Bengal is stalking timid Abyssinian

[abbycats]

My female Bengal is stalking my 6 year old male abyssinian like prey. She will not leave him alone. It starts out like she wants to play with him and then she bites him on his neck and he gets upset and it's on. He runs from her and she literally stalks him. He jumps to a high spot and she is right behind him. She won't let up on him. I have cat spats from time to time but nothing like this. Everyone in my household is spay/neutered. I wonder what this new behavior problem is?

[twstychik]

How old is the bengal? and how long have they been co-hanitating?

[Kai Bengals]

Sounds like a hierarchy battle. We're going through that right now between our maine coon, Runner and our neutered bengal boy, Titan.

They have had several confrontations, but on our case Runner is starting it.

[twstychik]

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

Sounds like a hierarchy battle. We're going through that right now between our maine coon, Runner and our neutered bengal boy, Titan.

They have had several confrontations, but on our case Runner is starting it.

That'll be interesting to see who comes out on top.

[AlleyGirl]

Xander does this to Riley as well. Sometimes I have to put him in time out because he just won't let up. Its been going on for months though and I'm not sure that Xander isn't just playing too rough. Riley screams like a girl if any cat jumps on him, so its hard to tell

[abbycats]

Originally Posted by twstychik

How old is the bengal? and how long have they been co-hanitating?

Zoey is 1.5 years old and she has been with Dion since she was a kitten. She doesn't pick on anybody else but poor Dion. We have 4 others she could mess with, however they might give her a bit more of a fight!

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

Sounds like a hierarchy battle. We're going through that right now between our maine coon, Runner and our neutered bengal boy, Titan.

They have had several confrontations, but on our case Runner is starting it.

Do females do this to males?

[twstychik]

Originally Posted by abbycats

Zoey is 1.5 years old and she has been with Dion since she was a kitten. She doesn't pick on anybody else but poor Dion.



Do females do this to males?

Was Dion the alpha before Zoey started picking on him? I don't think gender has much to do with it. Is Dion getting hurt? If he is, I'd stop her and separate them when she gets out of hand.

[abbycats]

Originally Posted by twstychik

Was Dion the alpha before Zoey started picking on him? I don't think gender has much to do with it. Is Dion getting hurt? If he is, I'd stop her and separate them when she gets out of hand.

Dion has never been the alpha cat. I always feel bad for Dion when she does this and I tend to pick him up and cuddle him to break it up. She doesn't show signs of jealousy because she just goes on to do something else when she is wound up.

[HopeHacker]

My Bengal Simba does that to my 12 year old Siamese Shane, as well as my female Bengal Angel, I got from Nial. It's gotten to the point that my older Siamese growls the moment Simba comes near him, even if Simba is NOT trying to stalk or pounce on him. My female Bengal is terrified of Simba she shreiks like a cat in a catfight when Simba approaches her. Then she turns around and picks on my little Female Siamese, SunLee. It's not a war zone in my house, when they are all sleeping, but at times it can be, and I know that Simba is behind most of it, and he refuses to mind me. But...I love him to pieces.

[opilot]

You may need to consider rehoming one of your cats. Everyone here with multiple cats that fight - this is NOT GOOD.

Some cats will live quite happily with others - others are top cats or alphas.

If you have more than one alpha and neither will back down - one has to go for the peace and well being of all.

I've luckily never had this problem, but I will say my Diablo RIP, was the
alpha.

He only once acted out - he bit Lexi girl to let her know she was NOT going to mess with HIM when she tried to become alpha cat.

She got the message and frankly lived in terror of him after that. Though he never lifted a paw to her or any other cat in the group ever again. When he was a kitten he was quite nice to his cohort Sheba, but once he grew up, he would sometimes come groom her, only to jump on her and bite her on the neck (showing dominance).

She would howl and fight back, and then he'd leave her alone. Sometimes he'd go so far as to chase her off the bed where she was sleeping with me. It was quite territorial as far as I could tell. Otherwise however he got on fine with her even to sleeping together when I was away.

All the other cats in our life, deferred to Diablo. As I said, we were lucky. Now he is gone, there will be some reordering of the heirarchy.

I would also like to add, cats do not reach "maturity" till 3 yrs of age. As this time approaches, cats become more assertive, as they are no longer kittens or young cats. This is the time that kittens who were formerly peaceful can start becoming terrors to their elders.

You can allow them to work it out, as I did with Lexi and Diablo and Sheba, and maybe get some puncture wounds and serious bites (as we did) OR you can try to break up and re-direct the aggression.

But keep in mind, if you don't succeed, that one of your beloved kitties will wind up miserably stressed out and you may have to rehome someone. Not fair I know, but true.

[abbycats]

Originally Posted by opilot

You may need to consider rehoming one of your cats. Everyone here with multiple cats that fight - this is NOT GOOD.

Some cats will live quite happily with others - others are top cats or alphas.

If you have more than one alpha and neither will back down - one has to go for the peace and well being of all.

I've luckily never had this problem, but I will say my Diablo RIP, was the
alpha.

He only once acted out - he bit Lexi girl to let her know she was NOT going to mess with HIM when she tried to become alpha cat.

She got the message and frankly lived in terror of him after that. Though he never lifted a paw to her or any other cat in the group ever again. When he was a kitten he was quite nice to his cohort Sheba, but once he grew up, he would sometimes come groom her, only to jump on her and bite her on the neck (showing dominance).

She would howl and fight back, and then he'd leave her alone. Sometimes he'd go so far as to chase her off the bed where she was sleeping with me. It was quite territorial as far as I could tell. Otherwise however he got on fine with her even to sleeping together when I was away.

All the other cats in our life, deferred to Diablo. As I said, we were lucky. Now he is gone, there will be some reordering of the heirarchy.

I would also like to add, cats do not reach "maturity" till 3 yrs of age. As this time approaches, cats become more assertive, as they are no longer kittens or young cats. This is the time that kittens who were formerly peaceful can start becoming terrors to their elders.

You can allow them to work it out, as I did with Lexi and Diablo and Sheba, and maybe get some puncture wounds and serious bites (as we did) OR you can try to break up and re-direct the aggression.

But keep in mind, if you don't succeed, that one of your beloved kitties will wind up miserably stressed out and you may have to rehome someone. Not fair I know, but true.

In my case the option of giving up a cat is non exsistant. Zoey is stalking Dion and picking on him. She is not getting in to full blown cat fights with him, it's just when she goes into stalking mode it goes on until somebody breaks it up. When the little spotted terror is tired and not stalking him she sleeps with him and my other cats on the bed.

[Epona]

Several people I know with Bengals plus other breeds/domestics say that the Bengals can be so much more active and predatory in play that other cats find it really intimidating, if not frightening. I would not bring just 1 bengal in to my 2 Ori, 1 DSH home, I would get 2 Bengals so they had a similar energy level cat to play with.

Do you just have the 1 Bengal? Problem is that with 1 high energy cat and 1 lower energy cat is hat the lower energy cat will feel bullied and the higher energy one has loads of playtime left in it even when it has chased the lower energy one into submission. Bengals are beautiful cats, but I would never get one on its own to live with another cat, I would get 2 littermates so that they could always have a playmate with similar energy level. Do you have just 1 purebred Bengal in your home?

I am not sure what to suggest, other than make sure the one being picked on can get away to a seperate area.

If this is a new behaviour, it could be due to a new stress that has occurred, or possibly the compounding of small stresses over a period of time - overcrowding, shared feeding areas, change in your work patterns, smaller territory than they are used to, change in environment, a new tomcat prowling outside - all sorts of things can cause unease between previously content housemates!

Hope you manage to get it sorted OK.