We can't decide whether to let ours out or not, opinion seems to be mixed..... vote and leave your findings here.

Unless you want them messing in the house, ripping up the furniture and living an unfulfilled life I suggest letting them roam the wild. We have a privately owned wooded area behind our house which allows them to roam freely and safely, which is where they spend a lot of the time.

However, we've lost one bengal to a car accident, and another has had his pelvis broken in another road accident, taking about 8 weeks of cage confinement to convalesce, and causing a few minor long term problems.

Depends if you live in a busy area whether or not you let them out. I personally wouldn't ever have 'indoor cats'.

We live in a "normal" housing estate, the road isn't *that* busy, but we'd hate to find a flat bengal out on the street.

You'd think that with Bengals supposedly having more intelligence than your average cat that they'd be able to avoid traffic easier - maybe they think they are indestructable?

We're thinking at the moment that we'll only let them out when we're around i.e. no catflap, so that we can make sure they don't get up to no good.

Hi,
My bengals are completely indoors and they don't mess in the house nor do they rip up the furniture. They have their climbing tree & scratching posts and leave our furniture alone. Also the ones that have never been outside before don't even try to go out either. They do like laying in front of screened windows to feel the breeze and laying on our living room floor to soak up the sun coming in through our big front glass window. Its just safer to keep them inside & most adjust to inside life very well.

Jessie

Greetings,

I never let my cats outside. It's way too dangerous out there!

Along with cars, there's other cats for them to fight with or get diseases from, dogs and raccoons to eat them, antifreeze for them to drink, people who enjoy hurting cats, or people who think they're pretty and will take them home with them.

Plus, since I breed, most of my cats are unaltered, and I don't want any "accidents"!!

Mine have a big cat tree and plenty of toys, so they seem pretty content. I've never had one rush at the door or try to get loose.

BTW, how do I put a picture into my signature? I just joined, and have never used a forum like this before.

Thanks,
Athena Thickstun,
AthensCats Bengals

<!--QuoteBegin-AthensCats Bengals+May 5 2004, 08:11 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (AthensCats Bengals @ May 5 2004, 08:11 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->BTW, how do I put a picture into my signature?  I just joined, and have never used a forum like this before.
[/quote]
Looks like you got the signature picture working?

We still haven't decided what we are going to do, guess we will see when we get them - seems a shame to keep them indoors, but also would be a worry knowing all sorts of things could happen to them.

Our blue spotted female will go outside with me. She likes to roll in the leaves and catch the stray lizzards in the yard, shes tried a few squirlls but nothings been caught. The scariest thing was when she climbed into a huge tree chaceing after a small bird. She did come back down and back to the door after a while but i had to get the kids inside and leave her be a bit.

Our brown spotted is an F7 from an ALC I believe. He was a rescue, he is only allowed out on a leash.. we are leash training him slowly.

My husband insisted on letting our Snow Leopard Bengal, Dusty, come and go as he wished so he would be 'happy.' He was 2 and a half years old when he was hit by a car. He died later that night from Post Traumatic Shock. That was in December, 2001 and I still am crushed by the loss.

I'd love to have another but I won't until we can make it a totally indoor cat with only leashed or contained outdoor visits. We still have other cats who grew up coming and going as they pleased (rescued strays) so it's not possible to 'convert' them at this point in their lives. We also live in a rural neighborhood with little traffic but that doesn't bear much on the safety of pets allowed to run loose.

Donna -- who's looking forward to one day having another Bengal

I suppose it is definately a risk you take, if you do decide to let your Bengal out.

I think if we do decide, it will definately be under supervision and possibly on a leash.

We have been toying with the idea of getting the back yard totally fenced..or at least make a single outdoor room fenced and with a roof so the cats hafe a place to get outside if they want..not sure on ideas. Do any of you have outside frnced gardens or anything your cats can safely roam?

<!--QuoteBegin-Jennifer+May 5 2004, 10:05 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Jennifer @ May 5 2004, 10:05 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> We have been toying with the idea of getting the back yard totally fenced..or at least make a single outdoor room fenced and with a roof so the cats hafe a place to get outside if they want..not sure on ideas.  Do any of you have outside frnced gardens or anything your cats can safely roam? [/quote]
Hi Jennifer,

I don't know about fenced gardens, but have seen sites and magazines advertising cat runs. I know breeders use these, and i'm pretty sure you can get some pretty impressive ones. But some are on the tad expensive side. Unless you have someone with the skills to make one for you, that is

I live in Culver City... really close to Los Angeles. There is simply no way to let my cats outdoors safely... but coincidently, someone who lives nearby has a pair of bengal cats that are always running around outside! They come up to my patio, lol...

I'm not sure I would ever let my cats outdoors unless I had some sort of fencing set up where they could run around without me having to be fearful.

_________________
- Dawn

http://www.nutkitty.com

I would never let my cats out. We have a huge coyote problem here and the thought of loosing one of them to a coyote is well, it just isn't. So I built a completely safe enclosure with access from a basement window so they can be out but totally protected.
Pat

I don't think a fenced garden could contain a Bengal - would have to be mighty high, even then, someone has said before that their kitty could scale brick walls!!

<!--QuoteBegin-Pat+May 9 2004, 01:03 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Pat @ May 9 2004, 01:03 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I would never let my cats out. We have a huge coyote problem here and the thought of loosing one of them to a coyote is well, it just isn't. So I built a completely safe enclosure with access from a basement window so they can be out but totally protected.
Pat [/quote]
Luckily the only other animals we have to worry about wondering into our garden here in the UK. Are foxes, squirrels, birds and other cats.

But I think all of the above would be more scared of our Bengals