Considering giving away my Bengal

[winterforming]

I am about to buy my fifth pair of curtains because she ween on them and rips literally hundreds of holes in them. She also scratched at my sofa and has chewed through some of the material. She has a scratch post that she used.

She has ruined countless pairs of shoes by chewing through them. She's now kept away from shoes.

She urinates everywhere, on the carpet (not allowed upstairs anymore) on clothes, on the kitchen counters, on the hard floor. I eliminate the smell with enzyme cleaner but it makes no difference.

She is also bitey and scratchy. She will attack for no reason.

My house stinks, there's wee absolutely everywhere. My curtains look awful. I'm covered in scratches.

Please help?!

Here is a pic of the little terror. She's 1.5 btw.

Well please don’t give her away, research a specific pedigree rescue. Have you had her neutered?

Is she allowed outside? Sounds like she needs more to do and isn’t getting enough stimulation maybe.

That's what I meant by giving her away. She isn't neutered yet.

She also isn't allowed outside, I'm worried about her being stolen and that it's been left too late to "teach" her how to roam free.

Bengals are known for being a pain in the arse.

Where did you get her from?

Why hasn’t she been neutered OP?

I understand if she’s not allowed outside you probably didn’t think it was urgent but it has many other benefits for the cat. Plus right now what if she did get out by accident?

Where did you get her from?

My friend could no longer look after her when she was a kitten. He got her from someone on a pets4home ad.

Oh so no support from a specific pedigree breeder then.

Bengals can be absolutely nuts.

I don’t think it is ever too late. My female cat didn’t get outside until a similar age and she is a proper outdoorsy cat now but still loves her cuddles (she is however neutered). She is extremely active and I think if she was made to stay inside now would turn rather destructive too. I know you are saying you are worried about her being stolen but it sounds like neither you nor the cat are happy anyway so why don’t you try letting her out. Alternatively you could cat proof your garden (very expensive bit maybe worth a look if you’re about theft)

Cats are not good domestic pets unless they are neutered - it may not stop the tearing stuff up, but stopping her coming in to call regularly is likely to help a lot with the weeing certainly.

Christ almighty. Get her neutered immediately. No wonder she's causing mayhem, the heat cycles will be driving her crazy. She'll likely be a different and much calmer cat when it's done.

This is one of the problems of breeders thinking it's a great idea mixing wild cat genes into the domestic cat pool. If you look at specific Bengal rehoming sites I'm afraid these behaviours are not unusual.
I agree with neutering and allowing outside access if you don't already.

Get her fixed get a catio

God, kept indoors too, with no other feline company? I'm not surprised you're both climbing the walls!

First step, urgent neutering - obviously don't let her out until you've done this - then look at how she can go out safely. Can you build a pen from one of your windows? Cat proof your garden?

Yeah she will be going absolutely bonkers when on heat.

She hasn't been on heat in a few months, she seems to come on much more during the summer months. She's much calmer and more affectionate when on heat.

I will get her neutered.

Do you think a companion would help?

Definitely neuter and maybe invest in a better scratching post, one which is taller with things to do on it etc. Do you play with her? Things like chasing a feather on a bit of string?

Neuter her immediately. Let her recover, then start letting her out for small bouts of time, eg 10-15 mins. It should be easy as she'll probably be scared. If you can catio (as a pp said) or otherwise be with her and give her easy access back into the house, she should settle quite quickly.

She's so frigging beautiful btw; if I didn't have a nutcase of my own I'd volunteer to take her 😀

Try letting her out, she probably needs way more stimulation and exercise which outdoor will provide.

We have a Bengal cross, she was going to be an indoor cat until the vet advised us that for her, it would be cruel.

She clearly has aspirations to be a farm cat and is a fantastic ratter, luckily she isn’t interested in birds.

She is able to come and go as she pleases now, but is out most of the time no matter the weather, she loves it.

We installed an insulated cat igloo type thing in the garden to give her the choice of additional protection from the elements and to be honest she rests there more than indoors, always watching leaves blowing about etc.

She is gorgeous and incredibly bored.
They are notorious breeds for challenging behaviour but it really might improve if she was better stimulated and if you can let her outside - even to a secured off area it would be really helpful.

I have a Bengal cross a similar age. She was a psycho until I got her neutered (10 months due to vets constantly cancelling non emergencies because of covid) then she chilled right out and now goes out and is much happier. I now have a 13 week snow lynx Bengal, she's not displaying any of those behaviours and will be getting spayed in a couple of months.

I think you really need to get her spayed and maybe get her a catio or the breeder of our little one attaches a lead to the washing line and let's her cats run round the garden back and forward. I'm not keen on the sound of that but that's what they do and its an option for you.

Spray your curtains with the stuff you get that puts them off. Stick the double sided tape to deter jumping up at the edge of the worktops, make sure a litter tray is in every room. Shel likely stop the spraying to leave a scent though once spayed. The most annoying couple of days of my life was when our eldest cat went into her first season. I don't know how you have been dealing with that.

I do play with her, she has toys and I try to stimulate her. It just doesn't seem to be enough.

She has escaped a few times and is always off without any hesitation, the longest she's been gone before being found is a couple of hours. I was thinking of maybe getting one of those GPS collars.

With the current kitten and puppy trade I'm really worried someone will steal her.

I really don't want to give her away but I'm coming to the end of my tether. The smell of the house is embarrassing.

She also isn't allowed outside, I'm worried about her being stolen and that it's been left too late to "teach" her how to roam free

This is the problem with bengals. They are often kept indoors, yet naturally have huge territories and need to be outdoors.

Get her neutered. Let her out if you aren’t near busy roads. She will figure it out. Bengals are trainable so it’s fairly easy to teach them a call and they come home quickly. A secure garden is the best option if you can.

Whatever you do don’t get another cat. This will exacerbate the issues as her territory will be even smaller shared with another cat. They are better with dogs ime.

As for rehoming, chances are she’ll be exactly the same in the next home, then the next, so better if you can sort the issues.

Does she look very bengal? I can’t see her coat in the photo. A lot look like basic tabbies and are less likely to be stolen.

Picture of my cats 🐈

I also don't think she's spraying. She's doing full wees.