I just purchased a 5 month old Bengal girl. She is the most friendly Bengal every but I keep hearing horror stories how they bit and attack. One woman was telling me her Bengal bit her out of the blue in a nasty way. So now I am nervous. Does anyone have a Bengal that never bit them?

My Raiden has never bitten me. He's 7-1/2 years old and I've only had him about 18 months. When we play, he likes to jump up and grab a hold of my leg. His teeth will be out, but he never bites and has never bitten me. Since this is quite unusual, I'm wondering if his previous owner didn't traumatize him pretty good the first time he bit him. However, Raiden has the sweetest disposition in the world. He lets me know when he's angry, but he has never scratched me either. His claw will sometimes catch my hand as we are playing, but he's the gentlest kitty I have ever owned. There are posts on here that you can read about bengals who do bite and scratch. They do it mainly out of boredom. Just make sure you have a cat tree, wand toys that you interact with your kitty a few times a day. Kittens do love to play. Just keep your hands out of the way, although many will bite the leg and feet, too. Do not stress over this because your bengal will sense your stress which could lead to the inevitable happening.

I just watched a My Cat From Hell where the cat hissed and attacked everyone who walked through the door. Jackson discovered the owner (a male) would rough up the cat to get him to play. Once they got the cat on wand toys, and the owner stopped going over to the cat and wrestle with him, the attacks stopped! So sometimes, WE can provoke a cat's behavior.

I think any animal could bite you if you upset or provoke it really - I also saw the My Cat From Hell episode that Sherry refers to and a lot of the time it is bad handling by the owners. I swear the owner on this episode was quite disappointed when the cat became much calmer and happier - I think he liked the fact it attacked everyone!

Expect a few scratches whilst she is young and just try to learn her trigger points. One of mine turns 'psycho' if he gets overstimulated or over excited and that can result in play aggression. But you will learn how to avoid this after a while. I had a nip on the ankle last night, and it was because Jagger was overexcited and had become a bit feisty, but he didn't break the skin and it was just a play nip really. I was more upset when he started biting my lovely new throw to be honest!

As Sherry has already said, definitely avoid rough housing during play - don't use your hands for anything other than making a fuss of your girl or she will see your hands as something to wrestle, bite and scratch. And don't be scared of her as she will sense it.

I'm sure she will be fine. My boys don't seem to have a bad bone in their body and I honestly don't think they would ever intentionally hurt me unless I asked for it in some way!

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

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The little monsters 3

We have two female bengals - one year old and 16 months. They are both so gentle - never bite. But, be careful not to play to rough with them when they are kittens - don't allow them to bite you in play, and that way they will grow up knowing that gentleness brings more attention.

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The little monsters 3

Dexter is 5 months now and he is the gentlest kitten I have ever had and I've had lots over the years!

I was fully expecting to be covered in scratches doing all the regular kitty stuff but all I ever get is a big soft paw pad.

He never gets his claws out on me unless at play and then he isn't going for me just the toy.

He is incredibly sweet natured and very funny. For instance he is quite capable of jumping up onto the counter now where I get his food ready. So he will jump up and sit there watching me put the food on his dish. When I put it on the floor he will cry for me to pick him up and put him down. There is absolutely no reason I can see for this as he jumps up and down from there all the time when not feeding him!

He will also plonk himself down and spread himself out every single time I go to walk out into the kitchen. It's got that way now that I automatically pause when I get to the door so I don't stand/trip over him. Again don't understand why but it's cute.

I'm not sure that he is typical of his breed as this is the first Bengal I have owned.

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Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie

My kittens scratch me often during play or when climbing up to me. Wearing long pants and sleeves really cuts down on the scratches. They are about 6 months old now and I have had them 2 months. They are so much calmer than they were at first, wow! I remember one of them woke me up out of a sound sleep by biting my ankle hard and drawing blood. In her defense I wasn't feeding them enough and that is her way of telling me she is hungry. I added a bedtime snack and the night time attacks ended. Occasionally she starts up in the morning but she bites the sheet instead of my feet. That is my cue to get up and feed them. The other kitten is an angle but she wants to nibble on my fingers which I never allow. I think they are still teething.

Both of mine are very gentle and loving cats. I have never been bitten or scratched in a nasty way from either of them. Yes accidents have happened and I have been scratched, but 99% of the time it's was my fault. I also have 4 kids that are always in to something and playing with the cats. They can very easily over stimulate them but they have never lashed out at them or become aggressive to anyone. I think placing all bengals into the "crazy act that bites" group is a little unfair. Just like with dogs, any other cat, and kids it all depends on the upbringing and the boundaries that are set from their care takers. If you let a child get away with everything they will take advantage of that. The same applies to kittens. If I sat on my couch all day watching TV and not engaging my kids in activities they would get into something they shouldn't. On the same note if I did the same to my cats they would alo get into trouble. The golden rule of life is "treat others as you would want to be treated", I think that applies to animals as well. If you're aggressive with your cat your cat will be aggressive with you, if your loving and nurturing you will get the same.

