Bengals

[Blueuggboots]

We are picking up 2 retired breeding bengals next week....
Tell me about your bengal cats please...

I’m 5 years on for ours and still don’t have anything on window ledges or shelves 😂.

I think I was up to 3 vases before I learned and cleared everything.

it does annoy me on the breed rescues where they all insist they must be indoor, but they are rehoming because they can’t cope with them indoors…I’m not even sure they’re that high risk of theft any more, most will give them back after the second night of 2am yelling 😂. Yes the wander massively and there’s a risk with that but is the answer really to keep them in?

I would love a bengal

We fostered a beautiful bengal for four months a while back. She was very playful and inquisitive, loved to climb on any high surface possible (including the top of open doors and the kitchen cabinets!) and had a lot of energy. This may have been exacerbated by the fact we couldn't let her outdoors at all (although she managed to escape three times 🤦🏼‍♀️)

@Cileymyrus You do learn to embrace minimalism don’t you? I haven’t got any windowsill ornaments either. Old habits die hard.

My experience of bengals is they are only just, not wild!

I'd say they really are domesticated wild cats. Full to the brim with character. Expert hunters they need to be outside and active. They will fight you for meat if you are preparing supper. I don't mean ask for it, I mean full on battle to get it in the pan.

Vocal and full on, not a placid cat at all. Thug does sum them up quite well. Thinking of them as a domestic cat seems wrong. Beautiful animals, just not sure the mental picture you'd normally have of a cat applies at all.

Mine is very vocal, a killing machine, and eats almost anything, including rabbits, Moorhens, pigeons, snakes, rats, mice, voles, squirrels. Very friendly, wanders far, needs plenty of stimulation. A lot of rescues end up with them because they are loud and demanding but I love mine.

We have two half-Bengal rescues. Dad was Bengal, mum was a moggie. Don't ask. They're gorgeous, very vocal, playful, intelligent, affectionate on their terms, bring plenty of unwanted gifts, increasingly territorial, fond of their older cat housemate but less so of each other these days. They're coming up for 3 years old, still loads of energy.
Not sure we'd ever choose full Bengals.

Did you get them?

Picking them up today.....

Eek, how exciting. Don’t worry about the noise, that’s normal for bengals.

I still have the scars.

😂

Me too, keloid. Tried to save a mouse.

My neighbour 6 doors down has one. I can hear it yelling at the minute my cat has wandered down to shout back at him weirdo

That sounded more menacing than I intended. Beautiful animal. Liked to stalk me and jump out behind doors to play attack. They have incredibly sharp claws much more than any other cat I have met. He only ran his claws down my bare leg in play and cut incredibly deep gashes that have left a silvery scar.

My half bengal is a looney.
she can be incredibly affectionate but she’s demanding, fussy and likes to pee anywhere!
she likes to play and fusses are on her terms.

Good luck with your Bengals, OP! We used to have two. one of which absolutely hated the other - they were huge so the fights were epic.
Bengals are the most stunning cats but incredibly high energy and vocal. One of ours slowed down (a bit) once he fell off the neighbour’s house roof and smashed his hip so badly it had to be removed, but the other one was playing ‘floor is lava’, football with the local kids, and facing down dogs and foxes to his dying day.

Well the female is making herself at home....the male is hiding under the chair!

He’s sent her out first, if she survives he’ll come out too.

I have a half-Bengal (offspring of a stunning Bengal mum who got out of her house & had it off with a local moggy!) and I'm not recognising a lot of what people are saying. I can't imagine having any other breed!

Our furball is definitely very vocal, and communicates what he wants - outside / food / sit down so I can sleep on your lap. He's also definitely territorial - other cats enter our garden at their peril- and he hates other cats & dogs. BUT he is the biggest softie ever, has never so much as knocked over a glass of water, let alone destroyed anything, and he has so much character - more than any cat I've ever met. He is a little doglike in his character, following you around & interested in getting involved in whatever you're doing, but he's a total sap. Sleeps tucked up in my armpit & would spend most of his day sleeping on your lap if he could.

He was a little lairy as a kitten, but calmed down quickly & is now just a joy

So interesting. Arthur is only 1/4 Bengal but still displays so many of the classic characteristics. He is loud, constantly in high volume, with lots of different language. He is out-doorsy, a prolific hunter. Big, sleek, and muscley. He also chases balls, and plays fetch. Loves being up high, only sleeps on cat hammocks. He is neutered, but can go psycho and has attacked me and the girls. He does respond to command though, and will lie down and roll over if you are stern enough. I have run away a couple of times though, as he can be really scary.

Best if both worlds though from whatever is his mix, we think tabby, he is now, at 8 years old also a loving lap cat, who never wants to be alone.

Here he is....

Ooh @KnittedCardi what a beautiful cat,
And as for you @Blueuggboots I hope you have lots of fun with your two beautiful new additions to the house !

We have a rescue cat which we think probably may be part Bengal - based on looks and temperament - he is lovely but also fairly good at attacking and knowing just where to bite to disable his prey (me).

💙💙💙

Miniature leopards!

I would just like to wish you luck, I ended up owning a Bengal as my now wife had him already when we met. He’s a lovely cat, not aggressive at all, but my god he’s hard work. I’ve had cats all my life and I’ve never had any trouble with them.
This one on the other hand is something else.

He’s an indoor cat as my wife won’t let him out (tbf he’s got out about 100 times in the last ten years and he doesn’t do well outside- usually hides somewhere hard to access, becomes aggressive and eventually has to be rescued as he’s too scared to come out).

He’s extremely vocal, highly strung, prone to anxiety, humps people, is possessive over my wife, urinates and soils our bed whenever he can access it, or the sofa if he’s really unhappy (and he can become unhappy over the smallest of things, like the house isn’t warm enough for him, he saw another cat outside, he saw us packing a suitcase, he heard us use sellotape). He can open doors and windows (this is one of the ways he gets outside) so many a night we’ve been kept awake by him jumping up and down on our bedroom door handle and screaming for hours. In the summer you can’t open a door without him bolting out of it and us having to chase him around the neighbourhood so he doesn’t get run over or lost.

He’s a sweet cat, but he’s just a lot, I think he’s lucky he ended up with my wife because no one else would have put up with him!