Bengal in a playpen - Thoughts and suggestions

duncantaipei

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I recently met a very loving 10 month old Bengal who is looking for a home as his owners are relocating and cannot take him with them.  I would love to have him but my only concern is that he would have to spend a few hours in the morning and afternoon in a playpen like this. When I am home he will of course have free run of my apartment.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Precision-P...181?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item1e8f8381ad

Here in Taiwan most people keep their cats inside one of these when they are not at home. 

Any thoughts or suggestion?  I just want to make sure that if I do take him I can keep him for his whole life as I don't think its fair for him to be rehomed again if it doesn't work out.
 

pinkdagger

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Are there other people in the home who would mandate this, or are you concerned about cat-proofing safety or the safety of your belongings? My personal preference is to allow cats to free roam the home and cat-proof whatever may pose a risk to them, or what they may pose a risk to (breaking, chewing, scratching).

If you have the option, rather than keeping the cat confined (especially because Bengals can be so crazy energetic, plus this guy is young) is to give them either a full room to roam when you're not home, or to introduce the cat to your home room by room (starting from a safe room and letting them explore one room at a time) and ensure each new room has been sufficiently cat-proofed and you can teach him room-by-room what behaviour is appropriate, like praising him for ignoring a bundle of wires and making a hiss sound when he seems interested in them.

With all that said, I think the size of that pen isn't bad if the cat will only be in there for a couple hours at a time. Just make sure he's got plenty of space to jump and play (and things to play with, of course), and that if you're going to put both the food and a litter box in there with him, they're as far apart as possible.
 
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duncantaipei

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Thank you for the reply :)

If I got him I would be a single parent so  unfortunately there is no one else at home.  I am hoping that within a short space of time I can cat proof my place and hope he doesn't destroy my sofa :)

Many thanks  
 
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