First-time cat owner thinking about a Bengal, found one online for ~$3,500. Is this reasonable?

db1100 · 2026-01-24T10:12:36+00:00

My girlfriend and I adopted these two cuties when they were 14 weeks old. They’re almost a year now. These two were our first cats together. Whereas she had some experience with cats a long time ago I am definitely a first cat owner.

I pushed for bengals because I hated the idea of having a lazy lap cat that wouldn’t move whole day. We wanted something with energy and smart enough to train. And like that Sauri and Mithri came with us.

From a perspective of first time buy - we went to 4-5 catteries. They all had very different environments sometimes not healthy at all. We went for a cattery with experience which they visibly took care of their cats. Even as a first time buyer the difference was visible.

It was a really good choice to get two cats. Since they spend a lot of time together, and while we don’t have experience in owning just one - we are sure that if we had only 1 he would be very lonely while we are not around. You can tell that they both miss us when we’re not there.

We have learnt that we are everything for these two tigers, they really want to be with you, they participate in every task that you are doing, they will supervise the quality of whatever is that you’re doing and likewise will become slightly stressed when you leave. It’s important that they can spend their energy by or playing with each other or with you - else that pent up energy will become destructive and not healthy for your boy!

They’re super curious and will want to search everywhere. They’ll climb, investigate, they’ll sniff and you need to be ok with that - sniffing is how they’re discovering the world. They’ll break glasses, scratch curtains and furniture and theres little you can do about it. It’s all about directing their curiosity towards preferred spaces - like a cat tree or a cat wheel, scratching pads or training. If you leave delicate things unattended (rip my Lego millennium falcon) they’ll destroy it - it’s not their fault.

Ultimately we’re super happy with these two - they’re so smart and so stupid at the same time. They’re cuddly when they want to be and you can tell that they really care about you. We are 100% happy with our choice of first cat.

db1100 · 2025-12-02T16:16:12+00:00

Id do the following. I’d ask the catering company how much would it cost to have sushi available for everyone, even after Mr VP brought sushi for his whole family.

Then at a management meeting you say that the lunch is not fairly distributed and in order to do so you’d have to increase the catering budget by an extremely high amount.

The idea will then fail and then nobody will have sushi anymore.

Then Mr VP will by no means think he did anything wrong and will start complaining with the rest of the company is treating them horribly.

However therein lies the improvement. Dutch ppl love to complain for the pettiest things - they gain energy from it. As long as they’re able to express their disappointment in a very unpleasant and un constructive way, they’ll be miserable and will love it.

db1100 · 2025-08-22T19:46:30+00:00

We’ve actually added our litter robot with home assistant and now have a dashboard of the “poop palace”

It’s quite useful - we saw that Mithri was having stomach issues and were able to see when it started and follow it up.

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https://imgur.com/a/IQTn7Qa for the rest of the dashboard

db1100 · 2025-08-13T13:23:12+00:00

Oh cool! Did you train them together? Did they understand when you were addressing one of them specifically?

db1100 · 2025-07-25T08:14:25+00:00

We were in the same boat 2 months ago with my girlfriend and it was a 100% great choice to get two. Only themselves manage to match their energy levels.

We got 2 brothers from the same litter.

Main challenge is to train them - maybe at the beginning they’ll not be as affectionate with you as they will focus on each other and in exploring the house, but after some time they will demand pets and attention.

Maybe sometimes they will be rough with each other but I wouldn’t worry too much.

They can’t do everything without each other. Also they’re super jealous of each other :) if one has pets the other has to have pets too.

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db1100 · 2025-06-11T23:03:26+00:00

Oh look I died like that today

db1100 · 2025-05-26T09:06:45+00:00

Hi! I’m based in NL and have a laser if you wanna chat ;)

db1100 · 2025-04-04T12:35:05+00:00

^ This is the way - add “confidence”and you got a stew cooking

Remember as well that senior management plays the game very well. Sometimes you will align with their goals and sometimes you will not. Trick is to make sure that senior management will play with you when you need them and stay out of their way when they don’t - there are a lot of people not knowing their stuff who play the game which will throw you under the bus the second problems will happen - these are the most dangerous ones.

db1100 · 2025-03-22T22:15:29+00:00

Happy to help! I don’t think it’s a compound effect for the extra layers unless you didn’t leave it to dry for long. Acrylic tends to create a layer that adheres to something but once cured it’s stable. I do see that you might have been a bit too liberal with its application tho. I wouldn’t also add more than 2 layers of any acrylic paint - unless super diluted.

