Living with Bengals

Pet Detectives Thriving

2008-07-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

Interesting piece from the Bay Area about a woman who uses trained dogs to track down missing pets - mainly cats because, as she notes, people notice dogs going by. You ask around the neighborhood and someone saw the dog. But cats are pretty much invisible.From the Times Herald, Vallejo, California: Bay Area's Ace Pet Detective

Behavior Evolving... Badly

2008-07-18T16:08:00.001-07:00

A growing problem with Leela that I'm not quite sure what to do about. She, as I assume most Bengals, develops new behaviors occasionally, and others fade away. Sometimes this is because we find a way to interrupt them. She used to ping off the walls, leaping up to eye level and sliding down the wall with her claws out. It's great for your security deposit. She stopped that when we got her

Let Sleeping Bengals Lie

2008-07-17T14:14:00.000-07:00

From the aptly named Bengal Cats, a gratuitous cat picture worth checking out.Young Merry snoozes in dignified repose...

Facing Laszlo's Kidney Failure

2008-07-16T13:23:00.000-07:00

We had some bad news about Laszlo recently. He was losing weight, and he was drinking and passing water in truly massive amounts. He was obsessed with water, climbing into the shower to lap it up and endlessly yowling at the faucets.We took him to the vet and the results came back as CRF, or chronic renal failure. Basically, his kidneys were shutting down, which is something that happens with

Catnapped Bengal Recovered Safely

2008-07-15T11:37:00.001-07:00

From the Village News in Fallbrook, California, comes this somewhat bizarre story about a local Bengal that briefly ended up on the wrong end of someone's... unique ideas about cat ownership.Short version: Sheba the Bengal goes missing, owners find her collar in the driveway. The guy who took Sheba apparently took her to a local vet to scan her microchip, then called the owners and demanded a "

Habits Change. Seldom for the Better

2008-07-14T00:15:00.000-07:00

Leela's behavior patterns have shifted as she's matured. She's still a dangerous sociopath. It's just manifesting in different ways.The most dangerous change that's suddenly appeared is a fascination for tipping over any unattended glasses she finds. Particularly those that are half full and sitting next to things like books and computers.So far we've been lucky and she hasn't managed to

Leela Loves Hewie

2005-11-18T14:28:00.000-08:00

Ah, this is warm and weird at the same time. I've been playing a game called Haunting Ground on my Playstation 2. It's a horror game where you play a teenage girl (okay, I admit videogames haven't grown up quite as much as their users - a teenage girl with an embarrassingly prominent chest) named Fiona. You've been in an auto accident out in the country somewhere, and you wake up locked in this

Window Wars

2005-11-03T11:02:00.000-08:00

Both our cats are indoor cats, but there are plenty of outdoor cats around the neighborhood, including one solid black cat that appears to have incorporated our back yard into his territory. We've been seeing him around all over the place. And, of course, because Laszlo is solid black, we always have this immediate panic reaction - Oh no! Laszlo got out! Ah! - for about three quarters of a

Stop! Koshatnik! Help!

2005-10-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

A lot of chatter around the net recently about a forthcoming book by Adam Jacot de Boinod called "The Meaning of Tingo and Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World." It's about various oddities of language, like the lengths the French have gone to to avoid the word "computer" because it sounds vaguely dirty in French, or the surprising variety of words for moustache in Albanian. But the

Gratuitous Cat Picture #15

2005-10-01T19:13:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's been forever since I've posted. Blame Leela. Ever since she figured out how to hold a knife between her paws, we've been at her mercy...I've convinced her that she should consider her public image, and that allowing me to post occasionally would look good to a judge, so I'll try and get occasional photos up.Like this one, of Leela claiming the high ground as she stalks my wife's tea bag

Alley Cats Online

2005-08-02T19:40:00.000-07:00

Alley Cats is an online flash presentation containing a series of photos the authors took of wild cats living on the streets in an urban environment. It seems to be a kind of teaser for an actual printed book with more photos, but that's not entirely clear.The shots are simultaneously heartwarming and gut wrenching - the captions indicate which of the cats have since died. It's very much "

