I haven't been on here for a while but something just happened with my 3Yr old cat Benji and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.
I took her out for a walk tonight to tire her out so I could do some work after and also to pick up my tea.
After an initial hiccup, I think she just wanted home for a quick bite and toilet we went back out again.

Having been out mostly on her own recently (apart from a walk at the weekend) she did get the hang of things no bother and actually it looked like it was turning out to be one of her best walks yet. Got food and was heading back, decided to go a slightly different route and then we encountered a cat.

Usually when this happens there is a bit of a standoff and I try and let them sort it out themselves but without escalating into violence. Generally it seems that Benji is the aggressor and the other cats usually yield to a degree but I've always ended up dragging her away with much protest and normally with the other cat following.
So this time I thought I would let it play out a little bit more but keeping a close watch and tight control. It did look like it was going to turn nasty so I took her away and the other cat followed. I felt a bit bad at this point and thought this might be equivalent in cat world of an overprotective parent.
So the cat followed and caught up, there was a bit of a standoff but it turned into them just sitting there quietly. From watching cat introduction videos I did not want to interfere and at this point it seemed like they might actually get on. After a while of them basically sitting there and pretending to ignore each other the other cats owner came along. We chatted a little bit and the cats seemed to want to go their separate ways (albeit we seemed to be going in the wrong direction) and looking back this would have been a very good point to stop at.

We had had a really good walk, there hadn't been any cat violence and they had parted amicably.
The owner of the other cat picked him up and took him back towards us so I thought I would do the same. Having done this a couple of times before I expected no drama. And was prepared to pull her away at the slightest sign of upset.
However, when it came it was nothing like I had seen before and I ended up coming off quite badly.

So she hissed at the other cat and I told her off and moved away but then she started hissing at me and went mental. If she is in a foul mood she might have the odd growl or grumble if she is unhappy but it has to be serious for her to hiss at me and she has NEVER lashed out. If she gets anywhere near that kind of state, I can always calm her down.
So I got a right good scratch, which obviously made me drop her and it outright confused me as we went along the road a bit with her still growling and grumbling. I just assumed she had gotten confused and panicked but as I tried to get her to keep walking (away from the other cat) she kept growling and hissing at me, which she has never done before so I did not quite know what was happening. So I tried to calm her down and keep leading her away but the growling and grumbling continued.
We stopped for a moment to give her a bit of time to calm down and then when I tried to get things moving again still the growling and grumbling, hissing as I moved closer so I tried to calm her down and went to scuff her (ie fur on the back of the neck - mum cat) softly to re-assure and this seemed to work. But as I tried to get her to cross the road she started with the growling and grumbling so I picked her up, normally no big deal but she lashed out again and I had to effectively throw her off.
At this point I really did not know what to do, she has never lashed out at me before and there has never been a situation where it has gotten this bad. She is such a pleasant easy going cat and any growling or grumbling has never lead to this, even if I pick her up. She has hissed in the past, albeit rarely but stopped after being told off.

So she went away a bit and I couldn't just let go of the lead so kind of just stayed there giving her a bit of space to chill out. After about 5 minutes she seemed to come 'back' if you like and went to sniff my hand with no growling. But when I tried to coax her to move the hissing started again. There was a point she had ears back and gave me a ferocious look, I really have never seen her do that and thought she was going to pounce from the ground up at my face.

Eventually we got moving again but at just about every command it was growling. I kept stopping to try and give her a time out but we were still a few streets away from home so we had to keep moving. Eventually we got home but she kept aggressively protesting at just about everything, which is unusual.

We got into the house and she was better, ie non aggressive but she has hardly come near me again also unusual.
It has really shocked me as she has never been like that before and I wasn't really sure why.
My assumption is that she must have been terrified and panicked, which I obviously feel awful about for putting her in that situation. But I also worry about the bond between us, which I now worry will never be the same.
But more than that I am concerned if she lashes out like that with me she will lash out with anyone, not good for adults but worse for my 3 year old niece who adores her.

