Hello,

My husband and I have two Bengal brothers who are just over two years old now. The larger one, Thor, is very laid back and cuddly. His smaller brother, Loki, is of course the crazy trouble-maker who drives us nuts! Loki is very hyperactive and he gets very bored of things easily. We have high perches, windows, lots of different toys, and his brother to play with and he still isn't satisfied. He will often try to get into things like cupboards and pull books off shelves. The best form of entertainment we've found so far is when a big fly gets in our apartment haha

I've been worried for awhile now that indoor life just isn't suited to this cat. We try to play with him every day but it can be tough since he gets bored so quickly with the different toys we have tried with him. If he doesn't get attention as soon as he wants it he turns on his brother and starts to fight with him, which Thor does not like and growls at him, trying to get away. If we don't separate them Loki will just keep trying to fight with him. It all makes it difficult not to get frustrated with him and think that maybe he needs an outdoor home.

Unfortunately we live in an apartment and don't have access to a yarn to put him on a run. We have taken them for walks as well but it doesn't seem to help, this cat needs room to run and bugs to hunt! Or maybe another cat just as playful and hyper as him.

Can anyone offer any advice please?

Thank you!

Loki is the typical bengal! Thor is not! I have a Loki in my house. And mine is 8 years old and always into something and moving around. I don't have another cat for him like you do. But, it's obvious your two kitties are completely different and have different energy levels (which is unusual if you have two bengals -- especially brothers).

Bengals do not need to be outdoor cats. If you want Loki to experience the outdoors, train him to walk on a harness and leash and take him for walks. My Raiden was a free-roaming cat for the first six years of his life and he had several bad cat fights that ended up in vet visits for the previous owner. When I took him, I decided he could not roam free, so we take two walks daily and he has a huge 12'x12'x8' high enclosure on our deck that he can access 24/7. This has helped tremendously, but he STILL gets bored. But, that's just the way he is. He'll start running around the house, jumping up on everything. That's just a bengal.

Allowing Loki outdoor access unsupervised is a personal preference. If you don't care whether he returns home and are willing to sacrifice the money you paid for him, that's fine. But, if you want to keep him safe from harm's way (other cats, dogs, traffic, people who steal purebred cats), then you'll simply find a way to deal with this. Not many bengals are like Thor! Most are like Loki.

I think apartment is not enough or fair for active cats like Bengals. Lot of space with enclosed outdoors this is what i would go for for bengals.

Whilst my two do go outdoors during the day, plenty of people on here have indoor bengals only.

How big is your apartment? How much catification have you done? A cat tree is a must for bengals I think. Does Thor have places to escape from Loki?

Both of mine love to knock things of shelves, its just one of those things! What exactly does Thor do all day? It seems a bit odd he doesn't like to play with Loki. I have two brothers and they also have very different personalities, but they both charge around after each other like lunatics and have play fights etc.

I think you need to look at your set up at home and see what you can do if you feel life isn't very harmonious at the moment. But Loki sounds like a very normal Bengal to me!!

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

I don't really know what to say to this. It's hard. In some ways I think it is a copout to just say "well, he needs to be outside" so you either rehome him with that as a condition for the new owner, or just shoo him out the door and say "have fun out there", more than likely sending him to his eventual doom, or at the least a life with much bigger problems than he has right now. But I get that it is a challenge when he doesn't have a compatible playmate, and lives in a small space. So I dunno what to suggest. I empathize with your situation, I just don't think turning a cat (especially an attractive, exotic purbred cat) loose in the outdoors is the answer, but in your case I'm not really sure what is...

_________________
The little monsters 3

Thank you for the tips so far everyone. We do not want to just let Loki be an outdoor cat for all of those unsafe reasons, and it seems like most people keep their bengals indoors. We have a two bedroom apartment which is not too small but of course bigger would be better. My hope is that when we move this fall we can find a place with access to a big deck or backyard we can give them some protected access to. When we got the kittens we let the breeder know we were in a small apartment so I kind of wish we had been told to wait until we had a bigger place. It just feels unfair because I know he just wants to run around and have space. I also want to get them one of those cat wheels but they are hard to find and pretty expensive, but we will probably have to get one to help him burn off some energy. I wish in some ways Thor was a bit more active so that his brother would have another cat who was just as playful as him. I'm not sure how I could give Thor a space where Loki can't go since Loki is even more athletic than his brother. If they are fighting and Thor is trying to get away we will often just keep one in a room for awhile with one of us so they can get some space and calm down and then they are usually fine. Maybe when the day comes where I have a child for him to play with Loki will have someone more on his energy level haha

Is there any reason you don't want to take Loki outside for walks so he can use up some of that energy? I know when a cat goes outside, they seem to want outside even more. If you are contemplating on moving, definitely look for something where you can have a type of outdoor enclosure. In the mean time, you can try to settle him down with Feliway or lots of play time with toys. I know how tempting it is to just open the door and say, "okay, now are you happy?" And when we first forced Raiden to be an indoor kitty, he cried 24/7. All night long! All day long. He scratched at the door. Somehow we all survived it and now he cries because he's ready for his walk. He would prefer three a day, but gets two. By nightfall, he's ready to settle down for the entire night!

I have a One Fast Cat wheel and Raiden may hop on it once a day for about 10 seconds. He'd probably do more if I held a treat out in front of him. I love watching videos of the bengals just going to town running on it.

Bengals do not need to be outdoor cats. If you want Loki to experience the outdoors, train him to walk on a harness and leash and take him for walks.