Nuisance Bengal cats..

This is one of the neighbours Bengal cat's they have 3. They are really naughty at stalking the bunnies and pounce at them when they are in the run and scare them :roll: But other than that they are gorgeous cats...

stunning

Wow what a beauty.

A couple of days ago an old gentleman brought in an almost identical stray for vet treatment. Exactly the same colouring with stripes & spots on the back. Are they always big cats or are some more normal sized?

thumps_ said:

Wow what a beauty.

A couple of days ago an old gentleman brought in an almost identical stray for vet treatment. Exactly the same colouring with stripes & spots on the back. Are they always big cats or are some more normal sized?

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Not sure about sizes as I'm not a cat expert but what I do know is that Bengals are very very expensive. And the rescue I volunteer at had a stray Bengal that could have cost £1000 if got from a breeder. Stunning cats though.

Ohhh I am obsessed with Bengals, they are so gorgeous. Hope the buns are ok though!

My niece and her partner are living with me at the moment and they have a Bengal cat called Hugo,he is two years old,they are beautiful cats.They can be demanding as they love to play and will actually play fetch like a dog.They are also very vocal and "talk" back to you all the time.They are solid muscle,and Hugo when he stretches his full length to reach up is for anything is very long,he is a brown marble,though he has lovely golden spots on his tummy,he is a house cat.
Hugo cost £400.00 two years ago

Please be very, very careful with your bunnies and make sure the run is completely bengal-proof! I know of a rescue who kept losing bunnies and it turned out it was a local Bengal my cat was nearly killed by a Bengal too; some of them can be extremely unpredictable and vicious if they choose to be, even if they are usually sweetness and light.

Gorgeous, though

thumps_ said:

Are they always big cats or are some more normal sized?

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They vary a lot. The Asian leopard cat which is the original 'wild cat' part of a domestic Bengal is actually quite small. But if bengals aren't a sufficient number of generations removed from the wildcat and have large amounts of wildcat genetic, they can have very wild and unpredictable tendencies. It's supposed to be something like 4 generations removed on both lines of parent to make them 'safe' as domestic cats. We have two bengals in the lane where I live; one is a tiny, dainty little thing probably no more than 3kg, the other is a vicious beast probably at about 7kg.

I would like to add about certain cats being a serious threat to rabbits - there were 2 Birmans living near me who were always terrifying and torturing squirrels, many of us witnessed it - they would bring home the bodies to their owners. My neighbour and I both think one of them was responsible for the death of one of her rabbits last year. When they eventually came across my garden of rescue rabbits, they were always there viciously trying to get at some of them - I was terrified for their safety and went and spoke to the owners who were sorry but said they were having problems with the cats and other peoples pets and were at a loss to know what to do. We didn't see the cats over Christmas, my neighbour says they have gone as the owner had had a new baby and she was worried about the safety of the newborn baby having been witnessed 'screaming' at the cats in the street. There are a number of cats where I live but I have never known any like these two - so please be careful all bunny owners

Santa said:

They vary a lot. The Asian leopard cat which is the original 'wild cat' part of a domestic Bengal is actually quite small. But if bengals aren't a sufficient number of generations removed from the wildcat and have large amounts of wildcat genetic, they can have very wild and unpredictable tendencies. It's supposed to be something like 4 generations removed on both lines of parent to make them 'safe' as domestic cats. We have two bengals in the lane where I live; one is a tiny, dainty little thing probably no more than 3kg, the other is a vicious beast probably at about 7kg.

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Hugo is an F5 hybrid,he is no danger to other pets etc as he is a total house cat,we have roads nearby and as a pedigree he would more than likely get knicked by human vermin.The same reason our two bridge buns were house rabbits.Hugo was at the vet about a month ago and weighs 6.3 kilos.

Please don't be complacent about the risk that cats pose to buns. Cats are predators, rabbits are prey. It is not down to breed, it is in the nature of the creatures. Same as people usually do with dogs and young children, guard against danger.

I've got to say that I agree what others have said , Bengals are not like normal moggies they seem to want to kill everything! It's such a worry having them around thankfully they've not been around while the bunnies free range but when they're in their runs and the cats are about they pounce and scare them half to death I don't know how we can stop them coming around , hopefully when we get the garden fully fenced and 6ft they won't come in our garden . when Bella and Pickle free range i've got to be by their side . I think I'll get a water gun in case they ever appear when I'm out with the buns free ranging . Bengals are nothing like a moggie ..

Our local bengal actually attacked me when I tried to defend my cats against him, he turned on me and ran up my leg and hung off my shoulder and I spent a delightful afternoon at the local walk in centre getting cleaned up, tetanus and antibiotic. I have a splendid set of scars and my cat was nearly killed - personally I wouldn't free range bunnies in the garden at all if I knew there were bengals in the neighbourhood, they will easily jump a 6ft fence and in some ways that's worse than open fences because you can't see them coming!

When I looked into it before, I also learnt that unlike most cats, many bengals actually like water so water pistols don't always work on them - I was told they hate noise though so I was advised to fill a plastic tub with stones and throw it on the floor instead.

Santa said:

Our local bengal actually attacked me when I tried to defend my cats against him, he turned on me and ran up my leg and hung off my shoulder and I spent a delightful afternoon at the local walk in centre getting cleaned up, tetanus and antibiotic. I have a splendid set of scars and my cat was nearly killed - personally I wouldn't free range bunnies in the garden at all if I knew there were bengals in the neighbourhood, they will easily jump a 6ft fence and in some ways that's worse than open fences because you can't see them coming!

When I looked into it before, I also learnt that unlike most cats, many bengals actually like water so water pistols don't always work on them - I was told they hate noise though so I was advised to fill a plastic tub with stones and throw it on the floor instead.

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Thank you for all your informative comments Santa.
That must have been a terrifying experience for you. It seems to me that the local Bengal was instinctively trying to "take you down".
I agree with you so strongly about 6' wooden fencing. It isn't protective against cats & foxes in the slightest, but does impair our own best sense vision.

The owners of the cat that killed our rabbit were almost as upset as we were about what happened. He was just a moggie, and a small one at that. I so regret not seeing the danger because there were plenty of indications he was different to other local cats. Those Bengals sound high risk. Do they wear bells? The RSPB say that bell wearing can reduce predation.