My face, neck and arms will heal but I do not know what to make of this.
It was like a switch was flicked I don't know what will happen in the future. I worry that she will turn into an aggressive cat and lose her great character.

She has 'attacked' my girlfriend but I always thought it was more play than malice. Whenever she has acted up I have always managed to take control of the situation and it has never gotten out of hand.

Has anybody seen this before in their cat?
What do I do in future?
I don't want to let her out alone for fear of her being run over but not sure if walking on the leash will be possible after this. It was all I could do to get her home without it really escalating again.

Sorry for the long post, I just don't really know what happened and she was obviously distressed but I did not realise the level she was at.

Its maybe worth adding that she was well socialised by the breeder and gets own with everybody, a really good cat.
She has this 'thing' with my neice where they are a bit wary of each other but curious at the same time. This now really bothers me and I would not be keen on leaving them alone, now that I have seen aggression from Benji.

I'll quite happily put my hands up here as I should not have put her in a situation where she was so distressed. I just did not realise it was so bad and I feel awful for putting her through that.
I really thought I knew her so well and she knew me, we have (or had) that amazing Bengal bond and normally to know what each other is thinking.
The communication between us has gotten better recently and this is why I think the walk went so well.

I'm just shocked, I don't know if this will happen again.

The other cat was passive at the trigger point and they seemed happy to sniff each other, so I really don't know what caused it.

I'll also add that she does not get on great with other cats or dogs. I'd love her to get more friendly with her own kind and am fairly optimistic of it happening. But just about at every encounter she ends up hissing at the other cat/dog and I have to carry her away. It has never lead to this before.
She did get on with my neighbour's dog, once or twice and was even in their house together sniffing each other. But sadly my neighbour passed.

I just feel like an idiot, I'm sure some people will lambast me as a bad cat owner, but I honestly thought I was doing the best by her.

When Raiden and I are out on our daily walks and we encounter a cat, Raiden is not allowed near that cat. I have no idea if that cat will attack us. Raiden will howl, the other cat will howl, but I pick Raiden up immediately and we go in the other direction. I do not want him to get riled up and stressed out or aggressive. Most cats meeting for the first time are not going to get along and be best buddies! I'm no cat behaviorist, but it sounds like your cat just became aggressive toward you because she had the aggression built up in her for this other cat. I didn't think female cats were like that -- but maybe female bengals are. Personally, I think other cats need to be off limits to your kitty. You never know when you may find a very aggressive other cat and things happen before you can blink your eye. Raiden pulled the leash out of my hand once and tackled another cat. I had the responsibility of trying to untangle the leash from this other cat, who surprisingly was still and let me do it. I felt as if I were putting my own life in jeopardy with two male cats tangling with each other. I picked Raiden up off the other cat and the other cat ran away. It all happened so fast, I was not sure what on earth had happened.

I learned my lesson!

Here's what I think happened:

You put your cat, needlessly, into a situation where she felt threatened enough to get into "fight" mode (it may not have been a matter of being "afraid", she might well have felt confident, but still got put into that mode), and then at that point it was just a matter of instincts and hormones and smell and body language from the two cats, and at that point there was no recognition of friend vs foe, so misdirected aggression. You said it yourself, when you can, avoid putting her into such situations and it should be fine.

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The little monsters 3

Sherry, tbh I have had that thought before. Avoid the issue by moving her away, it would certainly not do me any harm.
The reason I have been reluctant to do that is because I thought in cat language it made her out to be weak to the other cat and might make it worse if they encountered each other again.

But it may honestly be the best thing.


Brian, I think you are probably right and that is along the lines I thought was happening at first (although more along the lines of afraid agression) but definitely mis-directed. It does make sense if it was confident aggression and that is why she did not want to be told what to do afterwards.

The times she has encountered other cats she has always tried to get the upper hand, being a Bengal. Only once has another cat just said, aye ok whatever and basically ignored her. I just did not realise the level of aggression it builds up because I have never seen that in her before.

And definitely in a 'mode'.

She is out of it now and we have even played a little bit since coming home but there is definitely an elephant in the room.

