Here's our issue.

I have two male bengals that are half brothers. He oldest is 2.5yr the youngest isn2yr. I recently (yesterday) discovered one of them has been peeing in two different spots in our basement outside of the litterbox. Guessing this has occurred more than a handful of times. One spot on corner on couch and other on tile floor. Had 1-2 sporadic issues with this before. Have had issues in the past of the younger one bullying the older one and seemed to have got through the issues as cats are mostly friendly towards each other now and seem to only "play" fight. Every once in a while the older will let out a big help like he's being hurt. Well yesterday my mom witnessed the older cat in action of peeing on this couch- he was looking right at her. Since then I've had them locked in one room and they did great all day. When they were let out they have been monitored. Both wanted to run to basement to check it out. I've wiped up most of the mess but am waiting on the heavy duty cat pee products to come to get it really clean. Tonight, when let them out they ran to basement and younger attacked big one and big one let out a loud Yelp. Split them up and took them both upstairs for play session. Within 2 min the older one jumps on desk chair and pees right in front of me.
Now, I'm starting to think all the pee has been from my older one who is trying to reassert his dominance every time the younger attacks him. I've been trying to read and learn as much as I can online to get to the root of them problem.
Called the vet today to rule out a medical problem but she is unavailable for 1 month due to an emergency. ive always felt the problem was more behavioral than medical, especially after witnessing the last episode. Debating on finding a new vet to take them to for a check or just starting to work on behavior issues.
Any advice is appreciated- from dominance, to spraying, to best "pee " products. Is it impossible to get the scent out once they pee? I'm desperate to learn anything. This behavior cannot go on and I don't want to get rid of either of my babies.
Please help :(

Few things I left out. Both are neutered. Always have clean litter boxes with cat attack litter. No other animals in home.

I've been going through this and I went to a behaviourist who specialises in bengals. I also have two neutered males and once they hit two years old all hell broke loose. They reach social maturity at 2 and these issues can arise. I was told Jagger had become too big for his boots and he was mercilessly bullying Hendrix. I was lucky that I didn't get the peering issue, but your older one will be doing that as he feels territorially threatened.

Both of mine were put on zylkene. This is a milk protein from a mammals milk, so you're not pumping them with chemicals. When I read the reviews a lot of people said it helped with peeing issues, but it will help calm both of them as well.

Plug in feliway and also get a spray. You can spray a little on your hands as well as spraying where the peering is happening. When you spray your hands very quickly pet both your boys to get their scent the same. Spray their bedding etc.

Assume nothing is play and break up all fights. You need to stop the squabbling and face the aggressor and chase him off. Make sure he realises it won't be tolerated. You have to be on their case all the time.

If you can increase their vertical space, definitely do that as well.

This did work for me. Once you get things under control, keep them on the zylkene for another month, to ensure their brains are fully reprogrammed with the new behaviour. I didn't finish the treatment as Hendrix went missing for a couple of weeks just as everything became more harmonious again. When he came home all was well for a bit but they have returned to type so I've recommenced the treatment and will finish it this time. Hendrix is much tougher this time round after surviving outside on his own for two weeks though and isn't running from Jagger. They've been back on the treatment for a week and things are slowly improving again.

Let me know how you get on.

Oh I also purchased a book called 'cat v cat' which helped a lot with reading body language etc and also covers social maturity and territorial issues where cats are living together. Definitely worth a read.

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

Clare,
Thank you so much for your reply. It is very helpful. I just ordered every product you mentioned. I have a question for you, when we are not home while at work, should cats be seperated? Normally they sleep the whole time we are gone but I didn't want to make anything worse by leaving them together/apart. Wish I could sit home with them all day to monitor, but unfortunately not the case.
Thanks again !

My two have outdoor access during the day so that's a difficult one... I do have cameras in a couple of places so I can see the odd interaction. Yes, there have been a couple of incidents, but I think if they have enough places they can go to (especially vertical) and that they 'own' so to speak, they will probably just go to these areas and sleep. My two can be in at the same time during the day but they have their places they each prefer and don't cross paths unless in the kitchen to either eat or go out.

It's a judgement call only you can make. But for me, I think separating them is a last resort if nothing else works, and then keep them apart and do a reintroduction and hope they recall what they liked about each other. However I effectively had that with Hendrix going missing. It lasted a month and then the battle started again.

Like I said though, I hadn't finished the treatment when Hendrix decided to get in a van and go on a trip...

I was also told to keep them 'busy' as when bengals get bored, that doesn't help either! I ordered some new interactive toys but it's hit and miss which ones they are interested in.

Bengals are a challenge that's for sure! Things are always calmer here when my other half is home as he takes the alpha role then. I reckon half my problem is that they see me as a soft touch! I'm learning to get tough with them!!

Let me know how it goes and good luck!

