Bengal Cat Forums

[Vicky]

Hi all,

I'm new to the forum, and also a first time Bengal owner. After years of having cats I started to get a bit upset since my last kitty passed on and eventually managed to talk my partner into getting a kitten. Of course, I had researched Bengals for years and had pondered whether I should get one.

Three weeks ago we got our 5 month old, female F5. The breeders had named her Tails as her brother was named Sonic. But we re-named her Fury as in (Mistress Furious Mischeive), and she is certainly living up to her name.

I know Bengals tend to have more energy and can be more demanding than the average domestic cat. Already I have found her to be more loving and yet more mischeivous than any other cat I've had i.e. she takes a total mischeivous flake-out and races from one end of the room to the other, up the verticle blinds, hangs from the curtains, attacks the dinning room table, tries to climb up the centre panel of my patio doors (which is pvc and apparently no grip but she still gets half way up and dangles there, mouth gaping). I've also experienced the 'lets pee in human's bed' and hence she is now banned from the bedroom unless supervised. She's also got lots of toys, ticklers, birds on rods, balls, vibrating mice, a cardboard box with holes that I hide her balls in, a scratch post, a kitten bed that she thinks is an animal and has taken to dragging it off the sofa and attacking instead.

My question is this: Can anyone suggest a way to divert her attention from climbing the blinds? She does it furiously when she 'goes off on one'. Yes, very funny to watch but I don't my curtains wrecked I was thinking of getting a larger climbing tree for her, but will this work?

Any responses welcome.

Thanks
Vicky

[ginnym]

Hi and welcome to the forum. Most of what you describe is typical Bengal kitten behaviour. Unfortunately vertical blinds are one of the best cat toys ever invented - they swing, they have that lovely string along the bottom, they're made out of fabric that little claws can get into and they have a wonderful view on the other side I've found the best thing is to tie them back for the manic kitten months and once they've grown a bit bigger and heavier, the novelty of climbing them wears off a bit. The novelty of playing with the bottom chain/string never abates I'm afraid and is common to moggies as well as Bengals.

The other advice is the diversion tactic advice - try and distract her with a toy. If she's in full-on mode then something like DaBird would be best as it's probably the most energetic toy you can get.

Running off with the bedding is a funny one isn't it. My Merlin (just over 4 months) ran off with a cushion in his mouth the other night. I couldn't stop laughing enough to grab the camera

Do you have any photos of the little madam?
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[samii]

wish I knew the answer! Tia still climbs everything!! I was woken up about 2 the other morning by my naughty kitty stuck at the top of my bedroom curtains..not knowing how to get down lol Think a FIRM no helps, but they are always gonna be mischievious little things. Then on to this morning, glass of water knocked over all over my bedroom floor.. so yeah....good luck! haha!
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Samantha

[Vicky]

lol Yep she's into a lot of mischeive (even as I'm typing) haha Here's my little Fury:

[ginnym]

She looks lovely - I like the concentration on her face when she's playing with that cardboard "cheese" toy.
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[Shantra]

I don't have anything to add to the advice, when a cat is going 'cracker cat' as I call it there isn't much you can do but she is beautiful.
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Shantra

[Lilherbz]

She is a beauty!! A bundle of mischief!! lol!

With my Jasper if he is doing something like that it is normally for attention I Take him down or out of something with out speaking to him and over time he will stop doing it becuase i am not making a fuss. I try to get him distracted by something else normally da bird as he loves it.

xxxx
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Tara, Jasper and Keeta

[miki129]

Hi Vicky, welcome to you and Fury (fantastic name for a mental Bengal) to the forum, she is gorgeous, i love her cool brown colouring.... so glad you joined us here, another Bengal to drool over lol...

I am afraid i have the same problem as you, my 2 boy bengals dont do it, but my female Darcy does scale our curtains in every room at least 10 plus times a day, every day...ive said NO firmly and she just ignores me... she walks across the curtain poles too, and scales the doors and walks across the tops of doors (my boys do this also).... The only thing that sometimes works is squirting her with a water pistol, but thats only when she is up there, already... i cant seem to stop her actually doing it in the 1st place...
She has always done this from when we got her at 13 weeks old, she is now a year old, and showing no signs of stopping.... If you find a solution i would love to know it lol...

miki xx
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Miki & My Beloved Bengals http://mybelovedbengals.blogspot.com/

Shiloh, Darcy, Rudy The Roodster & Ozzy...

[Taylorbaby]

get rid of the blinds................. my only answer!! Ive had to tie my curtains up, cant have them hanging down anymore, all my cats love curtains!
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www.frostymoon.co.uk

[bundles of bengals]

Hi there, welcome to you & Fury, love the name!
I've not found the answer yet, nor for the net curtains...when they
are in that crazy mode there isn't much going to stop them.
The diversion tactic is good but not when you aren't there...
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REN SLAVEN www.slavess.co.uk

[Katie]

Good deterrents are double sided sticky tape and strong smells like essential lemon oil/olbas oil etc.

But if your blinds are fabricy I'm not sure this will work as will proabably mark them. We found these good detterents for stopping Obi chewing computer cables as a kitten.
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[Vicky]

Thanks all - at least you can sympathize lol

Oh and great idea about the strong scents - Fury does like to try and chew the cables too.

[linzikc]

Awww I was hoping someone had a radical cure for the curtain climbing!

My bengal (Pinot), is constantly up ours. In fact she will climb anything! She climbs up me, she'll climb the ironing board (whilst i'm ironing)! She's constantly trying to get into the loft space and its not unusual to come home and find her sitting on top of a door!!

She has now figured out how to open the kitchen cabinet where her food is kept!!

Sooo naughty. But, absolutely gorgeous.

Linz