengal half Siamese who I rescued :
pros
She was very talkative and loved attention. We lived near a school and she would wait at the end of our path for all of the fusses the kids gave her .
She loved my kids and their friends who would carry her around like a baby .
She played fetch with hair bands and returned them .
With us she was a softy . I never had a scratch when fleaing / worming etc
She was an amazing companion and got on really well with our dog ( we rescued her before the dog so she was older .)
She babied the dog from the start and often shared her bed .
She would follow us on long dog walks across the fields , giving us a running commentary! When she felt the distance was too far she waited in a tree for us to turn around .

Cons - her intelligence was beyond belief . We had to put child locks on all of the doors and drawers as she could open them all .Child locks on the kitchen cupboards did not work as she removed the kickboards !
She only liked our dog . Once would not let a neighbour walk their own dog down their own path .
Worries about her wandering miles in the fields behind our house and hoping she was safe .
She refused to wear a collar . She worked out that the safety function let them snap when pulled and she removed every single one we tried.
If she wanted something she was very vocal and very loud .
Yes , she was a nightmare , but I loved her to bits and miss her .

Having slept on it, I have decided against going to see him as I know my heart would probably melt and overcome reason. The rescue were very understanding.

I don't want to introduce someone who might terrify my resident cats or neighbour cats in the village. It would devastate me if a cat of mine injured or killed another.

Also I am not at my best at the moment and it sounds to me as if a Bengal would need as much attention and input on a permanent basis as a puppy, especially as he would not be an only cat.Not sure I am up to it.

It may be he is at the more docile end of the spectrum but am not sure it is worth the risk.

I think he would be best off as the only pet in the home.

Thank you all so much for your comments and advice.

Oh OP I’m really relieved. That’s a good decision. I was feeling really sorry for your other cats, and also a bit sorry for the Bengal who would be very unlikely to settle well with two cats already in the household and would probably have ended up going back, perhaps after (worse case scenario) injuring one of yours.

They really are better off as solo cats. And ideally with no near neighbours unless you are REALLY lucky and get a docile one.

They aren’t the same breed as domestic shorthairs, they really really aren’t.

We have a Bengal, he's no trouble at all! He loves playing with water so if running a bath we have to shut the door or he jumps in, he has worked out the lock on his biscuit feeder, he is clicker trained, and was easy to train to play fetch and we make sure he has plenty of toys, and a climbing/scratching tower he has worked out the launcher on DS' hot wheels track and how to push the cars back in so that keeps him amused for ages. He likes to play with DS, in the garden with cars, he was more excited about the marble run than DS. He is very affectionate likes to sleep on our beds. Also won't wear a collar but neither would my previous BSH/ moggy, just pinged them off, he does have excellent recall unlike prior cat.
He's not aggressive or any more territorial than any other cat I've had.

Oh he does hunt, but mainly moths, spiders and flies, his leap is impressive, we also haven't had a mouse since we got him and wet live in an old house, well other than the one he brought into our bedroom last week... He doesn't fight with neighbouring cats and dogs

I have a rescue Bengal. Would have sent her back to the shelter many a time in the early years. She was aggressive and would actually square up to you; a demon hunter of mice, shrews, birds, frogs and she nearly got a muntjac deer on one occasion. She'd bite your toes or sink her fangs into your calf if she wasn't fed quickly enough.
BUT... our DCs adored her, she loved a warm lap to snooze on, she'd chat and chirrup to you, and we never had any problem with vermin in the house.
It's only old age that's mellowed her (a bit).

Never getting another one, though!

We have one and it will be our last! We absolutely adore him but he rules the house and we all bow down to him 😂 I am dreading any neighbours moving and new people moving in with cats as that means fights and a fortune at the vets and no, we can't keep him, we tried and after a month we gave up!

Lovely cats, they are more like puppies but as I said he will be out last.

Huge hunter too, will bring a dead rat through the cat flap and upstairs as a present!

They are thé XL bullies of the feline world.

We have a 10 year old neutered male, he is now an indoor cat since we moved and he has taken to it well. He is much more loving now and craves attention. My daughter got a Siberian kitten and we were worried about introducing them but he has been the most patient older gentleman, he wanted to groom her straight away but she is a snarly one, so he just sits quietly near and she now follows him around to do what he does.

oh, and he also grooms his dog brother every night and they sleep together.

Oh god, this!! 🤣

I've had four bengals, 3 males and 1 female. The males have all been dopey and loving and fairly lazy, love us and the dogs. The female was more aloof and hunted a fair bit.
I have one male now, he's huge but like a teddy bear, wants to be with us all the time and the only real problem we've ever had with any of them is that they like to follow you wherever you go so, lots of running away or quickly putting them inside before you leave to go somewhere.
I think mine have all been F4's or later so maybe the more pure bred, the more wild behaviours you get.
Hope the foster goes well!

I have a gorgeous rescue Bengal. Never had a more affectionate, cuddly cat. He's a rescue because had an upper respiratory infection plus heart murmur. He's an absolute darling and splodged along my lap as I type.

P.s we don't have a cat proofed garden but take him out on a harness which he took to immediately. There is another Bengal out there; absolutely gorgeous, marmalade markings but a nasty bugger so don't let ours out unless with us. I would always recommend cats be kept indoors - nasty incidents involving people, dogs, cars etc.

We have a Bengal-cross and he's amazing - definitely not like other cats. Intelligent, very talkative, and very much our master 😄 Cannot stay in and will make his feelings on this loudly known. Lairy when younger, now sappy & sleeps on our bed. Not sure I could have a 'normal' cat after him.

PLEASE save yourself, & do NOT get a Bengal. Ever.

Moved in with my husband and his pedigree Bengal boy.
Yes - stunning coat - can have moments of being sweet & cuddly, but otherwise a complete and utter ARSEHOLE. (The cat - not my husband)

Neutered, but still bullies all the other cats in the house - pees in his potty, but also everywhere else around the house, and is an absolute DIVA when it comes to food.

He’ll refuse to eat if it’s not exactly what he wants (he can have 5 different, fresh options in front of him) and cause himself to become unwell & need fluids via IV at the vets (Bengals very rarely drink - all their moisture comes from the food they eat…… so no eating = dehydration)

I will never, ever own another Bengal (the husband knows this - so fingers crossed this boy has the fullest life) and I would never, ever recommend the breed.
You couldn’t pay me to have another.
Honest to God.

And I love cats! We have four others (tabbies, mixed) no issues….

Sorry to be Ms Negative Nancy - but I wouldn’t wish the strain (mental, emotional & financial) on anyone!

You didn't mention the early wakings either ,I have bags to me knees some days!!!