Hello everyone! :> I have found your forum last night, and literally stayed up very late simply reading and getting more and more informed about this beautiful breed. I have a few questions though and i think that your community would be the best for me to ask. I tend to be long winded so i will try to keep it on the shorter side..!
I'll incorporate a bit of a back story but if you want to skip straight to the questions, i put a tl;dr below the wall-of-text..!
We have been looking to adopt a cat in the last few weeks and preferably one that is known to cause less allergies than regular domestic cats. I have had cats before moving across country but have been cat-less for the two years i have been here; the ones i had before are now living with my brother. The vet did not advise a plane ride for one of them which was very old and very jumpy, prone to eating disorders when anything too stressful would happen, and i could not bear separating them as they grew up together. So i prefered to break my own heart instead of risking anymore health issues for him.
We are expecting our first child this december and ever since i have been out here, i am been a wreck everytime i would hear about the ones i left with my brother, when he would send me pictures or see other cats around. I miss having a pet, having life around the house -oh so much-, it is not even funny (and the hormones right now are not making it any better). We recently moved to a new house, rented, and managed to convince the landlord to potentially have pets. My evil mastermind plan was then set in motion: finding a breed that would not cause as many allergies as i did have mild allergies to the couple i had but my love for them was stronger than the sniffles they were giving me, screw going through 2846245 tissue boxes per month, i was keeping my kitties, thank you very much. This was pretty much my way of thinking for the 8 years i've had them. My boyfriend, though, would not have it this way right now. It is either a cat that do not affect me or nothing, for my sake and the one of our future child i am currently carrying.
My other brother has a beautiful sphynx and so does my father and his wife, they have three, and i have never had any troubles at all with them. At first, we looked into getting a sphynx but there seem to be very very few breeders out here from the research i have done and that is when we stumbled upon the bengal. And boy did my heart do a 180 on the sphynx when i looked at them, read about their personalities and everything about them. I am in love with the breed. We have met a few breeders already and allergy wise, everything seem #1; one breeder even told me i could come back a few other times to play with her cats to really make sure i am good and have no reaction and i intend to... As much to make sure as to just be around those gorgeous creatures again!
Here is the thing though, they are said to be excellent family cats, which was also another thing that have drawn us to them. The active part of them, having to play alot and taking them out is also perfect for us and our lifestyle. As is the whole "home catifying". My boyfriend is a carpenter by trade and is already starting to sketch out things he could build for the cat on the walls, or furniture modifications.
Tl;dr -> But are they good with newborns? Is it a good idea to get one about 5 months before the baby is born, so we have time to let him adapt to the new home, and to us? The breeder we met still have a few kittens and they would be ready to go mid-july; that would give us a month to prepare here, and 5 before baby comes. Do they get jealous? Is there anything to be aware of, aside from the simple logic of always being in the same room as the baby and not leave the cat alone with him, not let the cat into the crib and so on? Any tips/advices?
I am really wanting to have a cat again and bengals just seem like the perfect fit. And i do want our child to grow up with a furry friend. I have already been put off of work and so i would be home with the cat most days, and then again for the next 2 years or so after the birth of the child. I have been reading up a lot on them and adjusting everything according to what i have read.
We (i?) simply need reassurance right now that it would be something good as much for us, the baby, and the kitten himself. I want to do things right for everyone and do not want to jump blindly into something that could potentially not be best at the time for anyone. While it would be disheartening to have to wait next year, since my decision is pretty much made to get a bengal, the matter really is "when", i am willing to do so if it really would be best in the long run.
Sorry about the lenghty read, and thank you for any advice you could have! :]
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