Dear all,
I've been lurking about on this forum for a while now. I adopted an 8-year old cat several months ago named Cayce. He was a surrender from his previous home; the owners got a puppy and then one of them fell and couldn't take care of him anymore. Apparently they found him as a stray when he was a kitten. They told me he was a Bengal, which I sort of doubted at first, but we adopted him because he was beautiful and a super sweet, friendly, snuggly kitty. As I read this forum I think he almost definitely is one; he exhibits the majority of the behavior I've read about, has spots and short, shiny fur, a leopard-like face, black pads, very high back legs, and doesn't ever sit still. I've attached some pics below (including one for your amusement
)
The transition, which started out smooth, has become less and less so. I'll go through everything below; please forgive me for the long post.
Cayce was described to me as a cat who just liked to cuddle with his humans and eat fresh catnip. He was an inside cat in a large house who sometimes escaped out the screen door to randomly get in fights with the random outside cat who invaded his territory. He didn't like toys and thought they were stupid.
Reality: He LOVES toys, especially a wand toy I bought for him. He always wants to play, ALWAYS. He is NOT content to simply cuddle, though he does like to cuddle (it's really cute, even when he takes up the entire bed
). We live in a one bedroom apartment which is very small and he always ALWAYS wants to be let out into the hallway area to explore (it's enclosed, no danger). He has run into my neighbors' cats once or twice - he never tried to fight them, seems to want to be friends (meowing, approaching to sniff their noses, no thick fur or anything), though they don't want to be friends with HIM, and they hissed and growled at him which made him run back into our apartment and cry
I felt awful for him.
We took all of his belongings which consisted of a covered litterbox and food. I bought him a tall scratching post and a low one for the rug. He was scratching the rug at first but we seem to have trained him out of that with the new scratch posts. I bought him a ton of toys, all of which he likes. Things were going well; he immediately warmed up to both me and my boyfriend, used his box, etc. Day by day he got more and more rambunctious as he got more comfortable.
The trouble started the first time we let him outside in the hallways enclosure. He goes CRAZY to go out there and meows and seems to get depressed when we can't have the door open for him all the time. He needs company, too - if there isn't someone with him to observe what he's doing or play with him, he meows so loud I think all the neighbors can hear! (I just had to interrupt this post to go out to him.) I usually give in, but when I don't I get the feeling he gets sort of depressed.
I'm a doctoral student so I can spend a fair amount of time at home with him, though I do have to try to get work done! I had someone recommend putting colored squares of felt on the floor, which for some reason is supposed to be entertaining...has anyone tried it?
I'm worried that he's not entertained enough in my small apartment, and I'm wondering if it's leading to other, worse issues. Just recently, he peed in my suitcase. I assumed because it was the same size and shape as a litterbox, he thought he could do it. I put the suitcase away and took the top off the litterbox. Temporarily I left the top in the tub before moving it, and he peed in that. I still thought he did it because it was also shaped like a box when upside down. I took that away. Thought the problem was solved - until last night I saw him start to squat in a pile of my laundry. I shooed him away before he could do it and removed the pile. Later that night, he peed in my boyfriend's dirty laundry. This hasn't been every day - very sporadic, and he is still also peeing in the box - but I'm now officially very worried.
I JUST took him to the vet, too - he also has soft runny poo. The vet tested his poo and it came up negative, and he gave me a probiotic and suggested I gradually change his food (Fancy Feast, what his previous owners gave me) to a gluten free high protein food. I didn't mention the peeing because until last night I thought it was a one-time thing due to "mistaken litterbox shape identity." Should I take him back? Is this behavioral - related to him not getting enough attention/entertainment?
I've had cats before and even had to take care of very sick cats (my last beloved kitty passed away from a complication from HCM last April, and I still miss her terribly), but these issues are new to me and I'm really struggling. I'm sorry for the length of this, but it looks like there are some really experienced people here, and now that I'm 99.9% sure I have a Bengal, I could use your help.
Here are some pictures of Cayce:cayce blanket.jpgcayce leopard.jpgcayce couch.jpgcayce toy.jpg