I bought my fourteen week old bengal Toby two weeks ago, and he's beautiful but so so hyperactive. I expected this given that he's a bengal, but when he's sits next to me and chases his tell and attacks it he really hurts me. I have scratches all over me and if I try and stop him doing it he will then bite and scratch me.

He also continuously tries to bite a wire that I'm not able to proof like all my others. I'm at my wits end continuously telling him not to and it's so frustrating when he runs straight back to it.

I don't regret him, and I fully researched the bengal before buying one, but he is incredibly hyper all the time even at bedtime and I'm exhausted.

Any advice would be much appreciated as I do not want him to grow up thinking biting and scratching is ok.

Well... I don't really know how to put this any other way. He's a kitten. And a bengal kitten. He's doing what bengal kittens do best... playing.

You'll need to guide him into learning what's ok and what's not ok to play with. Toys- yes. Cables and people- no.

My little girl pixel loved cables (still does) so I had to cover them with plastic cable tidies/protectors to stop her from chewing them. If you can't protect this particular cable, then you need to remove it from his reach. Bengals are particularly tenacious and determined. If they want something, they WANT it and they'll do everything in their power to get it- regardless of what you say/do to stop them.
If he shows any interest in anything he's not supposed to have, then your best bet is to move it well out of his way.

He will have LOADS of energy to burn at this age, and its your job to direct him how to do so. Get lots of fun toys- particularly wand toys (e.g a toy on the end of a string attached to a stick). These are great for interactive play and will help the bonding process. Laser pointers also work.... but wands toys are much better because there's actually "prey" (the toy) to catch. I imagine the laser pointers are a bit more frustrating as they can't "catch" the "prey" (laser dot).
If you don't do this, you'll find that he'll just start hunting you, your hands & your feet instead.

My little girl pixel loves toys and playing but she sometimes she used to try and attack our hands/arms. She would latch on and kick/bite. The only way we got her out of this behaviour was to give her a time out. The moment she latched onto an arm, she was told 'no' then removed from the room (and all the fun toys) for a couple of minutes. If she came back in and played with a toy (rather than us) then she got rewarded with praise and fuss. This was the only thing that ever worked for her.

My two play with each other a lot. And bengals play ROUGH. The sooner you get him playing with toys and direct him away from you, the better. However, don't expect to never get a scratch. Sometimes they'll do it without intending to. You'll probably be covered in scratches for the next few months!!

Another idea, assuming your boy is an only cat, is to get something like a stuffed (cat safe) toy or a 'kicker' toy. This is something that they can play with and rough-house (beat up). My cats use each other for this so weren't interested when I got them those types of toys- but they can be really useful for single cats because you can redirect them to those instead of your arms/legs.

Lots of cat scratching posts/scratching trees are a good idea too. Lots of vertical spaces which he can climb and jump to will help use some of that energy- particuarly if chasing a wand toy!

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Katrina

Owned by:

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The little monsters 3

As the others have mentioned, you are going to have to redirect your kitten's energy to toys and other playthings that don't belong to a human (arms, legs, feet). Bengals are especially high energy-- and they seem to remain that way long after their kitten-stage. This is what you get with a bengal. Mine is 8 years old and he still runs around like a kitten. He still wants to play constantly. Spending a lot of time with your kitty playing with him and wearing him out helps the bonding process as well. Cat toys are inexpensive and you'll need a lot of them. At least one tall cat tree is a must! Raiden loves to be high up and plays with some of his toys when hiding in his condo.

Wrapping cords in electrical tape helped us. Diesel didn't like the texture of it when chewing - that was the only thing that saved our last 2 iPhone cords!

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Dallas, TX USA
Diesel - snow Bengal born 09/01/2013 adopted Feb 2014
Tuck, Chloe, Buddy, Lewis & Tia - rescue kitties
Clyde, Bleu & Coal - Great Danes