Bengal cats are very special and lovely cats and often times their personality traits can be overwhelming for some people. This is why many people are not prepared or suited for Bengals. It’s always important to be knowledgeable about any breed you are considering bringing into your home, this is especially true when it comes to Bengals.
It’s important that you do your research and brush up on your reading about Bengals before committing to being a Bengal pet parent. In this article we’ll be covering:
- Personality and Temperament
- Bengals and Aggression
- Are They Like Dogs?
Personality and Temperament
Before you actually bring home a Bengal cat, it’s really important that you are bringing home. Even though each Bengal is purely an individual, there are some common personality and temperament traits you should be aware of. You can educate yourself by reading and researching them online.
- Bengals are extremely interactive and highly intelligent and thrive on having company around.
- Younger Bengals sometimes don’t do well when it comes to working with their pet parents and can sometimes become quite destructive if allowed to get bored.
- Older Bengals can and often are willing to cope with having some alone time but even older Bengals prefer to have someone around human or animal and still need stimulation and
- Bengals can be quite strong both physically and personality wise. They tend to have quite dominant personalities and often love to be in charge. Even though they crave your attention, don’t think they are lap cats because, quite frankly, they aren’t.
- Most cats like to climb however, Bengals love to climb so it’s very important that you provide them with adequate space to have a good size cat tree for them to climb and scratch on.
- Bengal cats love to explore and they do not have any respect for framed photos, home accessories or ornaments, so you might want to think about where you put your favorite items around the house.
- They love, love, love attention so make sure that you have the time to give them. It’s important that they are given a lot of attention and love to keep them content and happy.
- Unlike most cats, Bengals do seem to really like dogs and this is good news if you have a dog in your home. Most Bengals live side by side with most dogs and quite happily too. They tend to really love to play with dogs, especially more active breeds of dogs and sometimes they seem to prefer a dogs company over that of another cat.
- Be careful around small pets like birds, fish, and other small pets like hamsters for example. The reason for this is that Bengals tend to have a higher prey drive than other domestic cats and they express their hunting behavior much more than other cats.
- Bengals have extremely strong wills and if you don’t teach them what their boundaries are they will simply take over and become the boss. This means that you as their pet parent must from the beginning, be the boss.
Bengals and Aggression
When we talk about aggression we don’t mean that they walk around with a big chip on their shoulders looking for a fight. However, there are many times where a Bengal can become aggressive and you need to be aware of this before considering adding one to the family. Here are some reasons they might become aggressive:
- If they become extremely bored they can become both aggressive and destructive. If they become too bored you might be looking at curtains torn to shreds or your favorite piece of furniture turned into their favorite scratching post.
- Because Bengals have such dominant personalities they often do not respond well to discipline especially harsh discipline. They will often respond very aggressively to discipline and can become too hard to handle. This is one of the more common reasons they end up in rescue centers.
- Some Bengals have known to get so aggressive due to boredom and what they may perceive as neglect that they often terrorize the entire household and even go after a neighbors cat or dog and take it out on them. When they act this way, they are not playing around, they actually mean to harm them.
A Bengal cats aggressive behavior should never be underestimated and if you don’t train them well, they truly can be a handful to handle. If you don’t you can handle a cat with such a dominant personality and give them the attention that they need, you may not want to bring one into your home, at least not an adolescent one.
As loving and affectionate as they can be, take their aggression seriously because they have been known to hurt and on some occasions kill another cat. This means if you allow your Bengal to roam around the neighborhood, which is not recommended, and your neighbor complains that your Bengal hurt their cat, take it seriously, because it could be true.
Bengal cats can be a lot of fun and quite entertaining when you give them what they need. You’ll never find a cat that’s more affectionate and loves to get involved in everything you do. You just need to know how to curb their demanding and dominant ways. If you can do that, then they’ll be the ideal cat for you.
Are They Like Dogs?
Many people who own Bengals will swear that their cat is more like a dog than any other cat around. This probably is not an overstatement. This is often because they are so intelligent as well as they tend to really enjoy being around dogs.
As long as you show them respect, give them plenty of attention, they often will be quite willing to learn a variety of things that most people equate with dogs and not cats. For example, here are just a few things that bring dogs to mind and not cats:
- With patience you can train a Bengal to wear a collar, harness and a leash. Once you have done this, you can then teach them to go on walks with you and not just around your neighborhood. Once they are well trained to a harness and leash, you can take them to local parks and some people have even taken their Bengals on hiking and camping trips.
- Because of their high degree of intelligence, like dogs, they often can be taught a variety of tricks. You can teach them to stay, heal, sit, and even play fetch with their favorite toys.
- Dogs love to ride with their pet parents in the car, well, same with Bengals. If you teach them at an early age to not fear a car, they’ll be willing to go with you wherever you go. Even though it’s an unsafe practice, many Bengals love to ride freely in the car looking out the windows to enjoy the breeze and the view. You can safely do this in soft carriers that have many mesh windows in them so that they can be safe and enjoy the view at the same time.
- One bad habit they tend to have in common with many dogs is their love for digging holes, especially in the garden. This is because of their high level of curiosity and it just seems to get the better of them.
So, what do you think? Did that help answer the question of whether or not Bengals are kind of like dogs? Please let us know what you think by leaving your own comment below.
