We have a two year old female Bengal who has "inappropriate" urinating and defecating issues. She started urinating in places other than her litter box about a year and a half ago (right after my husband deployed). I pretty much figured as a Bengal the drastic change in environment (her daddy was gone) stressed her and she was acting out. I was unable to stop her behavior no matter what I did - she was urinating on our leather furniture, in laundry baskets, mop buckets, sinks, and tubs. Of course, common sense things prevented the urinating in laundry baskets and the mop bucket, but no such luck with the furniture, sinks & tubs. It was making me crazy. A few months after my husband returned from deployment her urinating outside the litter box greatly reduced - and was really limited to sinks, which for someone with OCD still causes some problems, but is no crisis for sure. Well, we got new orders and moved - cue urinating and subsequently defecating outside the litter box! Here we go again, after hundreds of dollars in carpet cleaning and deodorizing to no avail, I had reached my limit (so I thought) and, on Thursday night, I started researching Bengal Rescues and no kill shelters. I also sent out a "Bengal Help" email to a Bengal Rescue forum and asking if anyone had any suggestions or knew someone who could take my sweet baby. The reality of this situation is that I really really did not want to re-home my baby girl, but being active military and therefor perpetual renters, the constant urinating outside the litter box poses quite the problem.
I received several responses, but the most important and help response came from Michelle at Avalo Cat Sanctuary. She not only emailed me, but got my telephone number and gave me a call. We spoke on Friday afternoon and again today and she provided some very valuable information, information that the breeder did not volunteer and information I had not uncovered on any of my internet searches. She referred me to "Roxanne’s List of “You should have known better” AKA “But Mom, it looked like a potty to me” which has been posted on this site before, but which also did not come up under my previous searches for Bengals urinating outside the litter box. She asked questions to gather information specific to my Bengal baby and gave several recommendations of things to try that may help reduce my girl's urinating outside the litter box. Being provided information that helped me understand her behavior coupled with suggestions I had not thought to try. have completely calmed my stress level and has given me a hope that we will be able to help our little girl potty in places that don't stress her mommy.
I wanted to share this for a few reasons: First, after speaking with Michelle I better understand my Bengal's behavior and feel like we will be able to stop most of her outside the litter box urinating. Although Michelle runs Avalo Cat Sanctuary her ultimate goal is to try to keep families together. Second, I had absolutely no idea (even though we did research Bengals prior to adopting our baby) that Bengals really do not "like" to use a litter box. I do not know any better way to share that very important fact other than to post it on a Bengal Cat Forum. This information is vitally important and breeders really really should let adopters know. Of course, there are things we can do to promote litter box use, but the reality is that Bengals are wild and depending on the generation may not ever completely use a litter box. Lastly, and probably most importantly, please help support Bengal Rescues/Bengal Sanctuaries. I say this because since Thursday night's search was about surrendering/re-homing my Bengal, I came across so many sanctuaries with pleas that hybrid breeding be stopped because the influx of surrendered Bengals is overwhelming the rescues/sanctuaries. Although I thought I could surrender my baby, I honestly do not know if that's true, but I am thrilled that Michelle helped me understand my baby and that is no longer an option I will consider.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and, if I am able to help just one Bengal guardian that's awesome.
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