So. My husband and I decided we wanted a cat. We both have had cats before. I had had my previous cat for 15 years.
So we went to the shelter 3 weeks ago, and immediately fell in love with Khloe. A gorgeous 6 month old girl, that had been returned to the shelter and was quite skinny. She is grey and black with orange spots, bright orange eyes, unique streaks of white around her eyes, and a partly spotted belly. Very long and lanky, with a short, extremely soft coat.
(Going to put in right here that i know Khloe is not a purebred Bengal. Just maybe part?)
She had a great, loving, playful personality that we adored.

Fastforward 3 weeks. Now that Khloe has put on weight, she is feeling much better. Much...much better. She likes to voice her opinion, loudly. She wants to be as close to the ceiling as she can, she fetches like a dog, and I constantly find her in the shower or playing in her water dish.

I would never even consider taking her back to the shelter. But we just would like some advice on how to keep her challenged and stimulated mentally/physically?

It is really up to YOU to stimulate and challenge her. Lots of play time with wand toys is a first step. A tall cat tree is good as well. There are interactive toys on the market that challenge a cat with treats or food. Track ball toys that can keep them occupied for a minute or two. Cats do not have a long attention span, so this needs to be varied.

Based on your description of her, it doesn't sound like there would be any bengal in her. The traits of fetch and jumping in the shower is not solely with the bengal breed. My domestic short haired cats loves to be out in the pouring rain!

I'm so sorry to hear that. Let's just pray that she's still alive and kept with a kind person. Next time, let's be always attentive to our pets . If you're planning to have another cat, Put your contact info on her name tag or collar so that you'll be informed if ever your cat is found when lost.

I am so sorry Jake. It's devastating when a cat vanishes and there is no closure. I think most cat owners have experienced that, including me. I hope you posted on lost and found pages (Facebook, Craigslist) that your kitty was missing (with a photo). Did you put up flyers, notify shelters and vets? It's easier with more eyes out there looking. I will say that one cat returned home more than four months after it vanished. Just walked up to the front door like nothing ever happened. So you don't have to give up.

So sorry to hear that Jake. Don't lose hope. Maybe she'll come back to you after some time, we'll never know. You can have your cat micro chipped or another way is to put a tracker on her so that in case she gets lost again then you can easily find her.

The key is also to ask neighbors to check crawl spaces and garages. My DSH was in a crawl space for five days. I'd posted a note on the neighbor's door since the last time I saw the cat, he was in that yard. They checked their garage twice and never saw him. Thankfully, the crawl space can be accessed from their garage and the wife saw the cat in the garage days later. They called me and we opened the door to the crawl space and rescued the cat. This was the fourth time he had been locked in somewhere. He has to inspect all open garages and has gotten the door shut with him inside -- once when a neighbor went out of town for three days. You never stop looking -- never stop hoping that they are okay.

A stray I was feeing and had just gotten neutered and vaccinated vanished without a trace. I created an area on a map of where he might be. I created flyers and postcards and got the addresses from our property appraiser and sent out over 1,800 of them with the picture and info of the cat. I got numerous calls and checked every one of them out to no avail. But, I felt I did everything I could to find him. I know what you want is for him to return home or closure that he is not.

I was feeding a gorgeous long-haired white and orange cat and trying to befriend him/her. On my way to work one day, I saw the cat laying on the side of the road and had been hit by a car. My heart just sank. I get way too involved in the cats and have had my heart broken many times.

That's so heartbreaking Sherry. So many unfortunate accidents happen with cats everyday.

Unfortunately, when you let your kitties outside on their own, anything can and will happen. My DSH is an indoor/outdoor cat and when he doesn't show up after a few hours, I start to worry to death about him. I'm walking the streets in my subdivision calling for him. Most of the time, I find him, but last night I did not and it was another 2 hours before he finally showed up. We back up to acres of woods and hear coyotes out there all the time. Long Legs was an all-outdoor cat when he found me and we've allowed him to come inside our home, but he refuses to stay for more than a nap and then he's scratching at the door to go out. At some point, I won't be able to find him, I'm sure. Thankfully, our bengal is allowed outside only on a leash and he has a 12'x12' enclosure on our deck that keeps him safe -- not so much chipmunks as he brought one inside the house the other day and my husband spent 30 minutes chasing it around before catching it to return it to the outside world. He has brought in baby squirrels, birds, lizards. They can fit through the wiring of the enclosure, unfortunately.

Yeah definitely true. Anything can really happen when you let your pets stay outdoors. It's better to have them leashed every time we go on a walk. I also find it cute when your cat brought home some animals. Haha.