Sour-Tongued Rascals

2005-07-29T16:58:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this has already made it to every single cat lover in the world already, but in case it hasn't:An interesting discovery from someplace called the Monell Chemical Senses Center, which spends all its collective time working on science related to the senses of smell and taste and on chemical irritation.Thanks to a genetic mutation somewhere back in the mists of time, cats apparently

Moved the Sofa

2005-07-17T10:46:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I decided it was time to take apart the modular sofa, move the pieces out of the way and vacuum. A selected inventory of items recovered:two wine corksa fuzzy purple ball with bell, trailing a shredded length of red cordan eraseran electronic thermometera cardboard tube a bit under an inch wide and long - stamps came rolled around ita penan intact, but empty, clear plastic

Gratuitous Cat Picture #14

2005-07-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

What an overstimulated Bengal looks like. Leela exploring playground furniture at the park.<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Finding Your Missing Bengal

2005-06-25T11:51:00.000-07:00

On one of the cat forums I frequent, I've noticed an upsurge in worried reports of missing Bengals over the last week or two - enough that people are wondering what's going on, blaming the full moon, etc. (It has been quite a moon lately.)A more likely explanation is that it's warm out, and people are leaving windows open. At least one of these missing cats dug a hole in the screen of an open

Stealth Bengal

2005-06-23T17:06:00.000-07:00

Can you spot the cat in this picture?Leela has taken to spending hours a day like this, burrowed in underneath the bedspread in the guest room. We're not entirely sure what to make of it. She was much more generally active in the past. Now she saves up her energy to be released in one manic blast around 11:30 p.m. At least Laszlo's getting some peace and quiet out of it all. She's much less

Social (& Anti-Social) Behavior

2005-06-12T10:55:00.000-07:00

I've been looking into what's known about feline social behavior, mostly because I'm curious about how Leela sees us. There doesn't seem to be much, especially next to the rich social hierarchies of dogs, but there's something going on. Found a general survey in Science News of research by various scientists who seem to have no personal experience of cats themselves. Well of course they have

Bengal vs. Bengal

2005-06-01T20:05:00.000-07:00

A few days ago our eBay Happy Meal McBengal arrived. Once you've got something like that, what exactly do you do with it?The obvious answer: meeting of the minds. So I introduced Leela to the McBengal. I have to say it's about the level of quality you'd anticipate from a happy meal toy. I still think it looks really sad, its whiskers are kind of ridiculous and - the big one - it can't stand up on

Revenge of the Plastic Bag

2005-05-27T12:36:00.000-07:00

Not Episode III, more like Episode II (see Episode I). Leela discovered another plastic bag a couple days ago, and managed to play pretty much the same trick with it.This was a bigger, heavier bag from a college bookstore, meant for lugging 25 pound chemistry textbooks around. She found it and stuck her head through one of the openings. Then, once again she panicked and took off and the bag went

Gratuitous Cat Picture #13

2005-05-22T14:39:00.000-07:00

And above all else, dignity...<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Are Bengals Too Mundane Now?

2005-05-20T13:05:00.000-07:00

The New York Times recently published an article on Savannahs in New York that appears to be causing a bit of a kerfluffle. The Savannah is a cat breed that's sort of like the Bengal, as it's a hybrid of a domestic cat with a wild cat species. But the Savannah's wild parentage comes from the African Serval.The Savannah is bigger than the Bengal, much more expensive, and not the sort of thing you

McBengal! - kawaii desu ne!!

2005-05-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Got a comment a couple posts ago from Cube, who noted a bit of synchronicity. He had just gotten a stuffed Bengal at McDonalds, and didn't realize they were any different from regular domestic cats. Then he stumbled on this site and learned otherwise. Wait, back up a second. He got a stuffed Bengal at McDonalds? A quick exchange of e-mails and some Google searching later, and sure enough. A

Is She Sending Us a Message?

