Hello,

I have a 7 plus year old Bengal that got out and went on a 2 1/2 week adventure. Despite having a collar with my contact information and his microchip, I finally found him through social media. He had gotten into quite a bad fight and had a large abscess on his side and he was definitely starving. He is small for a Bengal and lost almost a pound in his time outside. When he first came back he was so lovey dovey and happy to be home. Now he does what I call "window swimming", runs around meowing in a stressful manner, and stares outside and growls. I think he may have kitty pts but I'm not sure what to do about it. I did get feliway pheromone but it does seem to do anything for him. Any suggestions?

Sincerely,
Alyssa from Albuquerque

I'm sure what's happened is that now he's recovered and feeling better, he's ready to go back outside for more adventures. Cats do not understand the perils that are outside. Cat fighting is quite prevalent. There are three options. You keep him inside and listen to him cry and cry and cry and cry and cry and cry and cry. You can train him to walk on a harness and leash and you can take him for walks which will, hopefully, keep him safe from cats (although today another cat was in our yard and Raiden went after him. The leash is only 10 feet and he was around the corner of the house and I couldn't see what was on the other side). Your third option is to make a safe cat enclosure where he can be outside and be safe from other cats and he can't get away.

Once a male cats has a taste of the outside, that's where they want to be. Freedom feels great to them, but if you want him to be safe (and I'm sure the abscess caused a visit to the vet with antibiotics, etc.), you're going to have to control his access outside. My Raiden roamed free for six years and got into a lot of cat fights before I took possession of him a year ago. We do daily walks and he has a 12'x12' outdoor cat enclosure. It's STILL not enough! But it's all I can do for him at the moment. Good luck!