Update. Picked up a rescue on Friday. Original owner passed away, I think. Ended up at that complete clusterF of an organization known as the Niagara SPCA. They didn’t know how to handle her, as you with Bengals know…they’re a LOT different than normal cats. Anyway, a member of Buffalo Humane picked her up from there a week and a half ago to foster her.
Obviously abused previously. Real head case, but doing a lot better than she was 48 hours ago when we brought her in.
We set up the spare bedroom for her. Toys, food, another litter box. Needed to keep her separate from Chakka for a while. First night, was basically hidden the whole night.
24 hours later, was sleeping on the clothes that Carly and I put down for her, so she could get used to our scent.
I’ve had cats my whole life. Anywhere between 1-4 at a time. When raised right, they can be just as rewarding and affectionate as a dog, but with a lot less maintenance. Yes, I’ve had lots of dogs also.
Anyway, with that said, when Carly and I got together, this became my first long term experience with a Bengal. I’ve been around them before, but not for more than a few hours at a time.
So, Bengal cats are essentially a cross between a domestic cat and Asian Leopard cat. They’re essentially “graded” by how many generations they are removed from the initial breed. So, the first cross would be considered an F1, a kitten from an F1 cat is an F2, and so on. Most domestic Bengals are F4-F5. Chakka is an F5 (no idea about Zulu, the rescue). So you would think that she should be like a normal cat. She’s not. Very high energy and very vocal. Extremely involved in anything we’re doing around the place. Very affectionate, but not a lap cat most of the time. Ridiculously athletic. She’ll hang from her cat tree with one paw, I’ll throw her favorite stuffed squirrel (Buddy) at her, and she’ll snag it out of the air with the other paw. She’s also weird. Take this Buddy for example. She carries it around when we’re not watching. She thinks buddy needs to look out of windows. When we get home buddy is typically on different windowsills. We’ll step out on the porch for a few minutes, come back in, and there’s buddy, just inside the sliding glass door, watching us. She also fetches. The whole 9 yards. I’ll throw one of her small foam soccerballs down the stairs, she hauls ass down there, and brings it back to me.
Anyway, that’s just my experience in a nutshell, but from what I’ve heard from other owners, this sort of thing isn’t out of the ordinary for the breed.
Yeah, I’ve been around cats that are similar over the years, but I’ve noticed that these guys in general are really quirky as a breed. Not in a bad way at all, IMO.
Ok, suggestion from experience. Call NSPCA first to make sure the cat is where the site says she is. We drove up to Lockport a while ago, because one of their cats showed to be at Petco. Got there, Petco told us she was adopted days ago, we called NSPCA from there, and NSPCA was still sure that the cat wasn’t adopted. Manager of the store showed us the adoption papers, that they faxed to NSPCA the cay she was adopted.
Cliffs: make sure the cat is still available. Speak with someone who can actually see the cat with their own eyes.
Picked her up on Saturday! We had quite the run around to find her( I didnt see your post before we went) and had to go to NSPCA first, then to the lockport petsmart, but she was there when we got there. She is so small for being nine y/o, like 6 lbs! She is adapting nicely to our house so far and our other two cats.
Picked her up on Saturday! We had quite the run around to find her( I didnt see your post before we went) and had to go to NSPCA first, then to the lockport petsmart, but she was there when we got there. She is so small for being nine y/o, like 6 lbs! She is adapting nicely to our house so far and our other two cats.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR POSTING THAT JASON!
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That’s awesome! So glad it all worked out, and so not surprised about the runaround.
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