2005-05-15T11:01:00.000-07:00

I don't know what to think. We woke up yesterday morning to find this in the doorway to the guest bedroom.The object itself is meant to be a cute replacement cap for your toothpaste tube. It's a little blobby person - you probably can't make out the two huge, perfectly round eyes on the top. And the hand over his mouth swings away to cap and uncap your toothpaste. We got it as I think maybe a

Gratuitous Cat Picture #12

2005-05-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Bengal Cats store easily in any kitchen cabinet.<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

No Cat Hunting In Wisconsin

2005-05-13T22:56:00.000-07:00

In about the closest thing to breaking news Living with Bengals is ever likely to report, the Wisconsin proposal to allow hunting of feral cats appears to have finally been killed.MSNBC reports that the Wisconsin Conservation Congress has finally given up, although it seems like they really wanted this.I don't know. I suppose they have their reasons. Perhaps this is an illustration of how

A Couple Additions to the Blog

2005-05-13T13:20:00.000-07:00

Sharp-eyed readers will note that I've added an entry to "The Important Bits" over in the sidebar called The Best of LwB. That's sort of along the same lines of the permalinks I gave to my intro post explaining what I'm doing, and to the explanation of just what a Bengal cat is. Those were things I figured were kind of fundamental for anyone who wanted to take the time to read this thing. And,

Cat Allergies?

2005-05-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

By which I don't mean people being allergic to cats, but cats being allergic to other things. I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible for cats to have the sort of springtime "hay fever" pollen allergies that humans do.Leela was having sneezing fits yesterday. And it's not the first time in the past few weeks that's happened. She'd be going along fine, and suddenly she'd sneeze, like four or five

Fearless Bengals

2005-05-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

If you're used to standard domestic cats, one thing that takes some getting used to with Bengals is their utter fearlessness. I actually saw Leela spooked a few days ago, and it struck me that I'd literally never seen her afraid of anything before, in the entire year plus that we've had her.This is a far cry from Laszlo, who has a long list of things he'd like to keep away from, topped by

Gratuitous Cat Picture #11

2005-05-08T11:14:00.000-07:00

As a companion piece to Laszlo's Personal Ad Photo last time, here's Leela's. She likes long walks at sunset. Turnoffs include mean people and closed doors.<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Max: A Memorial Digression

2005-05-06T11:41:00.000-07:00

Sorry, non-Bengal content. But that PsychoKitty posting below has gotten me thinking about my cat Max, who died in December of 2003 after I'd had him for a good sixteen years. He was a great cat and he got me through some tough times and I miss him.I don't have too many pictures of Max for some reason, but here he is curled up on my leg while I'm probably trying to read. That was a favorite of

PsychoKitty, Qu'est-ce que c'est?

2005-05-05T23:08:00.000-07:00

Sharp eyes may notice I've added another cat blog to the list. PsychoKitty relates the adventures of Max Thompson, a black and white domestic cat dealing with humans and pursuing a career as an author.You know, I promised myself I wasn't going to add any of these blogs that are written in the cat's supposed authorial voice. But it is a really fun blog to read, and Max was the name of the cat I

Intent to Deceive?

2005-05-03T23:16:00.000-07:00

I was digging around earlier and came up with the show judging standard for Bengals used by The International Cat Association (TICA). Here it is - .pdf file.This isn't particularly relevant to us because Leela is spayed and will never be a show cat. In fact that was one of the conditions of sale from the breeder. We didn't actually get her papers until we produced proof that she'd been neutered.

Leash Training a Bengal - pt. 4

2005-05-01T15:39:00.000-07:00

For the previous installments in this story, look here: Part 1 Part 2Part 3 Last time, I talked about how we had to re-train Leela not to associate her enjoyable outdoor romps with going out our front or back door - and try to slip outside every time we tarried at the door with a pizza deliveryman.This time, the last stage in taking your Bengal cat into the outdoors, how the cat will react,

Cats Love Rounders

2005-04-30T17:30:00.000-07:00

The template you're looking at right now - the color palette the rounded corners, the overall design of the page apart from the text poured into it - is called Rounders. It was designed by Douglas Bowman of San Francisco based design consultancy Stopdesign.com in February of 2004. It's one of the available templates on Blogger, and I chose it for Living with Bengals.Granted, there are only so

Gratuitous Cat Picture #10

2005-04-29T23:26:00.000-07:00

Finally, some love for Laszlo. The dignified, cool, sexy member of the family. This will be the shot for his online personal...<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Friday Ark Sailing

2005-04-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

As it does every Friday, the Animal Ark is now delivering a broad range of cute animal goodness over at Modulator.Go check it out. It beats working...

