Hi all,
I recently acquired a lovely Bengal kitten. She's 13 weeks old now (I've had her for a week) and her name is Sierra. So far I love her - although, unsurprisingly, she has been a lot of work! I'm a student on summer break at the moment so I have the next 5 weeks at home to take care of her etc. After which time I'll still be at home quite a lot most days - and when I'm not my elderly will be around to take care of her (so she will rarely be home alone, and when she is we have three dogs to keep her occupied).

I did some research before bringing her home, so I am aware that they are very active and intelligent and can be very mischievous if bored. So I've been playing with her a lot, have bought a large cat tree and multiple toys (Dabird included xD). I'm also petting her, picking her up regularly and running my hands over her legs, belly etc. to make sure she is used to being touched. Oh, and I'm also looking into having a cat enclosure built.

So, as the subject stated, are they really that wild? If I keep up all of the above, will she still destroy things and cause serious havoc? I'm not expecting her to be an absolute angel or a typical moggie who sleeps all the time - which is great, that's why I got her. I want a cat who requires more interaction than the typical moggie... I just don't want my elderly mother to curse her name all the time because she's destroying the furniture!

Sorry about the crazy long post. Thank you. =)

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The little monsters 3

Kittens require a lot of patience, but one day they are no longer kittens and calm down a bit. My two were a handful between 4-6 months. I was speechless at how wound up they were. I opted to have Soft Paws put on them at 5 months and that saved the day. The gel tips grew out after about 6 weeks and after that they just got monthly manicures with the ends smoothed over. I gave up trying to keep them off the kitchen island they can reach. There was no way to stop that as they are relentless. I am just happy they don't attempt to jump up on the counters by the sink and stove so I have a safe area (for now). They will never get over their obsession for the drapes so I just leave them open all the time. Enjoy your kitten because they get big so fast. Mine are 9 months now and the most amazing kitties. They never let me out of their sight. I know it is mainly because I hand out the food, but I think they enjoy being around me as much as I do them.

All kittens have more energy, but the bengal is especially energetic. Your bengal will not run off into a corner and sleep for 20 hours a day. You seem to have all the bases covered. Spending a lot of time with Sierra will help. That will keep her from getting bored. Bengals do love to climb, so the more high places you have for her to investigate, the happier she will be. They are extremely curious creatures.

Congratulations on your new addition! It sounds like she is adjusting quickly. She will give you countless hours of entertainment.

Kittens are a**holes! They climb, they make mess, they chew, they can wreak havoc!!
It's up to you as the replacement Mum to step in to discipline them when needed and show them lots of love.
Sounds like you're going the right away about the socialisation stuff, so keep up the good work.
Just be aware that bengals are higher energy throughout their lives and can be chattier (noisier)
I don't think they are wild. Or not more wild than any other cat, who of course can be wild depending on the way they've been brought up.

Bengal kittens are no more "wild" than any other kitten. It all depends on the personality and energy level of the kitten. We have 2 Bengals who were quite active as kittens but that didn't prepare us for the "wild" behavior of our little stray kitten that we took in. She destroys the entire 3 levels of our house even with 2 cats and a small dog to play with. But don't worry- they grow out of this fast!

From going through this period last year...

The first few weeks are incredibly important in laying down the rules of the house. For mine, any use of teeth on me ( even just mouthing/trying to chew as part of them grooming me), any use of claws on the furniture led to them getting a time-out in their room - usually 15 mins away from me and their sibling, with them being carried to the room in a way that was different to normal carrying. They would be picked up with both my hands underneath them and carried at arms length to their room.

Being very curious and very close to each other/me made this an effective, gentle punishment that means now I have, if not perfect little angels, then pretty well behaved bengals.

Like kids, you need the rules to be clear, the application of them always consistent and always follow through on the punishment if they do misbehave.

They are little b***ers when they are small though.

Good luck.

They will soon be bigger b***ers.

Punishment, as in a negative outcome from them displaying a certain behaviour.

A little time away from all the interesting things going on in my apartment is hardly Guantánamo Bay.

They are given plenty of love/cuddles/tummy rubs/play and praise day to day and are both very happy cats. When Babbage had experienced a couple of timeouts he did briefly try getting bolshy with me and mouthed/bit my hand whilst he was being carried to his safe room - that did get a definite "no" from me. That is as bad as the "punishment" got. Subsequently, on timeouts, he would go to mouth my hand, look back at me and then start licking the hand instead, little sweetie that he is.

Thank you for all of the responses. I feel a little better now! Honestly, aside from being more energetic I haven't really noticed much difference between her and other kittens I've had in the past. So far she has been using her scratching post instead of the furniture, the only accident we had was when she almost fell off the couch and used her claws for some traction (which I can't really fault). She does like electrical cords, but I'm monitoring her closely and in the process of covering those now. She also likes to play with hands and feet too - but she is getting better. If she starts to bite or claw at me I stop playing with her and ignore her for about ten seconds. She seems to be getting the idea. xD

If the above doesn't work I may try your time-out idea, Cranberry. Thanks

You may want to get some electrical cord protectors. While my one cat was teething, she was obsessed with the iPad cord and almost chewed it in two. One day she just stopped doing that. They will do a lot of things that they can't seem to control as kittens, then they just grow out of it. I did damage control the best I could (covered the leather sofa, kept the drapes open, closed my bedroom door when I went to work, kept food off the counter they can access, kept their nails trimmed) and let them just be kittens. They are turning into really good girls as they mature. Essentially I think they just want to please me.

Diesel loved the iPad and iPhone cords when he was little. He destroyed at least 4 of them. I found that wrapping them in electrical tape stopped him, he didn't like the texture of the tape. He didn't really touch any other cords.

He hasn't ever been really destructive. Just mischievous. His favorite thing to do is get up on the top shelf of our closet and knock down all of the blankets that are up there

They do love being up high and he will climb anything he can to get as high as possible. In doing so he has knocked over a few things, but I can't really fault him for it because he didn't do it on purpose.

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes

Cable protectors are a must in my house. My girl Pixel will still try and chew cables, given the chance to.

The only thing I've noticed about my two bengals that is different from any other cat I've known is how obsessed they can be with certain things. If they want something, they are relentless. My boy is worse for this, so it gets tough when he wants to do something he's not allowed to do... he'll try everything to get his own way!

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Katrina

Owned by:

For cables, etc I was recommended Grannicks bitter spray - used it when they came to me and have relatively few problems now. These days they just like knocking cables and pens off my desk ( but only when I am there to see it )

As for being wild, we've always had adult rescue cats who have been shown plenty of love and have shown love in return over time, albeit, sometimes with limits on patience/ ease of picking up/handling. In contrast to our previous cats, my 2 bengals are incredibly easy to handle and very tolerant. They are not in any way wild or aggressive in behaviour.

Neoow is right in that they can be obsessive little.... munchkins. Babbage knocked over the bin in the bathroom 3 times this morning as I was getting ready for work seemingly just because he could - he played a bit with some of the fluff from the drier which was in the bin. Saturday evening he knocked a glass of red wine all over the sofa, table and my new cream-coloured rug. My attempts to clean it up were, apparently, a game designed just for him. I ended up mopping wine out of the rug with one hand and holding him back with the other.