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

Excellent, thank you! I can't wait to tell my husband they are acting this way bc he is not dominant enough figure in the house. Hahaha! At least part of this can be fun... LOL
But really, thanks again for your input. I just got a vet appt for next week to rule out anything medical as a precautionary.

To add to Clare's great advice - I would put litter trays in each room there has been inappropriate peeing. If, as I think you said, the litter trays are in the basement, your older cat may not want to go down there to a dead end as it makes him vulnerable to attack. Even if you think your two are only rough playing there could be lots and lots of subtle cat body language going on that is dominance related. The litter boxes need to be in places where there are escape routes, as if your cat does not feel safe, he won't use them. As Clare said, multiple cat trees. If you have two mature boys then they need to each be able to claim territory to feel safe and secure. I used the same behaviourist as Clare for my 7yr old peeing and spraying rescue bengal. She helped me understand the issues and although my situation is different with a single bengal, she understands having multiple bengals as she rescues and rehabilitates bengals that no one wants and rehomes them. Good luck.

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Melissa

UK
Oscar - Rescue (Rascal!!!) Bengal

Clare and Melissa offered you excellent advice. I agree with putting an extra litter box in the room of the inappropriate peeing. Jackson Galaxy offers Spirit Essences which might be able to help. He offers remedies for almost every situation. As for keeping them separated when you are not home, that is probably a good idea, however, this is something you will need to help them with! You can't separate them forever. You need to build up confidence in one and take down the bullying a notch in the other. Cats are very territorial, so both need their space in your home. They may need separate cat trees. Clare has spent an enormous amount of time on her Hendrix and Jagger and I think it took Hendrix hopping a ride on a van and ending 11 miles from home and three weeks on his own to tone him down a little bit.

Note that when they pee in front of you, they are trying to tell you something!!!! Something is wrong! Maybe not medically, but it can be stress related as well.

It's a long process, so don't think things will improve overnight. Feliway might help -- it's one of the cheaper ways to start.

Thank you sherry! We bought another big cat tree today so they can each have their own. We are keeping them locked up together in our master suite and they are surprising doing very well. Don't plan on this forever but maybe they need some limits a few hours a day or even a couple days a week. Seems like when they have the full run of our house, things go wrong. No bully incidents really in the smaller space, which I would think it would be opposite. I've gotten to monitor them very very closely all weekend, but will be back to work tomorrow. We're also going to try to take our 9mo baby to the sitter vs them coming here. Maybe that's a stressor. Even though she's a pretty good baby, there's still extra noise and people during the work day than they are used to. We are added another litter box to have 3 total and putting them on all floors, not just in the basement. Also adding a second feed and water station upstairs.
We have Feliway products and the Jackson oils. Need to use oils more regularly though.vet appt Wednesday!
Please keep your fingers crossed for us!

If you've only recently gone back to work, having the sitter come to your home may well be a big stressor for them.

Glad you've had an incident free weekend!

Best of luck at the vet x

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

Sounds like you have a lot going on in your life. Just having a new baby can be stressful to humans and to cats. I commend you for doing all you can to solve the problem. In a multi-level home, litter boxes must be on every single level -- and if you live in a mansion, you'll probably need three per floor! LOL. Seriously, it could be the "room" that is causing the problems because your kitties seem to do better in a smaller area. Jut know things can be good for a while and then take a turn for the worse again. I have a bengal who, when we go out on our walks, wants to kill a neighbor's black and white cat -- and other times, they will go nose to nose without any problem. Cats are crazy, weird creatures at times. Good luck.

Haha as soon as we got baby seeping through the night, the cats started with issues. Lol seems like if is not one it's the other. Just hoping baby and cats don't decide to have some big mystery that needs solved at the same time!
Definitely getting a litter box per floor now. While, it worked for quite some time having it the way we did, something has to change and hoping this can be an easy partial solution!
Truly thank you everyone for the helpful suggestions. Hoping to get back to "normal" soon!

You need to try to discover what "changed." It could be another cat outside that one of your kitties can smell or see. Maybe you changed furniture around. Cats are creatures of habit and schedule, so any change, including a new baby or a stranger coming into the house can set this off. Congrats on getting the baby to sleep through the night!

Older cat who was urinating has elevated white cells in his urine due to an inflamed bladder, which is caused by stress. He got pain med for the inflammation. Also got a little dose of tranquilizer to take his edge off for the next few days. Continuing with all the tips on here and some others vet recommended to reduce stress and hopefully eliminate this problem!

Hi mackattack,

That's great that you now know for sure its stress related, although the poor boy! At least he has some pain meds now - I'm sure that in itself will help calm him down.

I'd be really interested to hear the tips the vet gave you for stress etc if you get chance. Hendrix seems pretty anxious just now and is taking it out on his brother (who quite likely is being a toad and provoking him!) or following me around crying for attention constantly. There might be something I haven't tried that might make Hendrix a happier and calmer lad!

Good luck and I hope calm and harmony is restored to your home soon!

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