Congratulations on your kitty! She's beautiful. I'm afraid you may be in for a lot of problems. First of all, your kitty is just a new kitten! Second of all, she's a bengal! Bengals are very vocal They are also extremely hyperactive. That's the bengal breed!!! They are beautiful kitties, but they are not your normal cat.

It appears your household is going to get busy and loud. This will have a profound effect on your kitty! Even though she's only been with you a month, she's gotten familiar with HER territory and HER humans and now a whole new set of smells and activity will be coming in.

Some dog breeds get along better with cats than others. Some dogs attack and kill smaller cats. I don't mean to alarm you, but this change may cause behavioral problems in your cat. You've got to make sure that you have a tall cat tree or shelving where the cat can escape the dogs at any time. Make sure her litter box has multiple escape routes.

As for introducing them .... I personally would not want a new kitten around two dogs. But, if they must live in the same house, I'd start out feeding them all in the same area and keeping watch over them. Let the cat begin to associate positive things with the dogs. They will all be curious about the other. You're going to have to make sure your cat is safe at all times, so any "sniffing" by the dogs needs to occur while someone is holding your kitty and if she gets antsy, remove her from the situation immediately. Introductions need to be over time.

As for calming your kitty down at bedtime, you should be interacting with her with toys and wearing her out so she wants to sleep. This play needs to begin long before bedtime. Cats LOVE interaction with their humans and they want to be WITH their humans. Mine sleeps with us every night. Bengals are very social and it's important that you continue that or your kitty could lose that. Bengals do not like to be away from their owners. They develop a lot of affection for humans. I would not kennel her. Cats are not supposed to be kenneled for long periods of time. (I don't even like the idea of dogs being kenneled. Dogs can be trained.)

Can you become one big happy family? Possibly! Could the cat accept the dogs immediately? Maybe? Will the dogs become best buddies with your kitty? Who really knows. It happens in some cases and in others, it does not. So much depends on the personalities of the cat and dogs.

One thing, however, is that animals do pick up on stress in the household. So if you're holding your breath about this, they will sense that. You've got to go into this thinking that there could be problems and then dealing with them as they come along. It's rare that a kitten and two dogs will immediately run to each other and start playing together. Dogs are highly scented and it may be a smell your cat does not like.

All I can say is good luck. I hope things work out for you. Keep us informed.

In my experience bengals love dogs, or at least mine do. My poodle mix is right there with them running through the house BUT they were raised together. The poodle mix doesn't worry as much as the lab does. Labs usually have a higher prey drive than most other breeds so that will be something you will have to keep in mind. The fact of the lab being timid can also be a problem. If she gets startled by the kitten her first reaction may be to bite Freya. Fear biting happens all to often with dogs but it is something that can be prevented. If the dogs are crate trained that will help a lot if not I would suggest getting a crate for introductions. Put Freya in the crate and have the dogs smell her and watch their reaction. If they get obnoxious and whine to get to her break it up and try again later. The dogs have to be taught from the beginning that they can't be around her unless they are in a calm neutral position. I would also be sure to gave the dogs on leash at all times until they can be fully trusted around her. The "watch me" command for the dogs can be a huge benefit as well. Have Freya in the room and the dogs on leash. When they pay to much attention to Freya give the command "watch me" and when they look at you give them a highly valued treat. This will teach them to look at you for direction when they are overly stimulated. If they get that glazed over look in their eyes break it up immediately and separate them. As far as feeding them together, I wouldn't do that just yet. If you do make sure Freya is up higher than the dogs. Put her food on a counter or table to increase her confidence and allow her space. Dogs are known to gobble up cat food (and poop watch for that) and it could also cause their dogs to be reactive. Dogs, no matter the breed, are programmed to resource guard. Not all dogs do it but if they do it will be over food above all else. I honestly think over time they will be ok but it will take patience and for you all and to be diligent about the dogs training.

Keeping your kitty calm at night..... I'm going through the same thing! I play with Mochi before bed every night to drain his energy. I also feed him his can food right before bed so he isn't screaming for food. It helps that I have another bengal for him to play with but he still has his moments when he will come wake me up. What I did with BB may not work for him or a Freya but when she was little and got crazy at night I would remove her from my room. Taking her to her cat tree and providing toys would pacify her and Mochi too for the most part. After a while BB learned to go play on her own when she felt the need to. Still to this day,3 years later, I will hear her occasionally playing around and she does get loud. In reality that's part of having a bengal, they are a loud breed. They like to hear themselves talk apparently because all three that I have had have been vocal and there isn't really anything to do about it. I have to say tho you will get used to it and she will quiten down a little as she gets older. Good luck and keep us posted!

_________________

Thank you guys for your replies!

