I'm a newbie with a manic bengal kitten - help!

[rrushton]

Can anyone recommend a decent pet behaviour spray to stop my kitten climbing the curtains in our front room & to stop tearing the carpet up by our bedroom door? Daisy is adorable, but i don't want her to completely destroy our house! She has a scratching post which she uses, but is very interested in the curtains & trys to get in our bedroom (which is out of bounds due to my husbands allergies!) Any advice would be greatly appreciated - i would prefer to use a natural deterrant rather than lots of chemical sprays.

Thanks - Rebecca:?

[Fran]

Warm welcome to Catsey! can I ask how old is Daisy? and is she an only cat??

[rrushton]

Daisy is 11 weeks old. We have a tabby & white moggy who is 3yrs & 9 months. They get on really well with each other (apart from when Daisy wants to play & Charlie just wants to sleep!) Charlie was a relatively quiet kitten - i know bengals are quite boistrous, but we wanted a bengal & were prepared for noise, jumping all over the place etc. But i can't just sit back & watch Daisy climb the curtains or damage my carpets/furniture. We expect the occasional accident, but she needs to learn some rules. Not sure what discipline route to take if any as hissing at her has no effect whatsoever. So this is why i thought of a deterrant spray to keep her away from the areas i don't want her clawing etc.

Rebecca

[yola]

Double sided tape is good if you don't want things scratched - once a cat's paws stick to tape they'll not want to touch the same place again. Not sure about scents/sprays as I've never used these, but if she's scratching it would suggest more physical things like putting the scratching post in front of where she scratches.

[Fran]

I am not very familiar with deterent sprays, hopefully someone will be along soon with more experience of them. I guess the clawing at the carpet at night is because she wants to be with you and is possibly lonely. The curtain climbing is just normal kitten activity, I've always found 'hissing' or a stern 'no' usually works and they soon get the idea that they are not supposed to be doing it. I'm sure others will be a long to offer advice, do let us know how you get on and good luck, she's still very young at 11 weeks infact most pedigree breeders don't let kittens go until they are nearer 13 weeks.

[ellenlouise]

Hiya and welcome.

Its sounds like you have a excitable kitten. He is still very young so probably needs a few more lessons. Trinity when young used to scratch our door so in the end we gave up and let her in (OH has allergies but since we have had cats they have dissapeared) but a good idea is placing duck tape around the door not so tempting to scratch and might save your carpets while you teach him it is wrong. I have found with Neo telling him no and the twisting the curtains so they don't wave about help and supplying him with hundreds of toys. Petsupermarket.com is a good place to shop I brought a pack of 24 mice for him to play with the other day quite cheap.

[angieh]

Hi Rebecca - Welcome to Catsey!

You sound as if your little 'un is causing no end of challenges for you. As I understand it, Bengals are intelligent cats and Daisy is a very young girl - she may be a bit bored, especially if your other 2 don't want to join in the fun.

I'm attaching a link to a website that sells cat trees - perhaps you could encourage her to use something like that instead of your curtains!

www.cattrees.co.uk/

All best wishes and hope something works! I am looking forward to seeing pictures of Daisy - I'll bet she's as cute as can be!

[dandysmom]

Hi and welcome! Daisy is young yet, and learning the house rules; Bengals are very bright cats with high energy levels! Hopefully hissing when she attacks the curtains will begin to give her the idea it's a no-no; you might try a squirt gun also, but be sure she doesn't see you using it...she needs to associate it with the curtains! I'm not aware of any deterrent sprays........
She sounds like a little charmer; I'd love to see a few pics...do let us know how it's going...

[babycakes]

Welcome to Catsey.

Unfortunately all kittens are destructive. There are little explorers. It will take a good while before she learns what's out of bounds. A water spray may be a good idea (like the one you spray plants with, but no chemicals). Just spray when she is scratching the carpet but make sure she doesn't know you have done it. (A good tip from Elaine was to make the cat think that it was an act of God, ie from the heavens and this will make them think that it happens wven when you are not around). When you are not in could you restrict her to one area full of toys and an activty centre to play on?

