A Bengal Survival Tool

Given how fascinated Bengals are by water, keeping their water bowls intact is a major problem. How does Leela tamper with her bowl? Let me count the ways. She drops bits of food in it so she can fish them out and eat them. She drops toys in it so she can fish them out and play with them. Sometimes she'll stick both front paws in and stand there. Sometimes she just hauls off and whacks the surface to see how much water she can splash out. She's a bad kitty, BAD KITTY!

The solution is a rubber mat. Here's ours - with Laszlo for scale. (And because so far this has pretty much all been Leela, Leela, Leela. Oooh, I'm a Bengal, look at me! Where's the love for Laszlo, man?)



You'll note the raised lip to contain spills. Another selling point is the rubber itself, which provides some friction grip and makes it harder to knock a bowl over in the first place. But that was never the problem for us. The bowl we use is pretty heavy and has a big, stable bottom. Even Leela can't just tip it over (knock on wood). But that lip is crucial.

I'd tell you where ours came from, but it has absolutely no identifying marks of any kind. It's as generic as something that brightly colored can be. But here's a mouse-shaped version from Petsmart. I'm sure your local pet store will have similar models. If you're considering a Bengal, just go ahead and look for something like this now.

This may seem obvious to some people, but realize that, despite his own particular fascination with water, Laszlo never went slopping water all over the place the way Leela does. I've had cats most of my adult life, and this is the first one of these I've felt the need for. Leela takes these things to a whole other level...