# problem bengal



## Kherrigan (May 7, 2014)

hello! i've signed up specifically to get some help with my male bengal cat. so firstly a bit of background;

i adopted arry from a breeder along with his breeding partner rosie. they were both 19 months old and were spayed and neutered. the breeder we got them from was retiring, as such arry and rosie were retired and rehomed.

they were brought up in outdoor pens beside other cats, which had toys, litter boxes, indoor and outdoor areas for recreation, etc.

when we got them, they were both very nervous and skittish, which was to be expected. i live in a flat with my dad, everything was new to them. rosie settled in fine, arry not so much.

he's nervous and i've accepted that he'll always be nervous, but he still comes to cuddle every so often and when he's in a decent enough mood he's a regular cat.

here's the message i've sent to the breeder,



> hello! it's sam, we adopted rosie and arry off you at the end of last year
> i just wanted to message you re: arry, he's always been nervous and never fully settled into being a house pet. we've never minded, he was just a bit jumpy but he'd often come settle down for a cuddle on the sofa in an evening and he was looking healthy and eating etc and everything fine.
> recently however (ie. the last couple of months) he's taken to compulsively pacing and meowing. he's always taken to pacing but he sort of grew out of it early this year, but now it's all kicked up again.
> there's nothing that's happened that i can put down to being a cause, but it's just getting worse and worse. the meowing is awful, it's constant in all of the windows and there's just no way to distract him to get him to be quiet.
> ...


i'm now at my wits end, this isn't our flat and my dad will not be accepting of a cat that is now urinating all over his bedroom. i don't know what to do, i've studied animal behaviour and even since i've read up on cat behaviour.

obviously i've researched trying to help him with behavioural problems, getting more toys, more scratching posts/ activity towers, ive even cleared the top of our highest cabinets so he can climb up there and watch everything going on, you know.

so this is my last resort, i need any kind of help you can offer, i'm totally out of ideas.

please and thank you


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## OrientalSlave (Jan 26, 2012)

I'd say he's bored and stressed. Bengals are often problem cats as they are (usually) intelligent and terratorial.

He needs a vet check PDQ to make sure he doesn't have a medical problem.

Read this iCatCare page:
Soiling indoors | international cat care

And this one:
Making your home cat friendly | international cat care

And the page it links to:
AAFP and ISFM Feline Environmental Needs Guidelines


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## Kherrigan (May 7, 2014)

OrientalSlave said:


> I'd say he's bored and stressed. Bengals are often problem cats as they are (usually) intelligent and terratorial.
> 
> He needs a vet check PDQ to make sure he doesn't have a medical problem.
> 
> ...


thanks for the articles, i agree he's definitely stressed, and due to his nervousness of people i'd say he's quite bored.

he does have all the enrichment required for cats, i've made so many efforts to make sure he has high places (we have two 6ft+ shelving units that he can get up, a 5ft high tower, access to all the other bookshelves, window ledges etc) because i know its extremely important. he has hide aways, beds, toys. i even have a cat nip spray that keeps him interested! (for all of three minutes, anyway)

getting him to play is difficult. i've tried a fair few different types of toys, but he's actually quite lazy when it comes to trying to actually play with any of them. whereas our female will go crazy over a laser pointer or a feather on a string, arry will simply bat at them once or twice, and then roll over and ignore them.

it's not easy to tire him out unfortunately 

i'm just concious of him being in an environment that's making him so uncomfortable that he's never going to feel perfectly content. sometimes just the stress of having people in the same room as him can cause him to act up, and even though he came from a place with minimal human contact we've worked with him slowly over the past 6/7 months and he's just not over interested in a human bond.

again, unlike the female, who's now as happy as can be!

i'll definitely get him booked into the vets, though, to see if there is anything.


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## Kherrigan (May 7, 2014)

just as a quick note - i should mention that he gets on perfectly well with our female! they've spent most of their lives together, so there are no issues between them at all.

they do spend a fair amount of time chasing each other around and wrestling, so arry does get physical exercise during the day (even though he's twice her size and weight, she doesn't go down lightly!) 

they also spend a lot of time grooming each other, cuddling up together, and him, uh, getting his way with her (even though he's neutered haha) so he has social interaction aswell.


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## chillminx (Nov 22, 2010)

He does sound bored and if he doesn't want to play with toys then what he wants is go outdoors and explore. The crying at the windows, the pacing and the urinating around the house, are all symptoms of frustration at being shut in.
I have seen it before. 
(though I do agree with others - you should get him checked by the vet in case he has a bladder problem)

Some cats take to a life spent indoors, others do not, usually males. It is very hard to keep such adventurous cats happy and entertained as indoor cats. As a stud cat living in a pen he would no doubt have had other "activities" to keep him occupied. Now he has been neutered his focus is different.

Personally I think it would be unkind and unfair to keep indoors 24/7 a cat who is desperate to go out. I would at least be providing an outdoor run for such a pedigree cat, or better still a cat-proofed safe garden he couldn't escape from. But as you are in a 2nd floor flat I can't see how you can do this.

To allow him out to roam freely would be risky, not only because you might lose him, but because he might be a serious threat to neighbourhood cats, as some Bengals have been known to be, attacking them viciously. However if you live in a safe, traffic free area with few cats around, perhaps you should consider allowing him out.

For the moment you could certainly start training him indoors on a harness and leash, and if he is OK with the harness you could take him out to safe quiet places and let him wander around and sniff things for an hour or so every day, whilst you keep a firm hold of the leash.

The safest cat harnesses are made to measure by Mynwood and the Happy House Cats. Well worth the money.

MynwoodCatJackets.co.uk - Designer Collection

Happy House Cats


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## Jesthar (May 16, 2011)

Kherrigan said:


> getting him to play is difficult. i've tried a fair few different types of toys, but he's actually quite lazy when it comes to trying to actually play with any of them. whereas our female will go crazy over a laser pointer or a feather on a string, arry will simply bat at them once or twice, and then roll over and ignore them.


Have you tried the Flying Frenzy? Even my 8yo moggy, who does NOT do the play 'thing' can't resist some of the attachments for that, partcularly the feather and mylar one. You can get them here:

Frenzy Cat Toys UK

I also have a Bergen track my kitten absolutely loves belting around. All cats get bored of toys so a rotation is advised, but Bengals I believe get bored a lot quicker than many breeds.


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