Loving Bengal Female (spayed) needs GOOD home

I am so sad to be making this post, as my little girl has been my best friend
for awhile. She is about 6 years old and is a brown spotted Bengal female, about 9+ lbs, and has a lovely soft pelt. She is very affectionate, loves to be pet, and will talk to you frequently.

Here's the problem... We got another cat (silver male bengal) a couple of years ago and he pesters her to no end. He stressed her out a lot and she began urinating in inappropriate places. We tried every trick in the book... and then some. We made sure that she didn't have a urinary tract infection, stones, etc. We tried different litters, etc. Finally we re-did the floors and took up ALL the carpet and put down hardwoods to get rid of all of her old favorite places and then treated her with an anti-depressant. This actually worked! I was so happy. My husband told me, however, that after doing all of that if she ever peed in an inappropriate place again, we'd have to find her a new home.

I would honestly rather get rid of her "bully" (as we've had him for a shorter time and I feel sure that he's the only reason why she's misbehaving) but my husband doesn't see it that way unfortunately.

Well she's been off the anti-depressants for awhile and today... it happened again and I'm forced to make this post. We live in SC. She's such a wonderful girl and I will miss her so much.

Please let me know if you are interested or if you know anyone who might be.

Have you tried contacting the breeder she came from, or perhaps a breed specific rescue?

Given she had "litterbox issues", they may well carry over into the new home, so screen homes carefully (as some people will just dump them in a local kill shelter, or out & out euthanize them for litterbox issues).

I agree with the opinion to not rehome the resident cat, especially if the root of the problem comes from the last addition. So sorry that you are having to make this decision. So sad for her to loose her family and home.

You have probably gone through all the posibilities already. Did you add more litterboxes so the male could not block her from getting to a litterbox?

Could she get back on the medication if it was working?

Is there a room where one of the cats could "live" for most of the time? Many have better litterbox habits and are content when they have their own space without the worry of another cat in their room.

Just throwing out any ideas n the event that there was something more you could try. Hoping something turns around for all concerned.

Hi there-

Thanks for the feedback from all of you. I'm continuing to discuss options with my husband (particularly the option of giving away the aggressor cat) but I'm not sure how it will turn out. I feel pretty strongly that this would work- plus he's a lot more "flexible" and I think he would re-home easier than my anxiety-ridden female. That being said, if it happens again and we've already re-homed the male, then I would have to lose both of them! At any rate, I do think separating them would resolve the problem, I just don't know if I can convince my husband of that.

What we've tried:
* All litterboxes cleaned very frequently. Unscented litter is being used. (The problem cat WILL use the litter box to urinate and poo-poo, she just occasionally goes outside of the box to pee)

* We added an extra litterbox on top of one of her naughty-spots in a small office where there was already another litterbox present. She just found new places to go in the same room... So obviously it's not an issue of litterbox shortages. We have a very small single-floor home, 2 cats, and 3 litter boxes (was 4)

* We clean all spots with anti-enzyme cleaner to prevent revisits

* We spent a small fortune on Feliway plug-in diffusers which we put all around the house

* We had her checked out for urinary problems. The vet said she didn't have an infection, but that there were trace amounts of bacteria in her urine. We treated her with a full course of antibiotics for good measure

* We put her on a transdermal antidepressant

* We pulled up all the carpet in the house, sealed the concrete slab and baseboards with oil-based paint in all of the places that she went (as it STILL stank even without the carpet). While this project was going on, to avoid stress with all of the loud noises and changes, we boarded her in a nice quiet facility where she was the only cat. While she was there, this is when we were giving her the antibiotics and she had already been on the antidepressants for a week and continued them while she was there.

* She came home to a "new" house (same furniture, different floors) a week later fully treated with antibiotics and remained on her antidepressants. She behaved herself for a full month and didn't have any incidents. She ran out of antidepressants (which we weren't sure if they were doing the trick or not... it was a transdermal gel which I've read isn't very effective). She's been off of them for a couple of weeks, but didn't have any accidents until the other day. We aren't sure if it's because she needs the antidepressant or if it's just because she's decided to start peeing again.

I am willing to keep trying the antidepressants and I went ahead and got her some more and started her on them that day. My husband says that this is only a temporary measure until we find her a home because we can't live our lives looking around the house in search of the latest pee-spot... Particularly with the new hardwood floors. He also doesn't want to have to fuss with giving her antidepressants for the rest of her life as it would be expensive and he doesn't think it's "fair" to her. Anyway, I've got her locked in the guest bathroom during the day while we're at work and she has her own litterbox, food/water, bed, and scratch box in there. She is not a fan of confinement, but at least the rest of the house is safe and she won't have to fight with the other cat. This can't be a permanent arrangement because that bathroom needs to be available/clean when we have company. It's very small so guests would have to step over litterboxes and things to use the restroom.

Any other suggestions? That's the full story! Should I put the aggressive cat on antidepressants in hopes that he will stop attacking her? Their fights are a nuisance in and of themselves- The girl cat screams and curses like crazy!

PS - Yes, I contacted the breeder that I bought her from. He is no longer in business and said that he now lives in a small apartment with 3 of his former breeder cats and couldn't possibly take another one and isn't in a position to find her a new family. I agree that I would need to examine any potential owners (preferably would be someone I know) as that's my biggest fear... That someone would abuse/neglect her for her misbehavior or have her put down. I "get" her... I know her... I worry that other people won't understand. That being said, I don't know what else to do!

Anyway - Just wanted to respond to that question since I forgot to in my previous post.

Maybe the wrong cat is being medicated? Is there any way you can separate them, or give her a private space for a while? I know that's hard to do, because my parents had to separate an aggressive cat from the others, which basically meant while one cat was in the living room, the others had to be shut in the guest room (with their litter box and food, of course). It was a lot of cat musical chairs, but it worked.

That's what we're doing right now in the interim. Tina [peeing cat] stays in the guest bathroom during the day while we're at work. It's a small room, but she has a litterbox, bed, food/water, and scratchbox in there. That couldn't be a permanent fix because our guests would have to step over those things to use the restroom. While she's in there, Rowdy [pouncing cat] roams freely. In the evening, we let Tina out to stretch her legs and play, but put her up before bed. We let her out in the mornings while we're getting ready, too. We don't want to leave her out unsupervised during the day (even if we locked Rowdy up) because I'm not sure if she'll pee in that spot anyway. We need to give her some time to bond to the litterbox again, i guess.

If we were to medicate Rowdy [pouncing cat], what would he need? An antianxiety med like Tina has?

FYI - Feliway and all of that stuff hasn't worked.

Do you think she is acting out to let you know she's not happy? Or is it possible that he is or has attacked her in the litter box and she does not feel safe in the box? You know your cats best, so you would be the one who would know what is going on with her. I am very lucky/thankful that I have never faced the litter box problem. I use Cat Attract litter to try & prevent the problem but it is always a fear of mine. I hope that you can come to a good resolution.

Yes, I'm 99% sure that she's acting out to show her displeasure and/or because he has attacked her in the box before. I've never witnessed a litter-box attack, but it's certainly possible. That being said, she DOES use her litterbox frequently... but even if it's 80% of the time, that 20% is pretty noticeable.

So yes, I'm pretty sure I know what's causing it, but knowing the issue doesn't really help me. Unfortunately, the only certain solution is to rehome one of the cats. Due to my husband, it has to be the female. If I can find her a good home where (hopefully) she can be the only cat, I think it would be great.