[Hreow]

Citrus-oils may help deter as well. Rover stopped gnawing the chair uprights after I polished a bit of lemon oil onto them.

Other than that, I agree with the rest. Time will slow them down, and an acceptable "upness" to serve as a look-out may aleviate the wear and tear on the curtains.

[borderdawn]

You have bought a breed known for climbing and being destructive and active. Bengals often do not make ideal pets because of this. Cat trees are excellent things, the taller the better, try using toys such a boxes for the kitten to hide and play in, kittens are easly pleased like that.
dawn.

[dinahsmum]

Cats are not fond of the feel or sound of kitchen foil, so a sheet just outside the bedroom door may keep her away from there. Other than that I agree with everyone else. Psst, psst, psst is a good 'don't do that' noise and time is a great thing for calming down crazy kittens!
Good luck

[borderdawn]

Just realised. did your kitten come from a reputable breeder? Just asking because registered pedigree kittens should be fully vaccinated before leaving and your kitten is just 11wks old.

[caz]

Hello everyone, i'm a new girl but I read your problem and hope I can offer some support?
I too have a bengal kitten and I am new to the breed, your kitten is very young though I hate to be the bearer of bad news my kitten Mali has become more and more challenging the older he gets he is 7 months now, recently castrated and is slowly starting to calm down, we have tried a cheap keep off spray from our local pet shop which stopped him scent marking but didnt stop him climbing and clawing. Bengals have proven to be mischievous and stubborn but not stupid, although very rewarding. Even if you think you have solved the problem when he knows you're not looking he will keep trying. We clap loudly near Mali when he's up to no good and that seems to work. One peice of advice is they like to be at the highest point in the room if you dont want him to climb the curtains give him somewhere high he can go. We aloud Mali to make his bed on top of the fridge freezer which stpped him wanting to climb on the units.
A long winded answer but I hope that helps.

[dinahsmum]

Hello caz - welcome to Catsey and thanks for your post. I hope it helps Rebecca feel that things will get better

[rrushton]

Hi everyone thanks for all your advice. Daisy has a rustling tunnel, a cat scratching & climbing post & an abundance of other toys. Charlie & Daisy play well together & have already established a comfy spot on the spare room bed together. In response to Borderdawn's question - unfortuantely our kitten was not from a registered breeder, we made the mistake of going to see some kittens & fell in love with Daisy straight away. We got a lot of grief from another cat forum about this, but we have Daisy fully immunised etc & she will be spayed as soon as she is old enough. We just did not want daisy to go to another person that would just breed her endlessly to make money - we purely wanted her as a pet, not a show cat or to breed from. So to us it does not matter that she has no pedigree papers. Lots of people said that it was a back street breeder after making money. Yes i know she was young when we collected her, but she was completely independent of mum (no longer feeding from her) & was on kitten food. The house where she came from was a clean & happy home with other cats (of which some had pedigree paperwork). The lady that sold her to us has also been in touch to see how she is settling in - so she does care where her kittens go & how they are doing at least. I know a lot of you will tut at me for not going to a reputable breeder, but once i post pictures onto the site you'll see just why we fell in lover with Daisy!!

[dandysmom]

Thanks for the backstory on Daisy, she obviously has found a loving home with you...can't wait for the pictures!! Hurry, please.....:-D

[angieh]

We really need that picture of Daisy - PLEASE!!!

[rrushton]

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii72/rebeccarushton/100_2850.jpg

I have tried to insert a picture of Daisy - if this doesn't work can anyone let me know how to insert pictures? My images are on photobucket at the moment.

Thanks

Rebecca

[rrushton]

http://i261.photobucket.com/albums/ii72/rebeccarushton/100_2895.jpg

Here's a picture of Daisy & Charlie, as you can see they playfight, but love each other after only 3 weeks which i think is brilliant!!:D

[dandysmom]

Awww! Cute pic of her and Charlie...more !!!!!!! :-D

[Mags]

What a lovely pic of Daisy and Charlie....they have bonded really well after just three weeks:D