Hi

I was wondering if anyone had some suggestions? Every evening is the same I come home feed the cats, tidy round, litter trays etc. the whole time Simba follows me and I give him cuddles. Sometimes he gets excited because I am home and he runs around with a toy in his mouth chirruping - the usual standard cat behaviour.
However as soon as I sit down to relax he constantly jumps up on the tv shouting the whole time....as in climbing up the LCD TV screen with claws and standing on the top of the tv (it's about 10cm) wide. As soon as get up to get him down he jumps off and the TV literally rocks on its stand. I'm scared he will pull the whole thing over one day and even more scared he won't have jumped out the way in time and he gets seriously injured.

I have tried distracting him with toys when he goes towards it, playing with him, putting shelves up on another wall so he has a high place to jump too and nothing works.

I figured he is trying to get my attention but he just runs away when I get up to get him off. Thing is he only does this with me. When my brother cat sits it never happens - he just curls up on his lap apparently (the traitor!)

Does anyone have any ideas on how to change this type of behaviour? I think he has a few bad behaviours but wondered if this is the best place to start or should I try and sort everything in one go?

Thanks

Bengals thrive on attention! My Raiden will cry and cry for attention and if he doesn't get it, will try to jump up on the TV stand. He will look up at the TV as if he is going to jump up there (it's a flat screen -- not sure he could land on top of it). He knows that will force me to get up and shoo him out of there. It's not just playing with them for a few minutes because that's not enough. My hubby and I love to watch TV in the evenings and Raiden wants to play in our bedroom since that has the most vacant floor space. Not sure you can get your kitty to be a lap cat because I've had cats that would just lay on my lap and allow me to watch TV while petting and cuddling with them. Bengals are different! Raiden will race through the rooms of the house and finally exhaust himself enough for him to lay down and go to sleep.

It can be frightening if your TV is unstable and could fall over. I'd make sure it won't do that because there isn't really much you can do to keep a cat off where he decides he wants to be.

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The little monsters 3

I think it is very necessary to adapt your home so it is safe for the Bengal and safe for you too. There is a danger jumping on the TV as it will break, so it is up to you as a responsible owner to fix the television so that it will not fall over. Yes it is possible to train Bengals, but no-one can train a Bengal not to jump up if you are not there or you are not watching him.
He sees the TV as just another a ledge, he may like that it is a bit shoogly actually.

Thanks for the replies!

Ha I know Simba will never be a lap cat - unless he knows I am going to moving in the next five minutes and then he will come and sit there! (They are so instinctive!) mind you I have an old moggie who likes to lie there and a Raggie who curls up at my feet so I'm spoilt really!

I think I will try high intensity play and see if that goes some way to calm him. It's a flat screen tv so it's a tiny ledge on the top which he manages to balance on. I've ordered a child safety strap which attaches the tv to the wall so I know he can't pull it over accidentally, the tv is in a corner so can't put a ledge above it as TV is at an angle. He has shelving, cat trees, hideaways etc all over so there are plenty of cat friendly spaces for him to play on....just a shame his favourite places are on top of the tv or the door!

His other behaviours are peeing on soft furnishings and being a bully to my older cat.....bigger problems and I don't know where to start! I might get there one day though!