Background - I homed 3 girls (all sisters born in June 2015) in September last year. I'd pondered a fair bit about whether or not I would allow them to be outdoor cats given that I'd spent a small fortune on buying them and the worry that they could get stolen. I live in a quiet cul-de-sac and as my house backs on to a wooded area I let them loose in the garden which is surrounded by 6ft fencing but eventually they mastered their climbing skills and they would go off having adventures. However, they kept pooing all over my garden, mainly on the flags which totally baffled me as I'd placed 3 outdoor litter boxes (never used) and had 3 indoor litter houses (seldom used) so I had an enclosure especially built alongside the entire length of the side of my house along with a couple of tall climbing trees in a bid to try and get them trained to use the outdoor toilets. They also have the luxury of having their own indoor area (toys and tall cathouse) with a catflap to their outdoor space.
My efforts to train them to use their toilets failed
(they'd use them for pees but seldom for poos so I gave in and let them roam free outdoors.
I received many compliments from the locals and Tyche it seems has developed a bit of a reputation for greeting people walking their dogs along the path that exists beyond the wooded area at the back of our house so I just assumed that they were all toileting in the woods.
Story – Last week one of my neighbours knocked at my door to advise that whilst he’d been on holiday that his old catflap had been broken into and he arrived home at 4am in the morning to an awful stench and found cat s*** & piss all over his bed and chewed wires and that he was certain it was one of my Bengals because as he was seeing to the catflap, my Tyche appeared. I knew he was right because Tyche had been missing for a few days the previous week (out of character) and I believe she has gnawed at the rubber on the outside of his catflap as it was locked from the inside and has pulled it back to get in and then found herself trapped inside until she gnawed her way back out because this happened to my catflap when I’d tried to keep them inside the house and I also have lost count of how many charging cables I’ve had to replace.
I was mortified but he just said that he did like cats but wanted to let me know. Anyhow I later took an apology card, bottles of wine and £200 cheque ‘cos I know I would not have been very pleased if I was in his shoes. Needlessly to say I’ve given everyone in my house the orders to not let the cats out anymore. Anyhow, I awoke early hours the other morning and saw my bedroom blind rise high and discovered the little tinkers had been escaping through my open window (had open due to hot weather) and were sneaking back in – unbelievable, so now need to catproof my windows!
This happened just over a week ago so I’ve yet to see the funny side but just wandered if anyone else on here had any stories to share of their Bengals deviant behaviour !
Also, does anyone have any idea how long I can expect them to stop sulking at me for not letting them out ?