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Definitely agree with how you treat them.

I never play aggressively with any of my cats I think it just encourages this type of behaviour.

I would make sure that you play with your kitten to socialise and to burn off excess energy. I think behavioural problems occur (particularly if you are keeping the cat indoors) when they are bored.

What looks like being destructive can be simply boredom.

I don't have to play with him non-stop. Just a couple of good sessions twice a day to wear him out and that keeps him happy and he's always in a lovely mood afterwards for a lovely cuddle :)

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Oscar and Jasper (or one ear and two ears as dh calls them) black rescue mogges

RIP my sweet baby Dexter, Snow Bengal 19/5/14 to 5/3/15 and my lovely dear old friend Muskey, Brown Burmese put to rest aged 15 on 14/11/15.

Debbie

Wow. Zoombers has attacked me on several occasions and always unprovoked. I'll be sitting on my couch with my feet up on my ottoman and he'll just start attacking my ankles. So I put my legs down and then he goes for my calf. One day not too long ago, I was just sitting on the couch and he latched onto my arm and started shaking his head back and forth as if he had some sort of prey in his mouth. That was painful. I have never "played rough" with him either so I'm not sure why he does this. It doesn't happen a lot but it happens. Usually I will scruff him and give him a harsh "no". If that doesn't do the trick, he will be put out of the room until he calms down. When I open the door and let him back in, he's usually fine.

My bengal kitten of one year, Desi, bit me one or two times when I was sleeping. One time it was hurting very bad and I had some scare on my left leg for a longer time but I think he did it for some reason... not sure why. :)

Ps. despite his bits, he was always cute and great personality by age and turn into very softy boy who was very energetic and playful, actually what you read about a real bengal cat - that was him, water, playing, hide and s.... all that, but later if I press his tail with my knee ( of course not on purpose ) he would just moan and make slowly noise to tell me to stop. NEVER scretch or bit - this applied for later after 1.5 yrs of age.

I've had Enki for a little over a year...and he's only bitten me once. I was taking apart his cat tree because we were moving and he kinda grabbed my hand and bit it. Considering I couldn't figure out how to rebuild it once we moved, I guess it was kinda fair. He's usually very sweet and loving. I did spend time bothering him a bit when he was a kitten so he tolerates being picked up and having his belly and feet touched though I can tell he doesn't love it. But I think it was a good thing because when we go to the park curious people want to pet him and he doesn't get scared or shy--he embraces the extra loving.

Jinxy is almost 6 months, she plays and bites sometimes, but never ever bites in a vicious way. She is an absolute sweetheart. Compared to other house cats I've had in the past, she is way friendlier and loves people. She does demand lots of attention and follows me around if I am busy doing other things, she always wants to be the center of attention :)

Babbage is a TOTAL softie - often called "Shameless" for the way he demands cuddles and tummy rubs. He is either playing with springs or getting cuddles. Very sensitive to getting attention, he has a little "hoo" sound that he makes when he needs reassurance. He and his sister are now 10 months old. Both mouthed ( rather than bit ) me a couple of times when they first came home, but he soon realised that didn't work and would go to mouth me, put his teeth on my skin, look back at me and then start overtly licking me as if that was all he ever meant to do. He adores springs, but even when I am holding one just in/out of reach he'll swipe his paw to knock it out of my hand with his claws in. He is the exuberant Top cat.

Ada is quieter in nature ( much louder in decibels ) and smarter, but full of energy - it seems to "fizz" up in her. She gets the zoomies bad. :-) She loves being cuddled, but much more on her terms - she'll come and sit next to you when she wants a cuddle, carrying her is generally OK but she won't necessarily want to stay in your arms long. As Babbage dominates play I have in recent weeks got a toy that is hers alone and started having one-on-one play with her - this has been good to reinforce the bond between us, though she is that bit more independent.

Neither one has ever been aggressive to me or seriously bitten me. If she doesn't want to be held ( for example when trying to give a worming tablet ) she will struggle free but never lash out or anything like that. The worst I have had is a little nip when they first came to me when stopping them from doing something or when they thought that my foot was prey. Consistently making sure that sort of behaviour is not tolerated in the first weeks/months, *lots* of play and plenty of love mean that they are the gentlest natured and most loving cats that I could hope to have.