By June (28th August 2013)
Hello, I have an almost 5 month old F1 female Bengal cat. I am overwhelmed with her and afraid I am not giving her the home she deserves. I work long 12 hour days and she is home with my husband who she has not bonded with and our 2 older pets. The 9 year old yorkie tolerates her but our 13 year old cat (we got him as a feral kitten) hates her and he is so stressed out that it is ruining everything. I don’t know what to do. She is so sweet and all she wants to do is play but she jumps on him and he hisses and wants out and hisses and my husband stresses.
I would like to say that I was assured that she was sweet and loveable and loved everyone at the breeder’s home including her husband and children. Well she loves me but not my husband who is the biggest animal lover I know. I believe it has to do with the fact that he gets so stressed when she jumps on Bob, our old boy.
She is only wanting to play and desperately needs another kitten or young cat to hang out with. She is not trying to be mean, I thinks she is lonely for another cat to play with. Bob on the other hand has never been around another cat unless you count the ferals he has encountered on our 10 acres in the woods. He has been in several fights over the years but now stays close to home. He is an indoor/outdoor cat of his own choosing and it has never been an issue because our home is so isolated. He just hates the kitten and now does not want to come in the house at all. I realize it is not fair to him and it breaks my heart.
Mielikke, is so full of energy and all she wants to do is go outside like Bob and Emmie (my yorkie). I did not want her to ever go outside but she is so vocal that I finally ordered a walking vest, no way to escape, and out we went. She loves going for a walk around the house and hiding in the landscaping.
On about the third day she figured out how to escape from the walking jacket. She did not run away but just went for the walk and stayed fairly close as usual. Now she goes out for her evening walk wearing a bell on her collar.
She knows that after we finish eating she gets to go out for her walk and yells at me loudly until I put her collar on. Then out we go and she has a ball. I have to keep a close eye on her because If I get distracted she may take off. She doesn’t go far but I am terrified that will change as she gets older. Right now she never wants her human too far away.
Outside she loves to play in the hose and jump up into the birdbath and lay in the water. She stalks the dog and pounces out at her and then lays in the grass wanting to play. She also follows Emmie to the woodpile to search for mice. She has not seen one yet but winter is coming and Emmie is quite the mouser.
We have to stay out until she is tired and then it is easy to get her to come back in. Yesterday it was very hot and humid and she was panting heavily so I was able to pick her up and carry her in. Most days that is not an option. She will follow us to the door but refuse to go in. I shut the door and wait a couple of minutes, while watching out the window for her to start yelling at me. Then I open the door and she comes in.
She is a very picky eater and will not touch her dry food. It must be mixed with wet. She will eat Bob’s dry food for old cats and Emmie’s food when she is done with hers but I thinks she just wants to see what they are having. We have to protect Bob while he eats because she wants to get next to him and eat out of his bowl too. She also cannot resist attacking his tail.
She sits on a barstool and watches me cook dinner. She knows she is not allowed on the counter but has a hard time controlling herself. All in all she is pretty good about it and looks so cute sitting there watching me.
She has never had an accident and always uses the litter box. She likes me in there when she is going and will call loudly for me to come. Very Strange. She also jumps on my lap when I using the bathroom. We are going to start on toilet training soon.
She plays hard and loves to crawl up into my lap and sleep when she is tired. She also likes to sleep in our bed at night. She has a cat condo with a tall perch where she sleeps during the day.
I was told she was removed from her mothers care (her dad was the ALC) at three weeks which explains why she loves to nurse on a special blanket that used to belong to Emmie. It is now hers. I find it sad that she needs to do this but it makes her happy and there is no real way to stop her.
All in all I love her very much but do not feel like she is in the proper environment. I am not home enough and she needs other cats to play with. She need lots of attention and I do not have the proper time to give her. I thought that it would be shared with my husband but that has not worked out. I really want what is best for her and have feeling of guilt that neither her nor Bob are getting what they need. I takes a very special situation to do justice for a special animal like an F1 Bengal. I also fear that she will get lose and end up far away in the woods where a hunter may end up shooting her. She makes such unusual vocal sounds and calls and she looks so wild.
June
Note: June made a comment on a page about another F1 Bengal cat. I asked to expand on it and this page is the result. Thank you June.
She deserves a better life than being toted around Cat Shows!