Hello all. Thought I would take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Janel and I brought home my first bengal 6 weeks ago. He's a brown marble boy and his name is Stinker (yes, I know it's not exactly a noble name, but it fits him because he's such a little stinker) I've had cats my whole life, but this is my first bengal and I am in love! Here's a couple pictures of my baby taken a couple weeks ago:




He's growing up so quickly!

I do need some advice if possible. I have 4 other cats ranging in age from 5 to 12. The problem is, no one wants to play with poor Stinker anymore. Stinker is awake and playing more than he sleeps each day and my other cats are far more couch potato like. They all get along, its just that the other cats run from him when he wants to wrestle and play. Every night he chases everyone all over the house. He doesn't do it to be mean and he's not acting hostile, but my other cats are beginning to get a bit grumpy about it.

I'm contemplating getting another bengal kitten to be his playmate. Anyone else think this might be a good resolution to the problem? I am a bit worried that 2 kittens would just gang up on the older cats, but my hope is that they will play together and wear each other out.

Thank you very much!
-Janel

Janel--
Ahhh....your little boy is SOOO cute! I too am pretty new to the 'bengal world,' so I am not the one to respond to your questions. But, I just wanted to say HI and tell you how adorable your new baby is.

Welcome and you're in for a quite a treat owning a bengal.

Absolutely fabulous face - very masculine and wild!

I love his face!!

_________________
Julie
Milamber, Zephyr, Spook and Kiki!

What a cute looking fella.

We have a young female Bengal and an older (10 year old) ginger tom. At first she always wanted to play with him, attacking him and getting warned off and hissed at and the like. No amount of warning off the older cat would stop her and she would be back seconds later. They now seem to have reached an agreement and understanding. They do play together but she also seems to know that when he doesn't want to play he means it and she will leave him alone. It took a good few months to get to that stage though.

6 weeks is a fairly short amount of time for your older cats to get used to the new addition, I would have thought.

We got the last of the litter, though originally had thought of getting 2 and afterwards started to wish we had for a while. They seem to both be fine now though.

I don't think you will have any problems if you do get a second, as they have each other to play with. Also with them being so young they should hopefully settle in together fine. The older cats will probably protest more than Stinker!

Sorry for taking so long to reply, been a busy couple of weeks for me. And thank you for all the advice and sweet replies!

I did end up getting him a playmate, although it's not a bengal. I'm one of those people that believe that you never really 'pick' a pet, rather they pick you. All of the bengal kittens I saw were beautiful and sweet, but none really said "You there! Take me home, I'm yours!" An adorable Maine Coon kitten picked me out and so we brought her home just over a week ago.

At first, Stinker was not happy about the little interloper at all. He hissed and got all grumpy for a day or so. However, the first time he saw the new kitten playing, he couldn't help but jump right in and play too! They play a lot, and have almost started to snuggle together when they sleep. I even found him giving her a bath one day.

It's so amazing how gentle he is when he plays with her. He was 20 weeks old when we got her and she was only 9. She's such a tiny thing compared to Stinker! But he plays very gently with her, no claws at all. In fact, she plays rougher than he does!

I'll see if I can get a picture of the 2 of them playing soon =)
-Janel