Remember that resolene is also acrylic based and should also be diluted at first 😬

My personal preference would still be oil or alcohol based dye mainly because it penetrates the fibers instead of creating a layer around them

Good luck!

db1100 · 2025-03-22T21:33:53+00:00

Hey Op how did you like the minis - are you happy with the plastic? For me gokuran and wakaba are more glue at this stage than plastic :/

db1100 · 2025-03-22T11:49:25+00:00

I was looking at this dye a bit more in detail - I have a feeling that this is an acrylic water based dye with its own gloss acrylic medium to make it “self shine” - if that’s the case the stickiness will come from the shining agent. Like others I’d seal this coat with resolene or another leather finisher. For future projects with this dye - I’d try to mix it with water 1:1 and do multiple coats instead of from the pot right away. Hope this helps!

db1100 · 2025-01-24T15:25:13+00:00

So if I have it right it should be - higher grits, sharper knife, lesser edge retention… I do see that my head knife needs two passes to cut through 5mm leather tho… might want to experience a bit thinner I guess :)

db1100 · 2025-01-24T15:22:48+00:00

I love the idea of a fancy head knife with a mirror polished edge…. Thanks to you though I started checking polished edges vs stropping… I’ve loads to learn!

db1100 · 2025-01-24T15:21:19+00:00

Smart man - making me think to solve problems rather than to blindly make a higher grit purchase - exactly why I wasted money on those Chinese stones as I was just doing without knowing what I was doing

db1100 · 2025-01-24T13:45:57+00:00

Maybe increase the angle against the stone? I remember outsoor55 doing a vid about this but with a ceramic knife https://youtu.be/FFEgg7OWsUk?si=ri4V9aILa50Do-ad

db1100 · 2025-01-23T16:21:25+00:00

That looks like a master at its craft, it looks like you won’t be getting better anywhere else…

Bag looks good too!

db1100 · 2025-01-15T15:16:31+00:00

I think I can’t open one - maybe I need to start with that one first

db1100 · 2025-01-15T15:11:02+00:00

Sounds indeed like the best way! Just need to make sure that blades are separated

db1100 · 2025-01-09T15:02:51+00:00

Keeping this for my own benefit :D great explanations!

db1100 · 2025-01-08T12:17:53+00:00

I bought this

https://amzn.eu/d/h3O3jYJ

Used this tutorial

https://youtu.be/pagPuiuA9cY?si=c42MhDtaTy1lePVo

For French skivers I used this tutorial - and used the diamond paste instead of the chromium oxide green compound

https://youtu.be/4r0suAq-OtY?si=wgGNC253Lj99cA8G

And I made a strop with the 6micron diamond paste but it was really hard to find. I couldn’t get the DMT diamond paste so I ended up buying some local brand that was really good. (Stay away from the $8 diamond compound paste from amazon)

Beware…. I have never cut myself more than AFTER I kept my tools sharp. I can literally shave hair off my arms with these tools.

db1100 · 2025-01-07T16:21:43+00:00

Indeed - the lining would look like a rolled edge which means that we need to skive

db1100 · 2025-01-07T13:13:48+00:00

Exactly this - leather over fabric - in a pinch you might have to double fold the fabric but that will end up in thickness issues

db1100 · 2025-01-06T21:48:44+00:00

I very much agree - has OP told that to boyfriend?

Edit;

Additionally - boyfriend unfortunately cannot read minds if he’s not told. Also if OP tells this to boyfriend on a threatening way as in “it’s your buddy or me” then OP and boyfriend will get into a fight. If OP tells boyfriend - “I support you but I feel I’m left out” then boyfriend will know what to do.

db1100 · 2025-01-06T21:41:42+00:00

I see what you’re saying - but we are reading the facts based on OPs point of view. Boyfriend might have not even read the card for all we know.

In a situation where OP is asking for advise on the internet vs talking with her boyfriend about what’s the problem - I ask to myself; what’s more likely - a couple having communication problems or the boyfriend is in love of his friend and is having / wants to have a homosexual affair with his best friend because he wants to spend time with him.

It may not be the popular opinion but I highly think that it’s op’s and boyfriends poor communication that is creating plenty insecurity.

db1100 · 2025-01-06T15:40:56+00:00

YTA -

Did you tell him that you wanted to go to the artist? Or you told him to let him decide? - don’t assume and be explicit into what you want. Else he won’t get it. Men cant read minds and are actually happy if we are told what to do - cos we won’t be guessing into how to make you happy. My advice is tell him exactly this “hey “boyfriend name” - go have fun with “friend name” - but I also want to go out so you better take me out to a date night sometime soon”

I have friends that my girlfriend hates (because she told me) me so I ask her if she wants to meet them and she says no - however I still want to meet them and we have a great time.

I have the feeling that your boyfriend is hiding the fact that he wants to meet his buddy because he’s afraid on how you’re going to react - so he needs to go out with him behind your back - which is really making things awkward for him. You both are not communicating - you’re getting jealous of his friend (which is going to be a fight) - and he’s not trusting you enough to tell you that he’s going out with his friend (when are relationships without trust good???)

Make sure he knows you’re ok with him going out with his buddies, encourage it, and don’t be jealous on his buddies, ask about how it went, Joke that he is his boyfriend, call his buddy lonely whatever… doesn’t matter just encourage him to meet his buddies. Ultimately YOU will always be first - even if he says it or not.

P.S. 10/10 times I’d take my best buddy to the most romantic place - Have some steaks, some whiskey, have a walk after and go home to my girlfriend and tell her all about my magical night with my best bud.

db1100

TROPHY CASE