Amidst all the chaos surrounding Hazel’s toilet issues, came the 6-month anniversary of her living with us.
This seemed an appropriate time to reflect on everything that had happened and how we felt about owning a Bengal kitten.
Regret
Our overarching feeling was that getting her had been a mistake.
Despite all the research and having experience of raising other cats, nothing fully prepared us.
Hazel seemed to be on another level with regards to her ability to cause problems as you have read in other posts.
I would admit that some of this should have been expected and accepted.
However, even though one reads about potential problems, one doesn’t necessarily think they will apply to you/your cat.
Plus the damage to things like carpet and wallpaper seemed excessive for any kitten.
And then knocking water onto a laptop, although not entirely her fault, added insult to injury.
Of course, no animal is aware of the harm they do or intends to cause damage and it was important (if a hard at times) to remember that.
With a Hazel being (more or less) a house cat, there was the added stress associated with ensuring appropriate doors and windows were shut and then having to coerce her back in if she did manage to find a way out.
Some of the measures we introduced to prevent damage worked well; others not so much.
Even letting her out on a leash caused us issues.
Positives
One can tolerate negatives aspects if there is some reward or positives to counter them.
Sadly, we felt these were few and far between with a good day simply involving her not creating any problems.
Although she was always curious and liked to be around when tasks were being carried out, especially new ones, in general, it seemed she wanted little to do with us.
A lap cat she certainly wasn’t.
But it wasn’t all doom and gloom.
She certainly had character, was fearless and did make us laugh when her inquisitive nature didn’t lead to damage.
It was plain to see she was intelligent- working out how to get by us to achieve her goals, which was something I strangely admired.
Improvement
Over the 6 month period, she did begin to calm down with less sprinting around in the evenings for example.
And less damage was being done- although at this point, the toilet issue was yet to be resolved.
We came close to selling her of course, but I think we agreed the right thing to do was to keep her.
This was partly because it would feel like we’d failed and clearly, we cared about her well-being.
Difficult situations force you to act and present an opportunity to grow and learn.
I’d like to think we had both grown and learnt over the past 6 months- especially with regards to water and laptops when a Bengal kitten is in the vicinity.
If I could summarise how we felt overall, it was as if we were in an almost paradoxical situation of regretting having something but now that you have it, not wanting it to go.
But go she almost did for a second time…
Further Reading:
