Hello,

I wonder if anyone could give me some advice please?

I have two beautiful Bengal boys Bert & Ernie (or Bams & Peg as we call them), 5 1/2 years old.

We have put them through it lately by moving house & then going on holiday for 2 weeks. They were a bit "yowly" and shouty to begin with but did start to settle.

The new house has a nice garden, so we started to let them out (under supervision) for a few hours at a time at weekends. They loved it outdoors & we were really pleased that they could enjoy standing in all Mummy's flower beds etc....

Then the problems started...they seem to want to go out ALL the time and won't settle, constantly prowling and shouting....Peg (Ernie) is the worst.

He stops momentarily when I play with hi& talk to him, but it is getting ridiculous now! I have been reduced to tears in fustration three times now! My husband says we should just let them out unsupervised, but as they have always been indoor cats, I don't think it's a good idea & I would worry sooooo much about them....and there are a lot of other cats around!

Do you think Peg is suffering from outdoor envy or new-house anxiety??

I have even tried feliaway spray and valarian drops - no effect.

Can anyone help? I love my boys but the are completely dominating me at the mo.

Thank you
Emmy

I think the problem is that they've had a taste of the freedom of outdoors and are no longer satisfied with an indoor life. If you're able to give them lots of supervised outdoor time, then I would suggest continuing with that but it will need to be regular and not just ad-hoc. You could try introducing them to a leash as other owners have done, but that's probably best done when they're younger than yours. The other choices are simply to persist with keeping them indoors - they'll re-adjust eventually, although it may take some time and they'll be grumpy and destructive for a while. Alternatively, let them out unsupervised and accept the risks.

My cats have always had free access outdoors because I live in a rural area with fields and woods at the back of the house. I've never lost a moggie to the quiet country road in front of the house in 15 years but I've lost 2 Bengals to it in the past year. Despite that, I am continuing to let my remaining Bengal out because I think it would be unfair to deprive her of the freedom she's had for the past year and a half. I know others would disagree with that decision.

Difficult decisions!!

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Like Ginny, if i lived in a rural place i'd let mine out, but I live on a main road and have a carpark to the rear so i have no choice but to keep him indoors, but i'm having a cat run built outside so he will still get fresh air. can you not build something in your garden to keep them safe?

The thing about supervising them outside is what about in the winter?

Thank you for the quick replies!

We have thought about building them a run, but to be honest, they hate being "caged" (ask Nanny Val at the cattery!!) and the garden is not that big..

I think regular supervised outdoor play maybe the best option as they are clearly unhappy being cooped up all the time now they have had a taste of the "good life". I don't want to be a bad mum!



Emmy

Hi

If you continue to supervise them while outside, the boundary will increase and increase until before you know it they will be outwith your boundary.
Once past that, they will continue to go that little bit further and eventually will not come back easily, despite treats, toys or other "blackmail" solutions to try and get them back. Once bitten twice shy, they will get to know quite quickly that you are up to no good and head for the hills and only come back when they want to.

So you have four choices really,
1. Keep them indoors full stop.
2. Build an outdoor run, or make your garden cat escape proof. If it is small as you say this may be a good solution. especially if it already has a fence or wall - http://www.fabcats.org/owners/fencing/info.html
3. Leash train them.
4. Let them outside - free ranging. I feel Bengals, especially young ones do not have much road sense. Can be worrying, can also reduce you to tears wondering where they are.

Hi
I agree with junglerose, you have a few options, if the garden is not that big make it a huge enclosure and then you will know they are safe. Remember bengals are beautiful they have and can get stolen. Making an enclosure is a way of protecting them not caging them.

sue

hi,

My 2 had never been outside until the enclosure was secure enough, once they had been out then Freya in particular behaved the same way. i am not saying what we have built is the best thing ever, but it works and is not intrusive in the garden, it takes up most - i left a bit for the washing line! take a look in the tips section and my post called play ideas and you will see some photos i took last week, and maybe get an idea of what can be done.
garden size doesn't matter and we have already thought of ways to improve the build.
by building this i can let them out knowing they will be safe - and to my mind its worth it!

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Zakiyya C: Mum to Zebedee - Silver Spotted Bengal & Coco Mademoiselle - Usual Abyssinian

Well, we have let the boys have out two days running for supervised play. After ten minutes, Peg was over the 6ft fence into the neighbours garden!

He came back when we dangled mousey over the fence. Bams then had to go over & got so engrossed next-door's long grass, he refused to come back over even tho the heavens opened & soaked him! "Daddy" had to go & get him.

They were a bit quieter, but not much. We will persevere. We've been through worse - the cheeseplant obsession was a terrible time!!


Thanks for all the advice.

Emmy

I used to think I couldn't bear restricting my cats freedom, and sine we live in a rural area I thought it would be fine. Two weeks ago, one of my beloved cats got hit by someone (didn't even have the sense to stop and look what happened) and killed down the road and I can't forgive myself for ever letting him leave the house. He was "only" a moogie, but I loved him as much as all of my babies.

Also, with the bengals (or any other pure bred cat) there is alway the risk of somenone stealing them, or, as has happened alot around here lately, twisted people with a dislike of cats killing or worse, torturing cats,

The last two weeks I've been hard at work constructing a large enclosure in our garden with a cat door into the house so the cats can go outside when they want, but are safe from harm. If that wasn't an option I would go with the walk in a leach strategy. I'll never let any of my pets outside unsupervised again.