Leash Training a Bengal - pt. 3

2005-04-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

For the other installments of this article, look here: Part 1 Part 2 Part 4 Last time, I promised the tale of how we finally took Leela outside, and what we did wrong in the process.Sure enough, after a good couple weeks of letting her get used to the mere existence of her cat harness, or walking jacket, and then letting her get used to actually wearing the thing, we finally clipped a leash on

Can't Say They Weren't Warned

2005-04-24T00:58:00.000-07:00

I figured it was only fair to let would-be intruders know what terror they'd be facing if they actually managed to get into our house...

Cat Toy Review

2005-04-23T23:12:00.000-07:00

This installment of Cat Toy Review (easily our lamest feature here at LwB) came about because I discovered that there's actually a company devoted to making the Cat Dancer. Yes, in the heart of Wisconsin, is Cat Dancer Products.I mean it's a length of wire - three feet of oil-tempered 20 gauge spring steel, their site helpfully explains - with some rolled up paper on the end. I figured someone

New Friday Ark Available

2005-04-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the fine folks at The Modulator, we have the latest Friday Animal Ark.Lots of fine cats, dogs, spiders, rocks, you name it. As always, well worth browsing.

Well, That's Done It.

2005-04-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

I've gone ahead and added Haloscan's commenting and trackbacks to the site, mostly because I wanted to add trackback capability. But I seem to have wiped out all the existing comments. And leaving comments now works differently.I'm a little unsure about this, so please leave feedback and let me know if you prefer this or the old Blogspot comment system. If this drives people crazy, I'll go

Gratuitous Cat Picture #9

2005-04-22T00:57:00.000-07:00

There will be NO TUMMY RUFFLING in this house!! Is that clear?<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Cats and the Common Cold

2005-04-22T00:37:00.000-07:00

I've got a nasty cold, which has been impeding my blogging habits for the last few days. Now Leela appears to be developing some kind of "sympathy cold." At least I know she didn't actually catch it from me. I'm repeatedly assured that cats can't catch human cold viruses and vice versa.But she appears to have caught one of her own. She's pretty much her usual self, but she's been sneezing a

Another Cat Blogger

2005-04-20T22:40:00.000-07:00

Avram from New York relates his experience with his first adopted cats in New Cat City.Lots of great photos. His cats aren't Bengals, but nobody's perfect, right?Avram adopted them - despite being allergic to cats - last November and has kept a good running log of lessons learned as his "boys" have grown. Definitely worth a check.

Leash Training a Bengal - pt. 2

2005-04-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

For the other installments of this article, look here: Part 1 Part 3 Part 4 Last time, we discussed leashes and collars and cat harnesses and the like. This time I'll talk about how we introduced Leela to the jacket we ended up getting for her. We were worried about this stage. Whenever we'd tried this sort of thing with cats in the past, they'd just gone nuts. They'd hated the whole concept

Sunday Means Carnival

2005-04-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

Hi all, another Sunday, another Carnival of the Cats, this week hosted by Boo and Spike from over at Watermark.If you're a newcomer, welcome. We hope you'll come back. If you've been here before, we got some new stuff, and more coming. So enjoy, and have a great Carnival.

Gratuitous Cat Picture #8

2005-04-16T12:11:00.000-07:00

I get a present, she gets a present.<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

The Water Wars

2005-04-15T02:32:00.000-07:00

"Whiskey’s for drinking; water’s for fighting." - Mark TwainLaszlo has always appreciated a good drink straight from the faucet. As we are essentially pushovers, he can often cajole one of us into turning on just a thin trickle of water for him to drink - no more than that.This used to work just fine for him, but not anymore. Leela has decided that she can't let him enjoy any simple pleasure

Abandoned Site w Good Photos

2005-04-15T00:06:00.000-07:00

I don't know what happened to Catablog, but it's a darn shame.It appears to have surged into life early last September, put up several excellent photos - and even video - of the owner's cats around the time he added a couple new Bengal kittens and a Siamese to the household, then died off within the month. Too bad.At least it was on Blogger, so the photos are still there.

