The Bengal a unique breed

Character

Key words to describe the Bengal character are 'active' and 'affectionate'. Bengals can be busy playing for hours, but when their abundant energy is spent, they will happily sit on your lap. Bengals like to lie on your bed, but watch out: their playfulness is lurking beneath the surface and likes to attack unwary toes. Bengals are proverbially curious and want to know what you are doing at any time, and whether they can play with it. They will help you washing up, hoover, knit, sew and will test all your utensils on their playability (knitting needles, wool, pens, bits of paper). Like all true cats, Bengals love to sit on your newspaper, preferably on the article you were just trying to read. But they also like to explore the underside of the paper. Needless to say, this usually is hard on the newspaper, and it almost never survives this experience unharmed. Food is also very interesting, but a Bengal does not beg for food very persistently: it is quite easy to break him from this habit.

Bengals need company very much. One Bengal is really only half a Bengal. A Bengal does not care too much what kind of company he keeps: people, cats or other animals like dogs are quite satisfactory. Living with other animals is quite easy for a Bengal because his character is not dominant and because he adapts remarkably quickly. A Bengal is also a very good mate for children, because he will follow them everywhere and because he almost never tires of playing with them. He does not like to be treated roughly, but he will never harm anyone. If offended, a Bengal will run away to a quiet spot and not reappear for some time. Although a Bengal is clearly appreciates company very much, he can amuse himself quite readily for a long time. He can play quietly for hours with a paper wad or a piece of cardboard (or anything else he has fished from your wastebasket). With other cats favourite games are chasing, ambushing and wrestling. Bengals can jump very high, some reach four feet with a backward flip.

Water has a special attraction for Bengals. This may be inherited from its wild ancestor, because wild cats are known for not being afraid of water at all. The Asian leopard cat reputedly eliminates in running water, to avoid being discovered by other animals. Some Bengals take showers with their owners, and Bengals are known to have taught themselves to pee on the toilet. But do not teach them to flush it afterwards, because they will never stop doing this. If a bath is running, the Bengal will fall in. Bengals prefer their water running. A tap is the ideal place to have a drink, but a plain old water dish will suffice if the water is first made to move by splashing in it with a front paw.

Bengals are quite talktative cats, but they usually do not have very loud voices. Females in heat can scream very loudly, though. Bengals also tend to make strange, dangerous sounding noises when they are picked up against their will. Stewards on catshows and vets could get a real fright from this. It is all bark and no bite though: an ordinary cat would attack soon after delivering such a vocal warning, but to a Bengal, this is friendly conversation. Sometimes the noises are even accompanied by a strange rumbling sound, when the Bengal is calling and purring at the same time. This Bengal siren does have its advantages, for cats that can go outdoors. If anyone tries to steal the miniature leopard, everybody in the neighborhood knows that the Bengal is picked up. Bengals are therefore not as likely to be stolen as you might think of such a remarkable cat. Apart from the siren, Bengals are usually distrustful towards strangers, and will not let themselves be picked up easily. And some people might think this large, spotted creature with its feral expression somewhat too risky to pick up, especially if it is friendly and makes some 'nice conversation'. But, while Bengals can go outdoors in relative safety from being stolen, they do not need to be able to go outdoors and can be very happy indoors. Poison, traffic, diseases and other dangers make it often safer for the cat to stay indoors, or in a safe outdoor pen.

If kept indoors, a Bengal should have plenty of opportunities to run and climb. Stairs are a popular toy to keep energy levels under control, as are catflaps. Though Bengals are very active, they are not purposely destructive. They do not climb drapes and they do not rip wallpaper. They do want to see every part of the house, and they can make reckless jumps to get on a closet. As often as not they will take a free flying lesson to get down again. While playing, a Bengal can trip over things and accidentally break them, because playing makes him forget his surroundings completely. But this goes for all active cats, really.

Bengals are very good parents, which they seem to have inherited from the wild. They show a lot of natural behavoir, especially the mothers. They deliver their kittens very quickly and quietly, and give the impression of having been anaesthetized before giving birth. One of our queens once delivered a litter while our neighbours were drilling in the wall right next to her. She did not even seem to notice the incredible noise this made, and did not really 'wake up' until the next day. Our experience with Bengal mothers is that they are very caring towards their kittens. One of our queens used to drag socks through the living room, calling her kittens to her side to come and eat it. Once, she even caught a mouse for them to eat.

Even Bengal males are very good parents to their (and anyone else's ) kittens. Seeing a Bengal 'couple' with their children, one tends to forget the story of the solitary cats, that only seeks company to mate. Bengal fathers actively participate in rearing their young, and form a real family. In England, a Bengal male even has adopted a litter that its mother could not care for anymore, through special circumstances. His people had only to feed the little ones, he took care of the rest.

The motherly instincts of the Bengal do not only show when they have a litter to care for, they also surface in the interaction with people. With some Bengals, you can play quite roughly with your bare hands, because they do not use their nails.They will not accidentally hurt you, because they keep their nails retracted. This is probably something they learn in their youth, by playing with them a lot with bare hands instead of with toys. For these cats do use their nails when playing with toys, and if your hands are covered, they do not recognise them as such and use their nails as well (this also goes for covered toes, so watch out in bed!).