Hi All!

I decided to hit up a Bengal forum for advice because I'm a bit at my wit's end. My username is From the Cat Grotto because I am reporting live from an old 1 bedroom apartment with 5 cats. Weee!

The residents: Me and my partner. 2 Bengal Brothers, Apollo and Ares, 1.5 yrs old. 1 tuxedo longhair kitten, Nyxie, 10 months old. 2 lady rescues, Miss Kitty (age unknown, estimated 9 years) and Boo Bear (6 years).

Small backstory: Nyxie, Miss Kitty, and Boo Bear are mine. Ares and Apollo are my partner's. [It's a bit like the Brady Bunch, but with cats] We moved in together in November and the cats have all adjusted remarkably well. Miss Kitty has asthma and sometimes the boys are overly curious about her and bring on an attack. :( Lately Apollo has begun licking out some of his fur, but seems happy otherwise. The cats are well fed, we play with them about an hour each human per day, and they are very active and playful together (the 2 boys and kitten, my old lady kitties just want to sleep and cuddle :P) We do not have outdoor access for them at our residence, though we have been talking about getting harnesses and leashes for the boys.

The problem: At night time, the bengal boys and tuxedo kitten go INSANE. This is pretty standard behavior, I gather, with bengals and with kittens, but the problem is this: we cannot sleep! The boys run across our bed so hard and fast they have opened cuts on our bodies that scar, leave bruises all over our ribs and tummies. My partner has a scarred face like a pirate from them launching off her face while she was asleep. We cannot lock them out because Apollo (the more 'wild-cat' looking and acting bengal) will howl at the top of his lungs, which all the neighbors can hear. On top of that, he launches himself directly up in the air, then drags his nails down the whoooooooole wooden door, and land with a huge crash. He will do this until the door is opened, and we don't want to get noise complaints from these sounds happening at 1 AM or later.

There is ONE surefire way to get the cats to stop and be quiet: My partner goes to sleep on the couch. It only works if she goes. If I go to sleep on the couch, they keep it up all night, running over her and bruising her and clawing her. When she goes to sleep on the couch, they all curl up and go to sleep like innocent angel babies. What crazy cat logic does this imply!?

What gives with this? What on earth can we do? We don't really want to spend the rest of our lives together with her sleeping on the couch. :P Sending them away is an unacceptable option so I hope no one is going to suggest that (ditto to declawing). We love them very much, they are fun, sweet, lovely cats for the most part, and their night behavior is clearly not malicious (not to mention, they were quite costly. xD)

So much need for advice or consolation or a cookie or something. Collage of cats included below:

Oh, such an easy solution. When the cats decide to sleep, you sleep! I know that isn't possible!!! LOL. My Raiden sleeps through the night. He goes down when it gets dark and gets up around dawn. You have multiple cats, thus the cats have multiple playing partners during the night. The only way to get them to sleep at night may be to separate them at night -- and your apartment is quite small, so that may be impossible. And it may be impossible to wear them completely out before bedtime. Getting them worn out may work you up to the point you cannot sleep. This is like having five small children and trying to get them to go to bed -- it's exhausting! You have a couple of kittens in the mix, too, and they are always active and bengals are super hyper! You may just have to learn to live on very little sleep. Perhaps as these kittens grow older, they'll want to sleep more. I feel for you because I cherish my sleep. Good luck!

5 Cats and 2 adults in a one-bedroom apartment really is expecting a lot, and may just not be realistic. And I think there's at least a good chance that Appollo's tearing out his fur may be related to it being a stressful situation for all the cats with so much competition for space and territory. I think the obvious answer is that you may need a bigger place, one where there is room for the cats, and where they can make a bit more noise while you train them that they can't be with you if they run over you at night.

You could try adding lots and lots of vertical space. Shelving, cat trees, accessible bookcases and the like. That may have the affect of allowing each cat to have some "territory" and less stress, encourage them to find a desirable place to sleep that is "theirs", and also give them ways to get across the room without running over you. Also playing with the rambunctious ones before bedtime may help.

Another thought is that if Apollo must be in the room with you, could the rest of the cats then be on the other side of the door?

Other than that I dunno. It really may be asking too much for so many young, athletic cats to be cooped up in such a small space.

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The little monsters 3

A second adding vertical space - that may help prevent the running across your bodies.
My two have their mad 10 minutes in the evening and I generally shut them out of the room when I see they are doing it otherwise I do get used as a trampoline.

I also noticed that my two play very hard after they have dinner so i make sure that they dont have any extra food before I go to bed. I play with them sometimes just before I head off to bed in an attempt to wear them out. Might be worth changing your/their routine a little so they sleep when you do.

Thank you for your replies!

A new larger space is definitely needed for us humans and our kitties too, but financially it is not in the cards at this time. :(

More vertical space is something we have considered as well and want to add to the apartment.