Tomorrow I pick my second bengal up, Daisy! I can't freaking wait but at the same time I am so nervous.

I already have Lilly who is now 5 and a half months old and was spayed 10 days ago. Lilly can be a very clingy cat (to me) who has a nice set routine but is also very playful and shows signs of boredom so adding Daisy into the house should be nice for her.

Thing is I'm so nervous about the introductions. We only really have one safe room which has become Lilly's room, she sleeps on top of her activity centre in the hammock, one of the litter trays is in that room along with the water fountain and her food.

Breeders reckon I should be find allowing them to meet each other almost straight away and think that Lilly will almost try and mother Daisy. This is an entirely new experience for me. My parents have done it in the past and have never even used safe rooms and everything was fine.

I know I've already made a topic related to this but arg!!! I only want the best for my girls and I don't want to do any harm to either.

Having a few issues with Lilly and her health but vets are fine with me introducing the second into the mix as they think Lilly's problems are stress and anxiety related as we got her when she was slightly older (at almost 17 weeks old). That she's missing a feline companion, this still doesn't stop me from being petrified haha

I hope I'm not the only one that's ever felt like this from going from one bengal to two!!!

Massive congrats you must be so excited

Please just a word of warning - do not introduce them straight away. Ideally it would be wise to allow separation for 2 weeks to make sure there is no transmission of any bugs, virus's, or simply stress induced shedding. We have these cats for all the time in the world - its tempting to let them meet first off but you don't want your first experience pilling a poorly cat. And trust me it can happen.
A friend of mine had two cats and bought in a third - after being requested by the breeder not to introduce them until a couple of week she went ahead and did it anyway. She ended up the next month trying to sort out illness in all 3 cats. Pilling them all, fecal testing costing alot of money when it would seem it was purely a slightly elevated level of bacteria in the gut of the new cat that had passed on to her resident cats.

Pedigree catteries have alot of potential health risks and its important if you have a resident cat to take it slowly to minimise risk.

x

By the way, they're both from the same breeder, different mothers same dad and both bought up in the same nursery!

If ones got something, the other one is going to have it anyways lol

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Lollo

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Lollo

Lilly went from being in a litter to being socialised with the adult cats. She seems to suffer from seperation as she cries the house down when I leave. Exactly how she behaved when I bought her home, she was looking for the other cats, but now she just runs round the house looking for me.

Lilly has muscle spasms/twitches which all her blood work has come back fine and since being spayed she's got slight inflammation of her gums which are bothering her a little bit. Other than that she's fine! Vets just think she's a highly sensitive cat and they have no issues with me introducing the second one. I was there today and I was adamant that Lilly would be fine with it and they think its the best thing for her.

Yes as you've said Lilly's been to the vets, where there are diseases but Daisy has also had two visits to the vets for her jabs.

We only have one room that can be used as a safe room like I said and that's been used as Lilly's sleeping area (her choice cause of the hammock - fave bed!) her food area etc and her chill out room.
Taking her from that area entirely could unfortunately stress her out, see my slight dilemma?

Can you not make your bedroom the new kittens safe room?

Neither kitten has been in a sterile bubble so will have been exposed to, potentially, parasites and infections. Lilly spent longer at the vets being spayed than your new kitten has so that does increase the likelihood of infection.... just like how hospitals are a great place to get sick

Introducing another kitten may make Lilly less clingy and less vocal but it also may not. I have 5 cats and 2 are extremely clingy and vocal regardless that there are other cats there. They just want my attention

I am not saying that having a second cat is not a great idea... i just don't think it will necessarily cure all your problems.

I still stand by keeping them separate. Vets, in all honesty, only see sick animals or those for boosters. They are not experts on kitten behaviour or on breeding and the issues around it.

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Lollo

I think I would also keep them seperate simply because of the illnesses. Since adding a second bengal to our home we have been fighting ear mites! Trust me it is not fun! Only Jasper has had them and I can only imagine what it would be like for all three of out pets to have them, especially BB she is terrible to give meds to! If I had no other choice I would put your new kitty in the bathroom! I know that is probably not an ideal place to have her but it is better than having to battle with an illness and vet bills! Aside from all of that I think they will get on fine, they are both really young and will probably take to each other a lot faster than what I had to deal with. I was like you and I was EXTEMELY nervous about bringing in another Bengal. It has all worked out really well, so take a deep breath and relax PLEASE oh please let us know how things go and what you decide to do!

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See I would use the bathroom idea BUT.. We only have one bathroom and my mum is disabled so not really the best idea to use that! I'd use my room but I'm not 100% confident that its safe enough as I have a gap down the side of my wardrobe which even Lilly loves getting down. Guess its not really a danger tho. But Lilly is going to go 100% bonkers if she can't do her normal 6:15am wake up call haha!

Ah what a pickle :) but today's the day! Ekkkk and I got a rotten cold now too :( great! Stupid English and its fluctuations between warm cold and wet :(

Ill talk to the breeders again before I leave with Daisy and see what they say again about introductions. I may just see how Lilly reacts to the noise of a second if I am concerned and they do need to be separated then I will have too.

In regards to the introducing a second may not improve the issues. I don't care if they do or don't. I love Lilly and her routine to bits but she is just very full of beans and how she behaves indicates that a second cat would be better suited to her. It's because I've fallen for bengals as to why we are getting another.

Seeing how Lillyreacts to the noise of the new one and taking it from there is not really the point. .

A lot of the time there will be no problem health wise. But when it happens it can be catastrophic. It is far more difficult to treat two kittens as they can keep passing things back and forth.

We can only give you unbiased advice on the best way to introduce, the rest is up to you.

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Lollo

Daisy has not even been home 30 mins and I have her in a safe room for the time being.

Lilly and daisy are talking to each other through the door and daisy has already drank and scoffed her food!!

This is them meeting each other for the first time (through the door)

That's sooo cute. Looks like they can't wait to really meet each other.

Very cute.... looks like little and large but could just be the perspective.

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Lollo

Due to their behaviour through the door I have let them meet each other. Growls and hisses from both and Lilly goes to tap her with her paw (no claws). When Lilly seems to go a little too boisterous then they are seperated. Done this on and off during the day and evening.

Now when Lilly goes in she growls a bit, she'll sniff daisy and then they chase each other. Lilly obviously trying to be the more dominant one and pouncing on daisy but there's no noises coming from either so sounds like its a nice play not nasty.

Have had a few issues with daisy and the litter tray though :( but I guess in a way it's semi expected. Trying to get on top of it ASAP.

Overall good first day!

They have never been left unsupervised and of course Lilly is having roam of the house tonight and my room and Daisy having the safe room (which Lilly does normally sleep in) so tonight shall be interesting.