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.

Do you have an outdoor area? Garden?

@Scbchl

Picture of my cats 🐈

Oh they are absolutely gorgeous

Yes, I have an ok sized garden.

We live pretty close to a busy main road so that's a worry.

Here's

*a photo where you can see her markings

Get her spayed immediately. Build a catio or secure your garden.

Poor thing. You have seriously let her down imo.

Bored rigid and in pain from being in heat constantly. You'd probably destroy things too in that situation!

Do not even think about getting her a companion til you do some research and take owning a breed seriously. Grrr.

@CoastalWave

Get her spayed immediately. Build a catio or secure your garden.

Poor thing. You have seriously let her down imo.

Bored rigid and in pain from being in heat constantly. You'd probably destroy things too in that situation!

Do not even think about getting her a companion til you do some research and take owning a breed seriously. Grrr.

Covid has made it extremely difficult to get her spayed, and it hasn't been too priority as she is an indoor cat and barely comes on heat.

She is played with for a good amount of time everyday and fed a really good diet. I was advised she would live a safer, less stressful life as an indoor cat.

Get her spayed immediately and then either cat-proof your garden or build a catio.

No wonder she's miserable and stressed.

Bengals don't make good inside cats. They need to explore. And there really is no excuse as to not having neutered her yet. My cat is the same age and there was no problems having him neutered and vaccinated.

I was advised she would live a safer, less stressful life as an indoor cat.

The fact that she has significant behavioural problems would suggest that you were given bad advice.

Looking at her I think yes she’s at high risk of getting stolen. Bengals are attractive to people. Can you cat proof your garden? That would be the best thing. And definitely get her neutered ASAP.

I'm surprised you haven't had every local tomcat trying to get into your house when she's in heat!

I have a Bengal - this will be the first and last time I own one.

Maybe she'll calm down once she's neutered - but don't bet on it.

I think the wildcat genes mean they don't make good housecats. They like to roam too much to be cooped up inside. They are also aggressive - mine likes to attack for no reason.

@LadyDanburysHat

Bengals don't make good inside cats. They need to explore. And there really is no excuse as to not having neutered her yet. My cat is the same age and there was no problems having him neutered and vaccinated.

They don't make great outdoor cats either as they tend to roam further than normal domestic cats, can be aggressively territorial.

Cats can be kept indoors but need lots of stimulation and interaction, I have trees and shelves and toys a plenty and spend a lot of time with my indoor cats and they also have a an outdoor run too, but they are far safer in doors and the local wildlife live a far happier safer life with my cats indoors.

I was advised she would live a safer, less stressful life as an indoor cat

Bengal breeders and breed advocates always say this. They usually have outdoor pens or big catios and don’t have to live with them as housecats!

She clearly isn’t living a less stressful life- and you only have to look at facebook rehoming pages to figure out that your experience is very common. Lots and lots being rehomed because they are struggling and stressed, spraying, weeing everywhere. Yet many rehoming sites have indoor only as a condition of rehoming!

please get her neutered, no matter what you decide to do with her. there is a danger otherwise that whoever she ends up with next (if it comes to that), will use her as a money making breeding machine.
after she is neutered see how she is. it may be that it will calm her down, who knows? but either way, don't risk her becoming constantly bred.

Our cats are 12 and were indoor cats for a long time as we lived in a flat. When we moved to our home we let them out, age 5. They mostly Potter around the garden. Point is, she will be fine outdoors at that age.

Get her spayed so she isn't looking for males and they're not queuing up in the garden.

Think about what's best for her.

1)being moved to her 4th home in 18 months with no guarantee of being looked after properly.

2. let her out to have freedom she obviously craves, save your home in the process and continue to look after a much calmer, happier cat

What about her getting stolen?

And what about the weeing? What can I do about that? She is doing full wees, not spraying.

the weeing may be for attention. out of frustration. it may be that the hormones in her wee smell particularly strong to her where she hasn't ben neutered, and cats wont use a dirty tray. after she is neutered i personally think i would let her out in the garden, on a lead and harness at first and see how you get on. once cats are grown the likelihood of them getting stolen does diminish slightly. you just have to do what is best for the cat and you.

@winterforming

What about her getting stolen?

And what about the weeing? What can I do about that? She is doing full wees, not spraying.

Once she is able to go outside you’ll probably find she toilets outside too. Can you have a cat flap?

It is true that Covid has made neutering difficult. It's something that's causing major welfare concerns now as the effects are being felt. But you need to get her done immediately - especially if she's managed to escape a few times!

After that it doesn't sound safe to let her out as you're near a busy road. You also need better security such as window restrictors to stop her escaping again. A catio would be ideal. Is that possible?

If you have space for a catio - can you leave her out there when you are at home and then leave her in the house when you are out to keep her safe from theft.

@winterforming

What about her getting stolen?

And what about the weeing? What can I do about that? She is doing full wees, not spraying.

Cat-proof your garden or install a catio so she can't just roam wherever she wants.

The weeing situation will probably solve itself once she's neutered.

What about her getting stolen?

Which would you rather do- put up with this behaviour, or have a happy cat who is at a slight risk of being stolen. It’s fairly rare tbh, more often it’s neighbours feeding them etc.

And what about the weeing? What can I do about that? She is doing full wees, not spraying

It’s likely stress and if she starts going out and marking outside territory it will probably stop. It did with mine, once he started going out all the weeing, spraying and aggression stopped.

Ignore those saying she can go out. She can't. She's a bengal and yes, you're right, will get stolen!

I've had 2 cats during lockdown - both were spayed at 2kg. MOST vets were working as normal. I think some did suspend services but I found it incredibly easy to sort my two out.

Cat proof your garden.

No wonder. Neuter her . She has also appeared to have 3 homes in her 1.5 year life. Not good bless her.