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, they can be very highly strung and demanding - that'd be down to her breed and not anything you did or didn't do. They are beautiful to look at (as are all cats in my opinion 😻) and they are very intelligent so need a lot of stimulation and reassurance. If you are not in a position to really dote on her and become her humble servant you may be better off finding a new home for her - but please choose someone with experience or knowledge of Bengals. She may suit a retired person, because they really do well in homes where they are the centre of the universe!😁
I think I see more Bengals offered for sale on sites than any other breed.
I think that's the problem of not doing enough research or thinking all cats behave the same.

Free-roaming is a very British concept - in most countries, cats are either kept indoors or people have secure gardens/catios for them, unless they live rurally. Certainly in cities the dangers far outweigh the benefits of free-roaming these days - quiet urban roads can be just as dangerous, or even more so, than a busy one with constant noisy traffic. I will never understand people who consider cats so disposable that they let them roam anywhere, any time of day and night.

Neutering will most likely calm her down a lot and may actually resolve the issues with weeing, too.

Bengals are very territorial so she may not take well to a friend at her age as she's not grown up with other cats.

I wouldn't get another cat. They will need to fight it out for territory and that would more likely worsen the peeing problem than help it.

Using the outdoors was the answer for us. It doesn't have to cost thousands, maybe an outdoor run ending in a second hand shed. Plan and save through the winter, set it up in spring.

Also you need a pee management plan even if that means shutting her in a kitchen or bathroom when you aren't there to supervise. You could try (desperate measures recommended by our vet) taking her back basically into a crate or bathroom with a litter tray for a few days, and gradually letting her out further and further, always shutting her back into the small safe place at night. It's miserable, but so is the life you and she are both living at the moment.

Just wanted to say that she is beautiful. I hope you find a good solution, you have been given lots of helpful advice here and I hope something works xx

I think our boy is happy as there are three adults in the house completely doting on him and available to his every whim. I really wouldn't get another one on the off chance it'll sort out her issues.

@Grumpyoldpersonwithcats

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.

Advised by whom?

And I agree with the pp - she is currently very stressed indeed.

How many litter trays and are they large enough? For one cat you need a two trays.

Most of the bengals you see up for rehoming are urinating inside or fighting household cats. One poor sod was only 6 months and surprise surprise was fighting the 3 resident cats for dominance.

🙄 I blamed the breeder for that one, he should never have been sold to a multicat house.

scbchl Bloody hell this thread ! As a lifelong dog lover these stunning two are to die for!

winterforming Also gorgeous ! (No ideas about practical help .Sorry OP strictly a canine girl (up to now!)

There's a guy near us who regularly walks his 2 Bengals in the forest. They are totally at ease

Excellent advice here. Agree with spaying ASAP, and looking into the harness/lead option. Outside runs don’t have to be that expensive, you can build your own rather than ‘ready to assemble’ kits.

I used to work in a boarding cattery, the bengals were always the most demanding in terms of attention, playing, needing stimulation etc, but my god they were fabulous characters. They generally weren’t too chuffed about being in a 6x4 foot space so we’d let them run through the corridor while we were working. And spent hours with cat toys.

Sorry, not helpful, 🤦🏻‍♀️ fond memories

We have a Bengal and he is completely nuts. He is free to come and go via the cat flap but he will still spray inside sometimes, it’s just who he is 🤪
When the cat killer was on the loose we tried to keep him in but he totally destroyed the kitchen, blinds ripped down and broken, walls scraped, everything knocked over where he was so desperate to get out, and that was just one night. We had to let him out and take his chances with the cat killer in the end. Your poor little one must be going nuts inside for that long.

Ours is 14 now and has not been stolen (despite me wishing he had been😉)

And yeah I will NEVER get another Bengal.

As others have said, get her neutered and let her out, either fully or in a catio.

The cat lead on a washing line is a pain. They get tangled or just attack it.

We have a Bengal cross and she trashed our curtains etc when we first got her and she had to stay indoors for a few weeks. Once she had the run of the outdoors she calmed down a lot. She’s still a bit of a character (and as for being able to train them…haha no!) but she’s settled nicely.

Spaying definitely. Get multiple large litter trays, make sure the litter is deep. Is she food motivated? Get a treat ball that she can throw around. Our Maine Coon cross scratched the sofa once, we moved the scratching post next to that spot and he hasn’t done it since.

We walk ours in the garden on a lead and he loves being out. He’s too stupid and shy (and pretty, a thief risk) to be let out freely. I’m trying to persuade DP to put a catio up with little luck!

I would definitely suggest spaying but also to let them outdoors. Our Bengals are absolutely nuts and if housebound they literally wreck the place. 4 sets of bed sheets shredded and countless other things until we allowed free run of the outside. They love to climb, jump and generally be wild. Spaying also helped calm them down.

Nothing will however solve the fact they will insist on drinking from the tap :-(

Our Bengals are absolutely nuts and if housebound they literally wreck the place.

Sorry, Bengals? You have more than one? Are you mad?

My Bengal stopped destroying furnishings when we regularly sprayed with feliway. It's not cheap and you need to do it when you don't want to sit in the room (the alcohol needs to wear off) but was very effective. We could tell when we needed to spray again because she'd start using the couch as a scratching post. It also helped to spray scratching posts with catnip to direct her there. She roamed freely with a cat flap. There was no way she'd stay indoors all the time. She used to wail at the cat flap when we had to shut it for fireworks.

I may be missing something but, if you're at the point of wanting to give her away, why is the possibility of her being stolen such an issue? It seems incredibly cruel to keep a breed derived from wild animals indoors.

We have a similar breed to Bengals same energy levels. After neutering, cat proofing our garden was the best thing we could have done. Cats are now happy and safe.

Awww she's lovely. Is old enough to have kittens of her own yet. Don't they say having a,litter can calm them down

Please don't encourage kittens. The OP is struggling to cope already and there are more than enough kittens and cats without good, forever homes as it is. And no, it often doesn't calm Bengals and similar cats down. It is far from the answer to the OP's stressful situation and this cat's too.

It may be worth ruling out a urine infection with the spraying. Often cats with utis start spraying elsewhere in the home.

Mine is my fourth bengal, never had any problems with any of them. Here he is with his friend.