As daft as this is away to sound I think its easy to forget we are living with an animal with killer instincts and obviously this is amplified to a degree with Bengals having a portion of wild blood in them.

Hopefully I will have a scar so it will serve as a good reminder to me and a possible warning to others not to get too complacent. Admittedly this being an example of very extreme and unusual scenario I'd imagine (or hope) recurrence is highly unlikely, but nothing wrong with being aware, especially around children.

Yea, it can be kind of shocking and unsettling. A year or so ago one of my cats, Gaga, got a claw caught in the grating of a hard drive enclosure, and she really freaked out, she started thrashing and got into "flight" mode. Neytiri witnessed this, and something clicked in her, and she went into big-time "fight" mode. The result was a startling vicious fight. I got some deep scratches for trying to break them up from that, and it really shook all of us up. An hour or so later all was fine and forgotten on the cat's part. Like it never happened.

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The little monsters 3

It seems that, unfortunately, you as the 'protector / leader' having allowed a small socialisation to happen, then drew them apart, and in Benjis eyes, then forced them towards each other. This would be confusing and trigger the 'fight or flight' mode which clearly went off big time. You will need to regain her total trust before you can even think of letting her 'meet' another cat while on a harness / leash. I would try and avoid anything like this situation for a while, until she is happily trotting around on the leash without any signs of stress / jumpiness. Then if you do come across another animal, do not pick her up and walk her towards it - walk away, to give her the reassurance that you are her protector. Work on it from there, and eventually she may trust you to hold her by another animal.

Merlin has had so many scraps that I used to go out and chase off other cats coming into 'his' garden, to avoid a fight. Now he simply sits there and calls for me in that 'certain way' knowing that I will come and 'fight' his battles for him! The cats scarper when they see me charging down the path towards them, and Merlin just sits there with a smug expression - but no injuries! He can be completely fluffed up like a loo brush, and the moment I put my hand on him, he calms down and relaxes.

My Nismo went into the same mode once.
I took them to a cattery for the first time - lovely place, the owner was a client of my business so I'd helped her design and get planning permission for the cattery. When we arrived, Nismo went into mental mode - growling and hissing at Evo, hissing and spitting at me. We tried to let him calm down but after an hour he would try still attack Evo, so I took him home. It took a further hour of re-introducing him to Evo- through a glass door, then held so he could sniff Evo, scent swapping using their blankets and finally letting him loose in the room with Evo, where suddenly he snapped out of it and started grooming Evo and curling up next to him. Poor Evo didn't quite understand and constantly looked confused at Nismo as if to say - what are you on?!

Great input folks, thanks for sharing.

I guess I was in shock a little bit, we have been in similar situations before but it has always been under control.
She does normally come get me if a cat is in the garden, not so much for protection more for let me out so I can get it!!

She seemed fine this morning and I'm sure she will be happy to see me when I come home and we can have a da bird session or something. Might leave it a few days before walking though!

Brian said, "there was no recognition of friend vs foe".
I agree cats when upset like this do not seem to or want to recognise their "friends" be that human or feline.

It is almost as the "friend" becomes part of the problem and stirs the cat up even more.

It is all about territory, you took a different route. A cat that is out and about in unknown territory will always be on edge, out popped the strange cat and at that point she was probably extremely stressed. She didn't outwardly show it because that would have put her at a disadvantage, she was sussing him out just as he was sussing her out. If you hadn't been there it may have ended up in a physical fight or it may have ended up in those prolonged howling episodes that cats can get into. By removing the cat it was unfinished business so she was expecting an ambush perhaps.
The cat left, but she was still in a stressful state, she was still on high alert, one touch from you and she went ballistic thinking she had been attacked by that cat. It didn't help that she wasn't on her known safe ground.
Had she known where she was, ie in your garden or on her normal route, she may not have reacted as she did, but she was outwith her own territory with a strange cat about and she flipped.

I do not think she is a danger to your niece, but every cat needs watched around children, any cat can get scared or hurt and lash out, depending on the circumstances .
However I think the situation you describe was the perfect storm.