Hi everyone,

I've registered and decided to come on here for some much needed help and advice from other Bengal owners!!
We have a 8 month old female Bengal kitten we had her from 13 weeks old. We got her spayed at 5 months old as she came into heat quite young at 4 months. Over the last couple of months her behaviour has worsened she not attacks everyone and anyone who is near her including me and my husband. She will jump up at your face if you look at her or will bite and cling onto your arms. We have tried everything to discourage this behaviour from water sprays to shutting her out the room. But nothing seems to bother her she will come back for more. We have serious scars, scratches and cuts over us! And most of our families do aswell it's becoming really difficult for us!! I am looking for any advice or guidance over this as we really don't want to have to give up Skylar as we love her and she is a beautiful cat!!

Thanks in advance
Hollie

Do you play with her? Others on this forum will be able to advise far more that me but it sounds as if first thing to try is to wear her out with play. It could be play aggression

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Melissa

UK
Oscar - Rescue (Rascal!!!) Bengal

Welcome to the forum. You're living with a bengal!!! They are highly energetic and require a lot of playtime and human interaction. They do not go in a corner and sleep 20 hours a day like some moggies. How catified is your home? Bengals love to climb and be up high. You should have at least one tall cat tree or shelves on the wall. I might also suggest Feliway (you can order it online or find it in any pet store) that is supposed to help calm a cat.

The TV show My Cat From Hell has dealt with this problem many times. In one show, the owner was playing extremely rough with the cat and the cat rough-housed right back -- and then the owner complained because the cat would attack everyone.

First of all, I'd recommend you take her to the vet to have her checked out. I know she was just there three months ago for her spay, but ..... you need to rule out that there is anything medical or any pain that she's experiencing. I'm guessing the spay area has healed fine.

Get a lot of toys -- wand toys are great as they separate you from the cat -- and play with her--A LOT. Cats are natural hunters and attacking arms and legs usually means the kitty needs to hunt! So let her hunt the toy instead of your body.

Spray bottles do not work and can cause the cat to become more aggressive towards the person holding the bottle! (What would you do if someone were spraying water in your face? After a while, you'd get upset and revolt, right?).

This behavior signals that your kitty is not happy in her environment at the moment! Bengals require attention, they want to be with their humans, and the majority of bengals have the sweetest disposition of any cat breed. If you want this behavior to end, then you've got to make sure your kitty has plenty of other things going on -- catify your home, play with your kitty (not with your arms and legs or face). Kitties who attack are usually fearful of something. You've got to regain her trust and give her back her confidence. Check out Jackson Galaxy's Spirit Essences http://www.spiritessences.com and see if one of those remedies might help you out.

Most of all, Hollie, have patience with your kitty! She's a member of your family, not just your pet.

I was covered in scratches throughout the kitten stage of my two. It goes with the territory really! They are energetic and excitable, so you have to redirect that energy and wear the kitten out through play. Flying Frenzy/Da'Bird, laser pointers, bouncy balls, ping pong balls, springs - you need to invest a lot of time in play as already said by Sherry and Melissa. As she has gotten older, her energy levels are even higher, she sleeps less and is looking to hone her skills as a hunter.

Things will get better - having said that I do have some nasty scratches from the weekend, but that's because Jagger likes to 'help' with the gardening/weeding and has a habit of wrestling my arms as I'm clearing up anything I've been cutting back lol

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK

My two kittens were quite a handful at 4 months old and I was at a loss as to how to "train them." I was the one that needed training. They were just being their natural selves. I followed the advice of the others on the forum and catified my house and stopped trying to keep them off the counters by using a squirt gun. That only made them fear me, and they jumped back up as soon as my back was turned. Now that I ignore that activity, they rarely go on the counter. Why? The squirt gun game stopped. Everything is a game to them when they are kittens. I was covered in scratches too. At one point it was so bad I had Soft Paws put on their nails for a month. After that I have brought them to the vet each month for a nail trim. Now at 15 months old they seem to understand that their nails can hurt me, and they are careful not to do that. Blondie has finally learned how to knead my skin without puncturing holes in it with her nails. Plenty of scratching posts, cat trees and wall shelves give my cats their own territory so they don't bother with my things. They rarely jump on a sofa or the counter now. They are too busy running up and down their cat trees and scratching their scratchers. They don't even beg for food any more, and they were bad as kittens. I stopped giving them table scraps when they went on a venison only diet for an itching problem they have. They never bother me when I am eating now.

Try not to shut her away from you. She craves that interaction and needs to learn how to be with you. Try Fealaway plugins. That will calm her down when she is too wound up. Use wand toys to tire her out and interact with you. Socialize her, be patient, it will all pay off when she matures. I can't believe how well behaved my two kitties are, but it was a lot of work. Kittens are a lot of work and so darned cute! Enjoy her.

Well, at 8 months though you're really not talking about so much a "kitten" anymore, so I do think that is cause for concern. By now you would hope that she would come to appreciate that hurting you guys wasn't appreciated, and didn't result in anything desirable for her, and at the same time that you guys would have developed a relationship with her that there was mutual trust and respect.

So I think there are some different possibilities here:

1. What she is doing is play aggression, and she hasn't learned how to play in an amicable way with you and your family, so she is basically making up her own games. If that's what this is, then it should be fixable by teaching her that there are very fun ways that she can play the hunter, and burn her energy, and have a really fun game that doesn't involve hurting you.

2. What she is doing is actual aggression. That would be bad, if that is true. In that case, it's some sort of "imbalance", mental, or serious behavioral issue, and that's going to be difficult to deal with. Does her eyes dilate prior to an attack? You say that the attacks are triggered by you meeting eyes with her? You may have to seek out a cat behaviorist.

3. I hate to even bring this up, but is it possible that she has been or is being mistreated? Do you have kids that might not be playing with her properly? Or someone else that might be lashing out at her when you are not there? I know it's difficult to have your emotions completely under control when you are being slashed by a cat, but what sort of a relationship do you and the rest of your family have with this cat when she is not doing this? Does she sleep with you? Show you trust? Sleep on laps?

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The little monsters 3

Great points from Clare, Jill and Brian! I think the OP needs to really observe the kitty to see what might set this off.

I was definitely still having problems at that age. I can remember coming home from work one evening, fed them and popped out to deliver an Easter egg to a friends daughter. I got home and was met with two very grumpy bengals looking at me through the conservatory window. As soon as I stepped through the door, they were literally running all over me, I was scratched all over.

I work all day, so the highlight of their day is seeing you in the evening and they're looking forward to seeing you and some play time. That particular night I definitely feel they were just happy to have me home for play time, and they had loads of pent up energy. I never felt there was any intent to hurt me, they were simply over excitable. Jagger used to hang off me as well, wrestling me for the nappy sacks I use to clear the litter trays. It was all play aggression, but it hurt and there was no controlling him when he got that wild look in his eyes.

Look for the triggers. I wouldn't let jagger in when I was doing the litter trays for starters.

By about nine months they suddenly calmed down.

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Clare
Hendrix and Jagger, Brown Marble Boys (born 18 August 2013)
Hampshire, UK