Leash Training a Bengal - pt. 1

2005-04-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

For the other installments of this article, look here: Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 As promised a couple days ago, here's the first in a series of posts on how to leash train your Bengal cat. We're focusing on this not because it's especially difficult with a Bengal. Quite the contrary, we've found it so easy with Leela that it's actually possible. That's right, possible. We've never been able to

Cat Toy Review

2005-04-11T23:40:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit this is going to be kind of a shabby installment of Cat Toy Review, because I can't tell you what this toy is called or who makes it. We've had it a while and I've been meaning to talk about it, but I've gone and lost the cardboard thing that identified it.But at any rate, what we're talking about here is your basic dangly "bat at me" cat toy, made of pretty much the same wire as a

Welcome, Carnival-Goers!

2005-04-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

As promised a couple days ago, we have another roundup of cat-bloggers coming through. Carnival of the Cats is a weekly collection of cat-related blog posts hosted by various bloggers in turn. This week's host is Enrevanche, run by the kind and helpful Barry Campbell.If you're here for the first time thanks to the Carnival, welcome. We're not a regular blog that does Friday cat blogging. Here

Indoors or Outdoors?

2005-04-10T15:56:00.000-07:00

This is a great way to pick a fight on some Internet forums, but that's not my goal here. We're getting ready to launch a series of pieces on walking your Bengal, and I wanted to start off with some background on where we're coming from.I grew up in farm country. Our cats came and went as they liked and we didn't even have litter boxes. But as an adult I've lived in more populated areas, and

I'm Going to Guess Danish

2005-04-09T01:01:00.000-07:00

Came upon what looks like a very nice cat blog - in a language I don't speak. Granted, this isn't the first time that's happened, but Rasheed's owner translates some of his material and there are more photos.Felis Silvestris Catus is in one of those Scandinavian languages with the odd ligatures, slashes through the "o"s and the like. Based on a couple .dk extensions and a link to "Danske

Friday Animal Ark

2005-04-08T20:42:00.000-07:00

For your cat (dog, ferret, and even the occasional spider or rock) surfing pleasure, here's a collection of postings assembled weekly at themodulator.org under the catchall title of Animal Ark.These aren't cat-specific sites, just bloggers from all walks of life practicing the ancient Internet tradition of Friday Cat Blogging. There's a different roundup coming on Sunday as well, so be ready for

Gratuitous Cat Picture #7

2005-04-06T23:40:00.000-07:00

Schrödinger's cat contemplating the shower curtain...<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

It's a Cat Blog World

2005-04-06T17:22:00.000-07:00

I'm continuing to tweak the site as I figure out how to best go about this. One new addition is a section of links to other cat blogs over in the sidebar. Take a look. The first round of entries includes Rasheed's Weblog, which I referred to some time ago. There are also two more recent discoveries, cat-o-bloggo and Richardson Zoo. Both highly recommended - which, of course, is why they're

Bengal Cat, Bengal Dog?

2005-04-06T02:43:00.000-07:00

No, she's definitely a cat, but Leela continues to do things that I associate more with dogs. One thing I've been meaning to mention for a while is the way she meets us when we come home. Well, not me so much. I usually walk in the front door, so I can show up unpredictably and I don't give her any advance warning. But Elisa usually uses the car, and when Leela hears the garage door open, she

A Bengal Survival Tool

2005-04-04T02:57:00.000-07:00

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

Favorite Bengal Games

2005-04-02T20:00:00.000-08:00

Leela's behavior goes in phases. She comes up with something and does it pretty consistently for a while, then stops. (We're hoping the alarm clock triggering behavior - which I watched her doing very deliberately this morning at about 4:30 - will eventually fade away.)This includes games she likes to play. For a while several months ago, she was really into playing fetch. This is another

Some Bengal Advice from eHow

2005-03-30T20:13:00.000-08:00

For some (pretty basic) hints on things to keep in mind when getting a bengal kitten, here's a piece on How to Care for a Bengal from eHow.com. (eHow is a site full of user-contributed tipsheets on how to do various things. It's weird, but strangely addictive.)This particular piece doesn't exactly break new frontiers in human understanding of the Bengal Cat. Indeed, most of this stuff should be

Bengal Cautionary Tales

2005-03-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

I was wandering around the web when I came across these accounts from a Bengal rescue site. They provide a nice counterpoint. We've got one, count her, one, and she's a handful from time to time. But she's nothing like these kittens.Amusing anecdotes, if too late to help us much...

