Bengal Cat Forums

[Alex]

I am not sure if this is normal but my cat all of a sudden has started to hiss at me whenever she does something wrong and shout at him to go to his room. Is this normal? she goes to her room and hides in her bed

I am not sure why she has started to hiss, you can still pick her up and things, he does not attack or anything there is just an hiss like shes really annyoed at me or something? or maybe invading his room when i know shes been bad?

[Shantra]

I think he is reacting to the telling off. Cats don't go a lot on shouting in my experience. My Apollo is a sweetheart but he bit me when I tried to get him our of a cupboard so I spoke to him in a firm tone.. but no shouting. Hissing is usually an early warning system, take it further and the cat will escalate the behaviour to growling, to striking to biting. I have noticed that when my two play they do the body language and look ferocious but have few of the vocal signals and don't hiss at each other. So I would say your cat is feeling defensive.

What kinds of things does he get sent to his room for? Maybe we could suggest a different approach, lots of knowledgeable people here.
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Shantra

[Alex]

Well she knows how to open doors, either push the door or pull the handle down by jumping. Sometimes she is lazy and will try to pull the carpet up outside the room to either get attention or get in (the scratch post is less than 1meter away). Most of the time she will meow and wait (either when hes just eaten or too lazy)

Standing on my computer table and drinking my tea and taunting me, she knows she is not allowed on the computer table and i can tell she is on but when she hears i am close she will get down. She knows not to drink my tea and the table, she does not do it on any other table, kitchen work top, only my office table and she knows its naughty.
If i give him some tea in her bowl she will not drink it, neither will temping him to climb up onto the lounge table when i work from the lounge instead of office.

Sliding down the banister, she will jump on the banister at the top and she knows i dont like it because when she was very young before i trimmed her claws she use to make marks on the top. Now she will jump on top (doesnt make marks) but then proceeds to slide down the banister and jumping off at the bottom on the mat. This results in the mat going from one side of the room to the other. I have squirt him with the water several times, she will do this either when i am in my office or out, if i am around the house she will not do it. She also knows if i see the mat on the other side of the room she is in trouble and i will point at him and tell him to either move it back or get to her bed. She will go to her room and make moaning sounds.
If i put anything on the banister to prevent him from sliding down such as a towel tide around she will rip the towel up or pull it down.

He will hiss and growl at me whenever i run down the stairs and enter her room, she looks like she will attack me but when i call her name her eyes go huge (innocent and cute like the cat in Shrek). Its an instant mood change!

I am not sure if my cat is normal or just mental? As my last cat never did any of these things.

[nekosushi]

[Alex]

I am not too sure what she wants, she is not hungry as she has a lot of food in her bowl and she takes her time eating it.

Apart from the mishaps hes a very good cat and well behaved, she will play with me inside and out and some of the things she does is amazing. Its just them things that puzzle me, i dont know what trigger it, i am not sure why my office table and not the other tables, also why she wont let me put things on the banister. Also the carpet, pulling, she has her post she uses her post but she just does it occassionally, i am not doing anything different apart from working in the office

If she wants attention she will come to me and jump on my lap or sit next to me and meow. Also with her toys she will bring whatever toy she would like me to play with and drop it next to me, and meow to get my attention. In the mornings she will either tap me with her paw or sit on my head to wake me up, she is not a naughty cat at all

Hissing only occurs in her room so maybe its something about me stepping in her room when she knows hes been bad? I recall seeing something about the cat having a safe room which is suppose to be good area?

What puzzles me is if you call her name her hissing moood will instantly change and her eyes go huge. Its like one moment hes in a mood and hte next hes normal again. I can pick him up and cuddle, stroke etc and she will continue to follow me around.

[nuttybengals]

Hi Alex, I have to say that I am pretty sure your cat is responding in anger to the punishment he receives....

My daughter doesn't respond well to being shouted at.. she just shout's back even louder..!!

My dog responds to the tone of my voice or the way I move when he has done wrong.. But as with any punishment it only works 'in the moment'..

Both of my bengals respond to their name, and equally to the tone of my voice, however, I see a lot of their behaviour as 'instinctive' and 'inquisitive'...

Rebel loves to scratch at the carpet in doorways if I leave the room... So, I bought scratch pads to place there to save the carpet.. He still does it, but it no longer wrecks the carpet... Tipping over water bowls was another favourite game, so I got a water fountain which they both love.. And filling up the bathroom sink when I go to bed & taking a drink for me in a sports bottle has stopped them drinking out of my glass on the bedside table...

Basically, I have found that finding an positive, alternative channel for behaviour I dislike works a treat.. That way it's a win win situation..

[Alex]

[nuttybengals]

Alex... I think you may find that if you place a mat over your cup of tea, your cup will just be knocked off the table... Just don't leave any drink near your computer unattended.... My last laptop died when one of my cat's tipped over a drink onto the computer....

[Alex]

I have just repaired her favourite toy and she seems extremely happy (been playing with it for a long time now) and these problems only started within the last few weeks, which is around about when she broke her toy.

I am going to test him and see how intelligent she is by changing the colour of my cup or where i always put it. Maybe start by finishing the cup and leaving it to see but maybe she was just unhappy since she has had not been able to play with her fav toy in a long time. her fav toy is something my mother made with the worlds most annoying bell on it.

[nekosushi]

[Shantra]

Hi Alex,

Wow.. I wish my Bengals were like yours! I would just be laughing at all those antics, especially sliding down the banister. Reading your post it seems that it is not so much the sliding down the banister as sliding the mat.. maybe the mat could be fixed so it doesn't slide? As for the pulling things down, that thing is stopping him from doing something he wants.. so he is going to pull it down because he is smart!

