Let’s say you’ve already got a cat in your house – or maybe even more than one.
However, you also want to get a Bengal cat and bring him/her into your home.
You might be wondering – “do Bengal cats get along with other cats?”. After all, the last thing you want to do is upset your happy ‘home life’ by bringing a cat into your home that doesn’t get along with your other furry, feline family members.
In this short article we therefore look at whether or not Bengal cats tend to get along with other cats.
Let’s take a look!
No Breed Specific Issues
The first thing we want to make clear is that there are no particular ‘breed specific’ reasons why a Bengal cat won’t get along with other cat(s) that are already in your house.
Some people like to make Bengal cats out as these terrifying, wild creatures that are basically untameable.
This couldn’t be further from the truth (in most instances). Although Bengal cats can sometimes act a little crazy, they are not some special breed of terrible monster!
Bengal cats can and do get along with other cats … you just need to bear in mind the ‘best practices’, which we shall outline below.
How To Ensure Your Cats Get Along
There are a few strategies you’ll want to employ when trying to bring a new cat into your home. This applies whether you are trying to bring a Bengal kitten into a home with an existing adult cat of a different breed, or vice versa.
There are two important points to bear in mind here:
- Cats tend to prefer consistency over change. Any change in their living environment (and a new cat entering the home) can be very stressful indeed. Your existing cat may be comfortable and content in his/her existence, and this new entrant comes into the home to quite drastically challenge that status quo!
- If your existing cat was not adequately socialised with other cats when a kitten, he/she may lack the skills and development necessary to peacefully live with another cat in the house. Socialisation is very important indeed! When your existing cat meets your new kitten, they aren’t going to know how to respond/act because they didn’t learn growing up.
However, if you are intent on bringing a new kitten or cat into the household, then you can do so but you will need to take some steps to improve the chances of everyone getting along.
- Introduce your new cat slowly. For example, you might put your new cat in one room only, allowing your existing cat to pick up the scent of the newcomer and slowly come around to it.
- Until you are satisfied that the two (or more) cats are going to get along well, try to avoid leaving them unattended. This will reduce the risk of fighting that could lead to serious injury.
- Do not let your cats ‘fight it out’. If you see them fighting, then interrupt by making loud noises or by spraying them with water. Fighting will only make the fighting worse, unfortunately.
- Provide separate food and water for each of your cats. You may even wish to consider placing this in separate rooms or areas of the house. Remember that cats can be rather territorial and protective. Your current cat is unlikely to take kindly to a newcomer entering the house and claiming his/her dinner!
- Provide additional perches, scratching posts etc. Basically, both cats should get their “own” items to play with and use. Check out our guide to the best scratching posts for Bengal cats for more information.
If you follow the steps above, then the chances of your cats getting along with improve greatly.
Do Bengal cats get along with other cats? They can. However, it won’t necessarily be the easiest process. That being said, there are a number of effective steps you can take to substantially improve the chances of success!
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below.
My husband and I have had bengals for several years. We love and adore them. We currently have a three year old spayed female, a two year old neutered male, both are loving, extremely playful and they get along well. We have a wheel, and several climbing areas that allow them to play, and sleep in carpeted spots close to the ceiling. We also have a catio they can access during the day. We bought a two year old male from the breeder we had purchased our male cat from. She asked us to take him in as he had been surrendered. He has been kept in a seperate area of our house with the idea being to slowly introduce him. He attacked both of the cats, biting and scratching them badly. We do not know what to do, we cherish our cats, he is given love, affection and food and has also had access to the catio on his own. We discussed putting him down, as well as trying to place him with someone else. We are concerned that he could do this to a cat they might add. We love him but are really challenged over this.
I rescued a 4 year old bengal. I have 5 domestic cats, This is the second day, She seems to pick and hiss and swat at other cats and at me, How can I correct this behavior so my other cats dont get hurt, She even act like she was going to bite me,
I rescued a 3 yr old female bengal, I have a 14 yr old ” pal ” & he was brought up with another cat , the Bengal had a tough start, moved several times with dogs chasing her, She is not liking licorice at all, he just wanted to smell her & she went nuts, so now he is kinda freaked when he sees her. They had 1 huge row the fur flew, I broke it up quickly. Its only been 4 days but I don’t know if I’m living in dream land thinking these 2 will ever get along. Do I hang in there ? Or give her back to the house with the Doberman chasing her ? She is very sweet to me Its just him & him being my senior best bud he was born in my home I don’t want him not happy either. He does sleep though her almost non stop talking. Its seems to be eye contact sorry this is so long I’m starting to loose it myself. I’ve never been in this situation all comments will be greatly appreciated,
lorri
Bengal that were surrendered back were usually traumatize. Bengal do get attached to their owner specially if you raise them from kitten. They get lonely! Bengal are also territorial creature specially female ones and it takes a while to integrate and gain their trust. Spending time is the only way around it. Let her see you when you are at home. They watch their owner demeanor and very good at it. They can sense if you are stressed out or loving. lots and lots of love! I owned 2 Bengal one from the breeder and another one from just a litter. The one not from the breeder are not very train and sociable so this also is the culprit what kind of kitten were they. Give them space, give them lots of attention and love and they will turn around.