Hi. My two male bengals have me at my wits end. It seems like every 6 'moths or so we get to our breaking point and one is eliminating outside the box and the other gets uber aggressive and we have to seperate for 1-2 weeks and slowly reintegrate. And in the midst of those 6 'onths they are just crazy and do crazy things. I'd like to talk to an animal behaviorist to diary to them the things my cats do on a daily basis. I feel like I've read everything to try to help and have every product imaginable to help them. Recently got a RX at vets and it only seems to make it worse.

Can anyone refer me to an AB they trust. I'm desperate for answers! I don't know what else to do. Don't feel like rejoining them is fair bc I made the choice to get them and don't want to give them to someone else to deal with bc I know there are not many people who would love them and be as patient as I am with them. Please help!

Thank you !

Wow. That sounds really tough. I wish I had someone to recommend to you.

I'm assuming that they are both neutered; but even so it sounds like some territorial / dominance issues where they are both pretty close to each other and constantly fighting for dominance.

Some quick questions / thoughts - though you've likely gone through most of this already - this would only be related to when they share the same space:

Do they both have their own high space that they can call their own? Bengals love high space and it's important they can both be high in their own space - usually where they can watch you. We find we can have fights over the "top space".

Do you have multiple litter boxes in different places in the house so they can each use their own? I'm assuming since you have to separate them for 1-2 weeks you must; but this is another important thing. Eliminating outside of the box is a clear I'm upset scenario. Do you have issues with one of them not burying their waste?

Do you feed them in separate places? Far enough apart so that they don't feel threatened when eating?

Do they both get an equal amount of play time with you?

Are you UK?

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Melissa

UK
Oscar - Rescue (Rascal!!!) Bengal

Welcome back to the forum! I hate to hear that you are having issues with your two babies. This has happened to other members of the forum who have multiple bengals. Human "siblings" can go through the same thing.

Ontario gave you a lot of great advice. I know this type of behavior can have you pulling your hair out, but it is important that YOUR stress doesn't carry over to the kitties as they are having enough to deal with between each other.

There are cat behaviorists who do consultations over Skype, for example. You just have to google for them. You'll be paying top money and I'm sure there are some scams out there, so you have to be careful.

However ... I would start by making sure each of your cats has their own territory and space, even if that means multiple cat trees. It's always nice to have an extra one anyway (my one bengal has three). Note that taking a cat to the vet can cause aggression issues when the cat returns with different smells on them. The best thing to do is rub a piece of your worn clothing over each of the cats to get your scent on them.

I honestly think having two males is seriously hard work! I probably wouldn't get two males again, although I love mine dearly and wouldn't be without either of them!

I went to a cat behaviourist but I think I've already passed on everything I was told to you previously. We still get issues too. But I can cope with it better now and I've never actually fully separated them for more than about 15 minutes. If things seem to be getting out of hand I do a 'time out' and put them in separate rooms until everyone cools off - neither get any attention from me. It's not a punishment - just to let them calm down and forget what the squabble was about. Once the tail lashing and pacing around stops I open the door and let them be together again and give them some treats. At that point quite often there is some sniffing and grooming each other. They'll have some more of their food and go and settle down.

There are definite times I know to watch for trouble. When I get home from work, both get overexcited and charge about and vie for attention and that can end in a squabble so I work on distracting Jagger from chasing Hendrix. If its daylight I go out in the garden with them and they chase each other around the garden and up and down trees which apparently doesn't upset anyone!

I really hope you can find someone to help you. I'm in the UK and used a lady called Debbie Connolly. I think she does Skype so may be worth googling her to see if she can help you wherever you live.

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