Gratuitous Cat Picture #6

2005-03-26T13:45:00.000-08:00

Back at the wastebasket again. She was utterly convinced that there was something in there, down at the very bottom, that was hers by right, and darn if she wasn't going to have it back. I never figured out just what it was she wanted.<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Advances in Feline Science

2005-03-25T10:10:00.000-08:00

I was awakened - at about 6:00 in the morning - a couple days ago by strange noises that turned into something vaguely musical, and discovered that Leela's cutting edge scientific mind had stumbled onto something new.I use a CD player alarm clock (Sony makes several nice ones, if you're interested) so I can wake up to the music of my choice. I've long since not learned to trust radio stations in

Lamp Redux

2005-03-19T12:25:00.000-08:00

You'll recall not too long ago, I was discussing Leela's use of our bedside lamp to wake us up in the morning.Well, cat science marches onward. And a couple weeks ago, Leela hit on an innovation. Instead of knocking the lamp so it whacked against the wall, she shifted her force vector 90 degrees clockwise and the lamp fell directly into Elisa's face. The increase in our response was

More Kitteny Goodness

2005-03-14T10:54:00.000-08:00

If you need more kitteny goodness, check out a guy named Steve with his Bengal at nine weeks. Steve and his Bengal Kitten [UPDATE: Sorry folks, as of April 4, this link goes nowhere, so I deleted it. No idea what happened to Steve or his cat.]

Gratuitous Cat Picture #5

2005-03-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

And 5a. Leela models the Classic Messenger bag from Timbuk2...<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Rude Girl

2005-03-12T00:34:00.000-08:00

Leela has been in a fine lather the last couple days. She's always jealous of any minor happiness that Laszlo manages to find, but I've been noticing more of it recently.Example 1: Laszlo is perched on the edge of the sink, drinking the narrow stream of water Elisa has turned on for him. He loves to do this, and she likes to indulge him. So Laszlo's happily lapping at the tiny column of water

Cat Toy Review

2005-03-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

As I've mentioned elsewhere, spending money on cat toys is a pretty dubious idea. For one thing, you'll never top a used grocery bag (paper or plastic). For another, the more you spend on a cat toy, the more likely your cat is to sniff in disdain and walk away. But sometimes, we find a winner.Right now, Leela's absolute favorite cat toy is the Flytoy, from an outfit called Metpet. This is

A Resource for Blog Readers

2005-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

Just got an e-mail saying we've been listed on Blogwise, which is a directory of blogs. It's at www.blogwise.com, or you'll notice a permanent link over in the sidebar, if you want to give it a try.It's a pretty useful resource for dealing with the enormous and growing number of blogs out there, and finding what you want to read. (Hopefully including us.) You can search for blogs by subject

Gratuitous Cat Picture #4

2005-03-05T18:48:00.000-08:00

An old friend of Elisa's sent a lovely plant for her birthday...<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Another Bengal Book

2005-03-05T01:51:00.000-08:00

On the right, you'll find a link to Amazon's selection of books dealing with Bengals, but let's face it, it's awfully thin pickings. (Senior Seminar on Feline infectious peritonitis in a Bengal kitten indeed.)Apparently Bengal fans have to take their books where they can find them. So I take note of Leopardo da Gotcha, a print-on-demand picture book about a Bengal of that rather flamboyant name

Belling the Cat

2005-03-04T19:20:00.000-08:00

Well, the in-laws are in town because Elisa's birthday is coming up. This is their first time actually meeting Leela. They seem faintly surprised that a bengal cat is, well, pretty much a cat. "Oh, we thought she'd be bigger."What they're really saying is, "we thought she would be a tiger. We're pretty sure that's what a bengal is, a tiger."But they seem to be getting along okay. They brought

Infinite Cat Project

2005-03-03T21:19:00.000-08:00

Oh, and how could I forget this? Check it out and get seriously tripped out, eh? Infinite Cat Project

Gratuitous Cat Picture #3

2005-03-03T17:24:00.000-08:00

Oh, I'm sorry. Were you trying to fold these?<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

