Photo of Bengal Cat copyright Helmi Flick
Bengal Cat behavior can sometimes seem like weird behavior but it is normal behavior for a Bengal cat. When we judge a cat's behavior particularly a cat with wild blood in her (and deliberately put there by humans) we should see the actions through the eyes of the cat.
Even a fourth generation Bengal cat (an SBT cat - Stud Book Tradition cat) has 12% or so of wild genetic make up. Although Bengals are truly domestic they are a bit different. I'm talking her about genuine purebred F1-F4 Bengals. There are Bengals that are just not a true Bengal.
Here's some "weird" behavior:
- Dragging bread from around the house and chewing on it
- Shredding books with her teeth while they are being read.
- Lick and and shred paper with her teeth
- Chewing a shredding cardboard boxes
- Chewing and shredding paper bags
- Drop a toy into a shoe and fight the shoe to get the toy
- Rip to pieces the cardboard in the middle of a cat's toy
- Meet the UPS delivery at the front door and help to open the package and then when it's empty play in it and chew on it
- Chew and eat the black tie string on a bag of fruit and then sick it up
- routinely jump into a laundry basket
- Get involved in moving furniture
What does it say about Bengal cats? Not much except they like to use their teeth and they like paper to chew on. This really does let us see the little bit of wild cat I think. Sure all cats like to chew on stuff from time to time but Bengals seem to do it more. Is this their hunting desires coming out in a domestic environment? I discuss their behavior in other posting on this site, including their love of water, drinking from running water, urinating in water etc. etc......
Here is some more on Bengal cat character.
I recently gained a moggie and was stunned by his strange behaviour, jumping in the landry basket, drinking from the sink tap, fighting with the shoe, weeing in the bath, dragging sticks in from the garden, chasing the ball and returning it to me, chasing the dog and jumping on his back, and chewing everything, especially my hands. When I took him to the vets, I said he was a little special, that is when I found out about Bangal cats ... now I know he is really special :)
ReplyDelete