We are moving into our new house in 6 months and are trying to figure out weather to get our dog or cat first we are looking at getting a French bulldog and a Bengal cat. Experienced animal lovers what would you get first. I've heard cats don't take well to puppies
We have a Bengal and a Maine Coone cat sharing our home with a 85lb Chow/Lab cross, both kittens were purchased one year ago after our other cats had to be put down after 17-18 years.
Kittens will almost always hiss at dogs in the beginnings and most dogs realize they have claws and will back away, within a week they should be fine with each other and sometimes it takes a couple weeks...don't keep them separated, let them become friends.
As for Bengals, if you are a *first time* cat owner I suggest you think about this breed as they *can* be problematic, I am not saying everybody has a problem but lets just say these cats need lots of attention and some breeders will ask you to feed them a raw diet and if you don't and they were raised until 12 weeks on raw and you try to convert to kibble you're gonna have one sick kitty.
Our bengal has a wheel we bought him from 1FastCat and he runs on it full out when he's bored and while we watch TV you will hear him walking on it, he constantly tries to get us to play with him and did I mention they are VERY energetic cats, they are basically 4 generations from wild and will still act somewhat wild at times.
If you decide to go the raw diet make sure you do it right and get a recipe from your breeder or ask me and I'll have the wife email you, she makes batches of about 50lbs of meat every month or so and the cats both eat 1/2 pound of meat per day, so between them both its ONE POUND of chicken drumsticks, hearts, livers and some vitamins all weighed out and portioned...its a lot of work and if you go on holidays you will need someone to portion out this meat for your bengal every day, two times per day.
I don't want to discourage you from getting a Bengal at all just be aware they are a bit different than a normal cat, ours does not like to be held at all and howls if you hold him yet he will snuggle up in bed with us, some others have Bengals who like to be held. Also, some bengals tend to urinate on beds etc if things are not *right*, if you forgot to clean the litter they will let you know by probably pissing on your pillow or if they are mad etc...they are somewhat quirky and ours has only done it about 4 times in a year but its a bit odd and something you need to be aware of.
I've attached a picture of our Bengal(14.7 lbs) and Maine Coone(13.5 lbs) and the Bengal just turned 1 yr last week and the Maine Coone will be 1 yr in two more weeks.
The Bengal is almost at max weight but the Maine Coone will probably get to be 20-25lbs, they are the largest domestic cat breed.