For the time being (and so there are no unnecessary conflicts) we've decided to invest in some ear plugs and let Freya sleep in our room with us (no kennel, just free-roaming). And we do play with her lots before bed, but I guess we need to play with her even more! We've also taught her to fetch, which is pretty entertaining. Bengals are so smart!

We do have a cat tower that we had originally decided on keeping downstairs, but it sounds like we should lug it into our office room and try and have her use up her restlessness there (for when we're out of the house for work). We also plan on getting a cat wheel for her to expend that energy! That won't be arriving for another month or so, though.

We'll try and slowly introduce their scents to each other, so there are no accidents once the "big reveal" happens. I did show Freya the poodle through a window, and Molly (poodle) started barking excitedly as if she wanted to play! Freya though...she bolted, it freaked her out.

And while I know it's not ideal to have 2 dogs move into her territory, it couldn't be helped! They used to live in CA but my sister's hubby lost his job, so they were forced to move back home while they "figured things out". I wasn't about to say "sorry, you can't live here because we have a kitten!"

I'll keep you guys posted on any interesting development. Thanks again!

Rosie

I keep a cat tower in my bedroom. My cats were territorial over the bed so now they sleep on the tower and can keep an eye on me at night. They play on it briefly before settling down for the night and they play on it in the morning when I am getting ready for work. They love being up high and close to me.

Definitely keep the dogs on a lead with any introductions.

Somebody also told me to put a stairgate (like a baby gate) on the bottom of the stairs this way the cat has a way of escape without the dogs running after her.

I don't like the idea of straight away feeding them all together. Dogs can get pretty obsessive about food and it could trigger aggression towards the kitten.

_________________
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

Suddenly having 2 new people and 2 new dogs in a home with your bengal is going to be a challenge. I think you have to accept that there is a possibility that is just may not work out, and not blame the cat if that is the case. You are asking a lot of her. So by all means give it a try, but I think you should have a "plan b" also.

As far as getting your cat to sleep through the night on your schedule, I have had a lot of success with that. What I do:

* Play with them to tire them out before bedtime
* Give them desirable, high perches and cat beds in the bedroom, along with litter boxes, water and food dishes.
* Lock them in the bedroom with me (so they don't come and go).
* Give them a very small amount of food before bedtime
* Give them a heated blanket (= cat magnet) in the cold months
* Never ever wake up in the middle of the night and give them food, or play, or attention. Ever. Otherwise you are "clicker training" them to wake you up.
* Use blackouts on the window so that it remains pretty dark, even at sun-up.

The good news is that cats love routines. Once you get them into a "good" routine, it will become very easy. I've had cats that knew exactly what time my alarm clock went off on what days and would know to wake me up if I forgot to set the clock. They even understand that we sleep in on weekends, it's great. The bad part is that establishing a completely different routine can be difficult.

_________________
The little monsters 3

When my 2 kittens were young I had to play with them right before bedtime and give them a snack (1/8 cup of dry food) so they would go to sleep and not wake up until morning. Otherwise they were attacking my feet and jumping up and down on me most of the night. They also sleep in their bedside tower. They occasionally visit me for a few minutes of cuddling but rarely sleep on the bed with me.

Now that they are big girls (11 months), I no longer give them that late night snack and they sleep through the night just fine. In the morning they are usually at the foot of my bed silently staring out the glass doors waiting for the sunrise.

These are all terrific suggestions, thanks so much everybody!

I've started playing with her more during the night but we're still reluctantly having to put her in the guest room on the other side of the house (only have 2 more nights we can do this...) because I guess we aren't wearing her down enough and she's bouncing all over us in bed. She has a habit of licking our noses until we stir in bed if we ignore her, so it's hard to filter that out! haha

Are there any specific games we could play with her? I've been using the cat dancer and a plastic grocery bag I've knotted up twice and toss around the room while she sprints all over. :P Laser pointer too! We even bought one of those automatic laser pointer things but she tends to focus more on where the sound is coming from inside the device than the actual laser...what a bummer! The trouble is, she seems to get bored easily of everything. Also, how can we tell when we've sufficiently tuckered her out?

We also bought her a bag of treats last night to try and reward her before bed if she was acting mellow. Also to reward her when she successfully plays "fetch" with us. We only ended up giving her 2 small pieces yesterday. I know things aren't going to be instantly perfect or anything, but we're trying!

Also, we've been feeding her a 100% raw diet for nearly 3 weeks now. We started out using the purple cans by Wellness Core for kittens, then gradually started mixing in the raw stuff. Now she just gobbles up her portion within minutes! We give her 2 ice cubes worth (about 2.5 oz) around noon and 2 more (another 2.5 oz) around 9pm every day. Would this raw diet effect how much energy she has? Are we feeding her too soon to bedtime and that's giving her a big burst of energy? We settle in around 10:30pm - 11:00pm every night. Are we feeding her too much? She's roughly 4 pounds now.

