Hi
I have a 5 month old F7 Savannah kitten, and I explained a lot about myself and my kitten in my introduction...
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=28433There seems to be a lot more people with Bengals that are allowed to come and go as they please than Savannahs, and as there is some similarities between the breeds I am hoping to learn a bit from other peoples experiences.
I would be really interested to hear people experiences with allowing their Bengal free access to the outside and how this may differ from a regular cat with no wilder bloodlines. I am also wondering what age your cat was, when this free access was allowed. This probably can't be answered here, but I am wondering if a cat that is kept indoors, or on a harness or in an enclosure until it is over a year old or over 3 years old will be less likely to roam? Or conversely less able to stay safe, even with a gradual introduction, because it did not get experiences it needed when it was young?
I am also interested in peoples experiences of providing limited outdoor access either on a harness or enclosure, and if you have found a way to keep your cat content with this, or not, and if there is anything in the cats personality/behavior that in retrospect was a clue that providing limited access was going to create problems...Have people found that always taking their cat out the door in a harness in a cat carrier avoids them getting obsessed with getting out, or can this be a problem even if this is the only way it is ever done?
If a cat goes out in the yard on a harness and also has a cat enclosure, will they be happy to stay in their cat enclosure or will they really really want to be able to be out in the yard where they hear and smell a lot of interesting things going on?
As explained in my first post I live in a very safe area for outdoor cats, but it is not risk free and neither is it risk free to keep my cat indoors only. So I am trying to make the best plan for my kitten to have a long, happy and safe life, and I am thinking people's experiences Bengals that have free (or limited) access to the outside may help inform my choices.
I understand many people feel cats are always safer being indoors only, I have done a lot of reading on the topic and I am aware of the concerns. At this point I have not decided either way, and am just trying to get as much information as possible.
And I am interested in any tips or information that could help high energy curious outdoor access cats be as safe as possible...
Gotta go entertain a very patient kitten...