Hi everyone. So I finally bought my first bengal after YEARS of wanting one and reading about them, and I am so excited! However, I'm a bit nervous about her being lonely. My boyfriend and I are both third year medical students, and we'll be starting rotations in August (right after I pick up our new kitten). Obviously, our schedule will vary quite a bit depending if we're on a family med rotation vs a surgery rotation, but there is a good chance that we won't be home for at least 9 hours during the day... some days it'll be much more, I'm sure. Since we're not on the same schedule, I'm hoping that between the two of us, we could work it out so she's not alone for more than 8 hours in a day, but that still worries me. I have every intention of playing with her in the morning before I leave and as soon as I get home and providing her with lots of toys and boxes and things to climb/scratch, but I don't know if that'll be enough. I talked to the breeder at length about all of this (and peppered her with questions for weeks), and she assured me she won't become destructive or aggressive as long as I give her lots of attention when I am home. After she realized I was still concerned, she offered to sell me a beautiful silver female bengal that was born just 4 days after the one I've chosen for a pretty significantly reduced price (in consideration of what I've seen silvers go for) and would let me do a couple of payments to break up the cost burden. But obviously, that reduced price is still A LOT, and for medical students, just one bengal is a bit of a splurge. I know that I could get another kitten that isn't a bengal for much less at a shelter.... but I also don't want to find myself liking one more than the other (that sounds so terrible
). More importantly, I don't want to find that this bengal ends up sad or lonely after all the time I've been waiting to have one... So I may be willing to take on the expense and live a bit more conservatively if that turns out to be the best option. Or maybe try to find a shelter kitten that could keep up with a bengal? Any thoughts or input is much appreciated! I'm supposed to make a decision about the silver within the next few days