We're using this recipe: feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/making-raw-cat-food-for-do-it-yourselfers

Is there anywhere else she would be able to go at night once your family and their dogs arrive? Where will the dogs be? I wouldn't have considered having our two in the bedroom with us at night at that age (I'm assuming she is a kitten), they have way too much energy! We do allow them the run of the house now, but I can still hear them in the night playing in the hall! What about the office, could that be where she can sleep at night if you are moving the cat tree there? I would move her now if you only have a couple of days before everyone arrives as otherwise she will have the upheaval of new people and dogs, and the move at night. One of mine was very unhappy when my mum came to stay at Christmas as he lost access to the guest room at night, he sat and stared at the door and wasn't happy at all about the change in his routine and was very unsettled.

You really need to wear her out - have you tried Da'Bird? We have the UK equivalent (Flying Frenzy) and it is the most well loved toy we have for them - in fact we have to lock it away but they are always trying to break into the cupboard for it! Our two will literally be panting by the end of a session with that - my other half is very good at whipping it around and up in the air for them to try and catch. They have never got bored of it either!

I'm not sure the diet would make much difference to her energy levels, Bengals are just very energetic full stop. Mine were exactly the same as kittens, it would get to 9pm and they'd start to go bonkers and I'd have to spend a good hour playing with them to wear them out so I could go to bed!

I hope this all goes well for you, I'd be a bit wary about the dog situation when your girl is so young, so never leave them unattended and keep the dogs on a lead just in case. Especially as it sounds like they can be skittish and unpredictable. Do the intros very slowly and at her pace.

Keep in mind Brian's advice, this will be a big upheaval for your little girl when she is still settling in to her new home, so be patient with her!

Good luck and let us know how it all goes!

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

_________________
The little monsters 3

Will the dogs have run of the house? It just doesn't seem quite fair for your kitty to have to give up all the turf. Is there a way to limit the dogs' territory at least until you see how everyone gets along?

_________________
~ Kyenta

Happy Friday everybody! I thought I'd post a little update on how Freya is getting along with her new housemates.

It took her a few days, but now she wanders around like she owns the place! Whenever the dogs are locked away in my sister's room, we let Freya roam around downstairs and explore. Yesterday, she made a beeline straight for one of the windowsills and found a live wasp. That was exciting! (Only the wasp was hurt, don't worry.) While we're at work, she has free roam of our bedroom with the connecting bathroom. We sometimes leave the faucet in the tub running for her; she seems really fascinated by water. She also seems oddly attracted to the toilet whenever we flush...going so far as to put her 2 front paws on the inside bowl. Such a lady! haha

We haven't introduced her to the dogs yet since we're still trying to get her used to the humans! My sister and her hubby were immediately taken with her ("she's so soft!") and bought her 2 small toys to play with that she really enjoys. One is a suction cup mouse with a flailing tail and the other is a doorknob hanger that has a dangly toy + scratcher. Freya has begun to open up a bit around them too. She used to bolt to the other end of a room whenever I put her down, or hide behind boxes and furniture...but now she just wanders around them like it's no big deal.

Freya has actually been a sweetheart for most nights this past week. She's slept silently at our feet throughout the night. Or between our legs. Or on top of us... Only last night did she stir a bit and randomly chirped and batted noisy things around the floor. Other than that, I've been very grateful with how quiet she's been considering all the new people and animals around her now! I'm not the biggest fan of her attacking my feet though... Ticklish feet + little kitten clawing = must-use-restraint-not-to-flail-around-and-send-the-cat-flying!

We've brought her into the living room a few times to play with Da Bird when my sister's hubby is sitting around watching sports, and she doesn't seem as enthusiastic as she usually is. I'm chalking this up to her being nervous around the new folk, so I'll just give her some time. She's still a bundle of energy and she's always super excited to see me and my boyfriend whenever we enter the bedroom. I just hope she'll learn to open up to all the other new members of the household. *fingers crossed*

I contacted the breeder since I like sending him updates and pictures and mentioned how I saw the Savannah kittens on his website (he breeds both). We'd really like to get Freya a playmate so I mentioned us stopping by for a visit with her and checking out the new kittens. He was all for it! So apparently we have a play-date for next weekend. I've been researching Savannahs though, and from what I'm reading....they'll be up to twice as large as Freya when she's full-grown, yikes! I think we'll hold out for a little Bengal brother for her. :)

Here are some updated pictures. I'll keep you guys posted with any interesting developments!

There are 3 pictures here: http://imgur.com/rKcEYsC,BpycLlw,KPfCI6e

(Forgive the poor quality, I used my cellphone and she hardly ever stays still!)