Hi,

I have two girls, they are of a similar age and come from another home.

Kiara is a smaller brown bengal and is full pedigree, she wonders about the house and is very easy to live with.

Kalila is a larger cat, white with blue eyes. Stunning cat really. She is the biggest pain the ass ever.

Bit of history.

Late last year myself and my girlfriend were looking for Bengals as we had read a lot about their temperament and as it happens a local family to us had to let their cats go to another home as their son had become allergic to the fur on Kalila (her hair is astonishingly fine!)

We took the cats and apart from the initial unrest from being somewhere new they both came out of their shell after about 2 weeks.

Both cats have never been out and that is something we are going to change (and I will ask for advice about that at a later date), but due to the time of the year and their lack of knowledge of the house and area. Now it is spring here, I would like to see the cats making use of the cat flap and enjoying the area we live in (no main roads, long grass and plenty of mice!)

The problem I have with Kalila is, she walks about the house wailing the whole damn time. I mean she will literally wail from the moment I get in to the time I go out ( and probably when I am out as well! )

She always seems to be looking for the other cat, I don't know if it is because she is anxious or wants to go out. We have let them out into the garden a few times in the recent weeks as I said before, we want them to see the world.

Has anyone got any experience with a cat that appears to be happy a lot of the time, she loves cuddles and will sit on me for hours but as soon as she is doing her own thing she just wails like a banshee!

Thanks for any help you can offer

Tony

This is a common bengal trait lol. They are extremely vocal cats, it's just part of their nature. I know that even when I know Link is feeling well, has food and water and nothing is wrong he will still talk to me all the time :]

No two Bengals are alike, but it's very common for one to be extremely vocal -- mine is. He's usually crying unless he's sleeping, eating, playing, in his cat enclosure, or walking on a leash. Most of the time he wants attention and someone to rub his belly. In the evenings, he will settle down in my husband's arms and he does sleep through the night. Be thankful if you have a quiet one. Should you really be concerned, you can alway have the vocal one looked at my a vet to just make sure nothing is wrong.

If you ask advice about letting your cats roam free, you'll get a mixed bucket of reviews. For some, it's common for them to just let the cats out -- and they claim they always come back. However, we have had cats killed by cars, killed by a horse, vanished and they think it was stolen. I know cats are independent creatures and they love the outdoors, but we built a large cat enclosure for Raiden which gives him the fresh air that he needs. I'll put the two cat trees back out once spring arrives. In the winter, he had two heated beds out there. I also walk him on a leash and he loves that. I got him a from a neighbor who allowed him to roam free, but vicious cat fights and high vet bills for the owner, left him wanting to get rid of the cat. So I took Raiden and decided he would need to be supervised or in a controlled area to protect him from this huge alpha male (neutered) cat that he loves to antagonize and he ends up getting pretty beaten up.

Even though you say there is no traffic, there could be other cats, coyotes, foxes, strangers that spot the cat and want the cat, mean neighbors down the road that trap and relocate them. You just never know. When cats are first allowed outdoors, they tend to stay close to home. As their confidence increases, they widen their territory. I do think males wander further than females. I've had cats in the past who have vanished without a trace. I don't want that with Raiden. And I hate to view "lost cat" ads or forums where someone has had a cat go missing ... my heart aches for them but had the cat been indoors or supervised outside, the cat would not be missing. I searched for months for my last missing kitty and learned a lot from reading about "missing cats" on the web. I don't wish that ordeal on anyone when it's so simple to make sure the kitties are safe from outdoor perils.

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The little monsters 3

As others have said, she may well just be a very talkative cat.

One possibility - She may also be calling for the other one. I have two and, if Ripley wants her brother and can't find him, she will cry and wander around for ages. Sometimes he is dozing and can't be bothered answering, so if I want the noise to stop I either play with her myself or wake the dozing one up

The second possibility is that she wants out, because she has been there and it was fun. If you are going to let them out, it is best to stick to a routine. For example, build a cat enclosure and let them go there anytime they want. Or let them out only in daylight hours.

My routine is - they first have to have their collars on. They wait by the shelf the collars are kept. They can go out only when it is light and both of us are already up, generally by 8am or so. They generally come in and out several times during the day. It is late summer here in Australia, and I am outside most of the day, in the garden, or working on the deck. They come visit me, have a stroke, nibble some biscuits. They generally sleep all afternoon, Jonesy close by to me. Ripley, his sister, prefers to nap outdoors under the hedge. If I haven't seen them for a couple of hours, I call and they come to me. From around 5pm I stop work and play with them in the garden, so they run around lots. Often they play tag me/chase me and all I need do is laugh..... Then as dusk gathers, currently around 7,30pm, I call them in. The cat flap is locked, collars come off and they are fed. They do not cry to be let out again - they know the routine. If, for some reason, I take them indoors when they should be allowed out, they kick up a huge racket. Recently, my husband was constructing a concrete slab and they were getting dangerously close to his work, so I locked them in with me. The noise was incredible.....

There are risks in letting them outside, and everyone makes different choices about whether to handle that risk. Whatever you decide to do, if you stay systematic and build a routine they recognise, perhaps you will find, as I have, that they settle into that.

Or, of course, you might just have an especially vocal one and she'll talk away all the time, regardless!

Is your white cat pure white? I ask because, most often, a white cat with blue eyes is deaf. A deaf cat can adjust to a normal lifestyle, especially when kept indoors. They are also susceptible to some peculiar behaviours.

Could she be deaf?

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~ Kyenta

Morning!

Thank you for the advice.

I will be thinking about the cat area outside though it isn't very feasible at the moment.

My partner has bought both cats a harness each to take them out in a controlled manner which so far has been good. I do appreciate that some people don't let their cats run free and appreciate the reasons why. The area we live in is very rural and being the UK we don't have very many dangerous wild animals though we do have foxes. My aim is to eventually let them roam as that's my belief.

With regards to the cat being deaf, that had me thinking this morning and I came downstairs to feed them I called Kalila and she came running and making a few noises to see if her ears move. All seems well with her hearing but thank you for the idea.

Just to be clear, I may say it is annoying but it doesn't for a min mean I don't love her (and Kiara) to bits :P I was more concerned that something may be up. I used to have 2 Short hair cats and they rarely made a squeak unless they were talking to the birds. It's quite funny as Kiara when she has got fed up with the wailing, will often walk up to Kalila and bop her on the nose to get her to stop. Both seem super happy and love playing all the time and being allowed on the bed with us at the weekend, often enjoying sitting on the window sill talking to the birds.

I am starting to wonder if the reason her old family gave them up was not because of the fur but because of the noise!

Thanks for the advice!

Tony

fyi, Meet the girls :)

I can see from your picture that your white cat is also a bengal. I was thinking perhaps a white moggie. The deafness is associated with totally white cats so would not be likely in your situation.

Beautiful cats btw.

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~ Kyenta

Hi, Tone, those girls are really lovely!!!

I'm glad you're just checking out whether anything could be wrong, likely as not there isn't and you just have yourself a very vocal Bengal. All the best