The Scientific Method in Cats

2005-03-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

Who invented glass? Do you ever wonder about that? What on earth were they thinking? What could possibly lead some guy in the near east, like 4,000 years ago, to go, "hey, you think something good might happen if we cooked sand? Let's try it."I bring this up because Bengals are said to be a bit smarter than ordinary cats, and I believe it. Leela's thought processes seem to be just on the very

Bengals Round the World

2005-03-03T00:18:00.000-08:00

If you happen to read Dutch (and hey, who doesn't?) there's a guy named Rene who has quite the web presence for his pet Bengal, Rasheed, at Rasheed's Weblog and Rasheed's Webplekkie. (You know, like a regular plekkie, but on the web.)If you don't read Dutch, digging around will find the odd bit of English translation. Failing that though, he has a ton of great cat pictures, which require no

Objects In Water

2005-03-02T22:53:00.000-08:00

This is Leela's favorite game in the world. Bengals are known for their love of water, and she's no exception. She will indeed climb into the shower or jump into the tub - although not to swim around. She likes to pad around in maybe two inches of water, but more than that is too much.But if there's something in the water, something she can fish out, well then she's in heaven. She goes nuts.

Big ROI on your Cat Toy Dollar

2005-03-02T11:09:00.000-08:00

One of the benefits of owning a Bengal cat is that we seem to be getting much more use out of all those silly cat toys we buy on impulse. Let's be honest here. It's not like the cat sees a TV commercial and pesters us mercilessly until we get it a toy. We come across the toy, think it would be cute and then impose it on the cat. Sometimes this works but the more involved or expensive the toy is

Gratuitous Cat Picture #2

2005-02-28T19:11:00.000-08:00

I did not do this to her...Indeed, I did not stage, pose, alter or encourage this shot in any way. She did it all herself.<<< Previous GCP ---- Next GCP >>>

Serious Scratching Posts

2005-02-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

While it's true that some cats will never learn to love a scratching post, you have to at least give it the old college try -- especially if you have a Bengal. And all posts are not created equal (check out above photos). The standard pet shop scratching post is usually just a bunch of sisal rope glued to a base, with maybe a couple little useless balls hanging off the top. This is fine for many

The Truth About Cats and Dogs

2005-02-27T23:32:00.000-08:00

For your general amusement, from The Joy of Tech.It's true in much the same way that The Daily Show is true. Though I'm not entirely sure which one of those is more Bengal-appropriate...

Is It Safe?

2005-02-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

If you have a Bengal for a pet, sooner or later (usually sooner) someone is going to worry about whether it's safe to be around. Family members will fear for your life. Friends will worry about whether it's safe to let their children visit your home with this wild animal running loose. It's probably the number one concern of people who aren't really familiar with Bengals.Look, cats - Bengals

Gratuitous Cat Picture #1

2005-02-26T21:17:00.000-08:00

Number one in a series... Just because she's cute:This is an older picture, from when we first brought her home. She's a tiny little thing here, but you can see the stripier parts of her coat, and that lovely bronze tone she's got. You can't really tell in this shot, but her sides and back are more given to spots than the stripes you see here.Next GCP >>>

So It's a Tiger, Then?

2005-02-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

Sigh. No. Though we do get that reaction sometimes, especially from the in-laws, who seem to think we've taken in some ravenous man-eater that's going to maul us to death at any moment. (Okay, our tales of her antics may not have helped there...)But, in case you're totally unfamiliar with the Bengal cat, it isn't a tiger (despite the name); and it isn't a leopard (despite its parentage). It's a

What's All This About?

2005-02-26T17:12:00.000-08:00

This is about life with cats ... when one of them is a Bengal. Here are the cats in question. Laszlo, neutered male, black, about eight years old, very mellow and dignified. We think of him as a sort of feline Oscar Wilde. And Leela, neutered female, about ten months old, and a Bengal which pretty much says it all.Note the air of affectionate camaraderie as Laszlo drapes his forepaw over Leela's

The Best of LwB

2005-02-02T12:46:00.000-08:00

The nature of blog design means that posts gradually trail off the main page and into the archives where, honestly, no one's ever likely to see them again. For steady readers, that's not much of a problem. But if you randomly stroll into a newly discovered blog, you're likely to miss posts you'd really enjoy, or just basic information about what's going on here.With that in mind, this page