One thing you must remember is that your Bengal is not doing things out of spite or to get at you (except perhaps the hissing) he is doing things that are fun for him and the best way with cats is to find a way around it. It sounds like one thing that might be really beneficial for both of you is clicker training. This way you should be able to teach him commands that will become habit to respond to.. I am teaching my Apollo 'down' and 'out' because he has a closet fetish and is a counter surfer. You can find clicker training videos done by Marilyn Krieger on the internet that should get you started, but I have also read that a good basic book on clicker training dogs is just as good for Bengals. It can only improve the interaction between you.

At the moment I have 4 Bengals in da house, 2 of my own and 2 fosters, mine and 1 foster running together and another foster in another room. The Bengals have now learned when feeding time is, so they gather outside my bedroom door and start yelling when it is time for breakfast. The other morning my husband left me to sleep in and when I got up he had fed them all.. I was surprised.. but he said.. they would NOT leave me alone!

Bengals are a total delight, so perhaps give some more advanced training a try and be patient. It sounds like your cat is a typical Bengal.
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Shantra

[Alex]

He seems totally fine today and has been playing with her toy nearly all day and night. i was researching the clicker training and it is more or less the same thing what i do, whenever i do something + for a cat i will do a tut like sound and the cat knows it has done good as she will come looking for an on the spot reward. Clicker training can involve a lot of time and the need for a device which can be problematic if you do not have that to hand. by making a more natural sound or something short that the cat can quickly understand it will have the same affect.
My cat knows when its breakfast time because she has got use to the sound of my mobile phone alarm clock, when she hears it she is up and she will wake me up either the tapping of the paw on my face, arm, hand or sitting on my head. Another one of her favourites is jumping on my stomach when i sleep on my back. One thing i need to teach him is that when its really cold i shouldn’t really allow him under the covers as she will climb under the covers and snuggle up to me in bed which is a little unhygienic.

I am still blown away by the fact she is only 7 months old yet can do so many things, and certain words said in a certain tone for him to understand. My cat is bilingual and can understand english and chinese.

I know when hes been naughty and the gf is around and she has told him to go to bed, when i walk through the door from work she will come to me and start talking to me as if she is telling me that my girlfriend has told him off and she wants cuddles and care.

I am currently investigating why she jumps on my desk, i moved the cat tree into my office and she seems to ignore my office desk all together and my tea. I am going to see how it goes, take it away and see if she reverts as i know my cat likes to climb.

He is my second cat and i can see the difference between the moggy and a bengal, this cat just seems so intelligent and a lot of the hard work i put into the moggy many years ago just seems to come natural with him. she does not seem to respond or behave nicely if there is another cat around as i once tried to take him to my mothers and she turned very agressive where as my mothers cat (his sister) just wanted to play. she is not even an agressive cat and is very loving and caring i do not know what suddenly spurrs it on.

[bundles of bengals]

It could be that when you shout at him it scares him...you have changed your personality & turned into this big scary aggressive human that he isn't familiar with.
His only way to defend himself from this scary alter-ego of his owner is to hiss at you & warn you that he is afraid & capable of defending himself.
Try not to scream at him when he does something you don't like, remain calm & walk away. Ignoring a Bengal is the best way to get through to them, they like to be included in everything & hate being ignored.
Also, try & be a little more tolerant of the things he does. There are reasons for everything...try offering alternatives instead of taking away his games. Put a second cat tree in your office instead of moving his things around (otherwise you may unsettle & confuse him more).
Is the bannister thing really a problem? & sliding on the doormat? It sounds like a great game to me!
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REN SLAVEN www.slavess.co.uk

[trudint]

Definately drop the shouting. I have never shouted at my two. My OH did once but I explained that Cats don't respond to this sort of behavior. I find that calm and consistent works and finding solutions to problems like water fountain instead of water bowl etc. Your cat sounds fabulous.
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[Knight of Redemption]

I have to echo what every one else has said, shouting is not a good way of communicating with your cat. I would add that thinking in terms of what is good, and what is bad, is thinking in purely human concepts. Cats or indeed dogs have no understanding of right and wrong. What they do understand is boundaries.

Most, if not all, animals have boundaries. What we have to teach our pets is to respect our, (to their minds) arbitrary boundaries. The problem can be that it is in the nature of all things to push boundaries and cats (and small boys) in particular will explore to the limits and beyond. Welcome to parenthood, cat or human.

In order for us to co exist, cats voluntarily retard their behavior towards us, to a kitten state. This means, it is our part of the contract, to adopt the role of parent. This is very different to owning a dog, where your role should be pack leader. Although Bengals exhibit some dog like behavior, they are not pack animals, and they sure ain't dogs.

So imagine how a mother cat deals with an errant kitten. To stop a cat dead in its tracks, a sharp hiss from you will often work. Scruffing (picking a cat up by the scruff of the neck) This must be done with extreme care. A good test to see if this will work with your cat is to gently hold them by the scruff. If your cat freezes, this is a kitten response and means you can use it (always, always supporting the weight of your cat with your other hand) to remove your cat from a surface (table, cabinet) that you don't want your cat on After a few time your cat will understand this boundary. If your cat does not exhibit the freezing response DO NOT SCRUFF. Raise the pitch of your voice (not the volume) cats are tuned to higher pitched sounds (its interesting that most cat friendly people do this instinctively, without knowing why)

Most of what you describe is perfectly normal behavior, and I'm afraid you need to adapt to your cat, rather than the other way round.
Most of all enjoy your cats oddities, sliding down banisters and rug sliding sound great fun. All of us here, without exception are in love with the breed not because their easy, but because they do need a deal more input than the average moggy.....now I must iwf 7fbuhbf....leave becausihbi;h my begals need auhbuhvuh a little input