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.

You could DIY a catio? Look on Facebook etc to see if anyone is selling an outdoor pen, perhaps an old aviary etc.
Just needs wire on the sides and a roof.

Cats vary in how much they need to be outside. I’ve had cats that are basically houseplants on legs and others that roam far and love to guard their territory from the top of the neighbours sheds.

Honestly I think people that can only give limited freedom to cats should adopt adult cats that have shown themselves to be happy with limited freedom.

Younger cats usually need the physical exercise of running and jumping and are hard wired to climb and hunt.

Our Bengal was mental too 🤣🤣

Sorry op I think definitely let her outside, she's obvs not happy and neither are you!

Personally I think it's worth the risk.

@twilightcafe Someone did try to steal my Bengal, dh saw a woman pull up on the road and try and tempt him down the grassy bank to her so he went out and she said he looked like her boy so she was taking him! She had a carrier and everything!

Dh set her straight and luckily my boy wasn’t the type to go to strangers but he was out there a while convincing her he was definitely our cat. Luckily I didn’t know because I would’ve just started crying.

Op, first priority is neutering. Then add Cystease capsules into her wet food. Lots of play running up and down stairs because it tires them out. Is her litter small granules?.

A YouTube channel run by catmandoo shows harness training.

I lost mine on the road eventually. We moved here because it was safe for him 🤦🏻‍♀️

Have her neutered, and maybe another little playmate cat to keep her occupied if you are having to leave her alone .She is a pretty little thing, and looks like she would be full of mischief , and needing lots of attention.

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

This - window seats and bird feeders as well and lots of play time.

Do you have just one scratching post - we have two indoor cats and have four posts - well 5 small one attched to window seat and several cardboard and hessian pieces stuck to walls and banisters.

If you are going to keep the cat indoors maybe look at Jaxson Galaxy - indoor cats are more common in US and he's had multiple series looking at problem cats.

just a word on the playmate suggestion. my cat now is a real sweetheart who loves other cats and when the neighbours cat runs in he is in his element, playing and running around. However, my last Siamese, sadly now gone, absolutely hated other cats and wouldn't tolerate a playmate that i bought for him so it sadly had to be moved on. a good idea is to see if you have anyone with a cat you could borrow to see how your cat is around other cats. Of course do this after she is neutered otherwise you could end up with more trouble if the loaned cat is a boy.

You could also try spraying curtains with lemon or other citrus spray - might work though I'd sort the exsting problem before getting stressed with new curtains.

She's bored & needs either a playmate or time outside. Both would be even better.

Not allowed outside. That is horrifically cruel. No wonder the cat is in torment.

To put your mind at rest about letting her out after her being a house cat so far, We started letting our 3 cats out after 4 years of them being indoor only (2 of them literally never been out since they were born). we went out with them a few times and then just had to trust them. They've had outdoor access through a catflap for 1.5 years now and they're all so much happier and calmer. One had real anger issues which are almost completely gone since going outside (unless he's hungry!)

I would also recommend another cat to keep her occupied. Both neutered and the new cat should be younger to increase the chances of them getting along.

The weeing, I think this should stop once the smell is gone completely and hopefully once neutered, allowed out to play and given some feline company, she shouldn't do it any more.

I can't comment on the fear of your cat being stolen, as I don't have a pedigree. I do have a very friendly cat though so I worry about him getting locked in someone's house/garage etc. but I had to weigh up the dangers vs. the benefits, as he was so desperate to play outside.

How long have you had her and she's still not neutered?

While I do think indoor cats should normally be more than one cat - introducing another cat can just mean even more problems and any introduction would have to be done slowly to avoid problems.

**Honestly I think people that can only give limited freedom to cats should adopt adult cats that have shown themselves to be happy with limited freedom.

I completely agree with this. All the house cats I've known who have been kept that way since kittens were awful - totally bonkers and clearly desperate to go outside. Shelters are full of elderly cats who would predominantly live inside.

My indoor ragdoll is also a pain for peeing where he shouldn't! But we now manage it quite well by putting puppy pads down in his preferred peeing spots - it makes the clean up significantly easier!

It’s not right to mistreat an animal because you’re scared it’ll get stolen. Most cats need to be outdoors. That’s the risk you take when you buy an expensive show cat.

I know someone who walks their cat on a leash in quiet areas. You'd look nuts but worth a try?

Otherwise there are lots of suggestions online for building a catio. That plus neutering her will hopefully help.

How many litter trays do you have? One of my cats was spraying/full-on weeing in every corner and I added another litter tray which really helped. As soon as she'd wee'd in one, she wouldn't return again as it was dirty so having two really helped as it's almost impossible to keep on top of it otherwise. Also, come cats don't like enclosed litter boxes and others don't like open trays.

Also, my cat didn't go out for the first 18 months of her life and she was fine when she eventually did. She hung out in the garden for a long time and as she got more confident this then expanded into next door and so on. They're pretty clever and start off by going a short distance from the house. The risk of theft is quite small asI'm sure a Bengal isn't too easy to catch...you could just let her out at night which would minimise the risk again? Mine only goes out at night - out at 7pm and then in again at 7am.

Shutting her out of areas might make her more anxious and likely to wee.

It’s like people who keep their cats inside because they’re scared they’ll get run over. No. Don’t have a cat if your road is too busy. Don’t make the cat suffer for it.

There should be x+1 litter trays - were x is number of cats.

We also went for the large multicat trays large multicat trays .

They can also be fussy about litter used - uusally with our cats it's anything heavily scented they won't be happy with which can mean outside litter tray soiling.

I think the problem with letting her roam freely, @winterforming , is as you've said, she might be stolen and you live near a busy road. You might also find the vet bills mount up with fight-related injuries or an RTA. I understand you can't afford a catio at the moment. When you have more funds, bear in mind it doesn't have to be anything expensive or fancy - someone might be selling one second hand, or a dog kennel tall run or aviary if disinfected. If you cat-proof the garden instead, bear in mind a Bengal can easily jump 8ft, so you need to go a bit higher than ordinary fences before attaching the curved over wire. Cats can be a bit spooked by harnesses, and strong and agile Bengals can pull and wriggle out, so careful fitting and training is needed. Once you've had her health checked and neutered, and made the other changes suggested, there should be some improvement.

Personally I couldn't cope with a cat, or any animal for that matter, weeing all over my house.

She should be spayed as that is the responsible thing to do and I don't agree with keeping cats inside, cats are independent creatures and need freedom to explore.

From how you've described her if someone did nick her they'd soon bring her back 😳🤣

If after spaying and allowing her out she still wees all over your house then I'd rehome...

She's bored shitless. Bengals are like puppies, they need lots of I put especially when they're young. She also needs spaying as a matter of urgency. When you say you play with her do you get her breathless ? Minimum half and hour in the mornings and then again in the evenings.

Bengals need their claws trimming at lot IME, every two weeks I do mine, otherwise he starts looking for things to shred. Multiple scratching posts around the house. Mine particularly likes those cardboard type box ones.

She's wearing as she's stressed. Bengals need to be out, they're not indoor cats. Get her chipped and get a cat flap that will respond to her chip.

I can almost guarantee she'll calm down once she's allowed outside.

Put litter trays where she's weeing too.

She is gorgeous!