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Breed guide · Cats
He gets in the shower with me. I've stopped closing the door.
Last updated 12 October 2026
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What they brought with them.
Tap a card to see what is going on.
At home
Still racing round the flat long after you have put the toy down.
What's going onA Bengal needs more hunting than an ordinary cat, at every age. Two or three proper play sessions a day, each ending in a catch and a meal, are what settles them.
At home
In the shower with you, paddling in the water bowl, fishing in the aquarium.
What's going onThe leopard cat swims and fishes, so water interests them rather than frightening them. A shallow tray of water to play in helps keep them out of the aquarium.
At home
On top of the fridge, the kitchen cupboards and the door.
What's going onTheir wild ancestor lived in trees. A route round the room at height gives them somewhere to be, and a closed balcony keeps that climbing indoors.
At home
The cupboard door open again, and its contents on the floor.
What's going onA bored Bengal finds their own work, and the cupboard is the start. Puzzle feeders and hidden food give a clever cat a problem to solve while nobody is home.
At home
A wet patch beside the tray, or a sprayed wall.
What's going onIt can be stress, or it can be their bladder: Bengals can have bladder trouble from their junior years. Give them bigger trays, and contact your vet if it starts suddenly.
At home
The cat who never stopped now sleeps through the evening play.
What's going onA Bengal who stops playing has not simply calmed down. Bengals are prone to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle), so tell your vet the week it happens.
The bit nobody tells you.
Their energy
Built for: A leopard cat's drive, and it does not wear off with age.
In Dubai: Indoors, often many floors up, with a flat to spend it in.
Their hunting
Built for: More hunting than an ordinary house cat, every day of their life.
In Dubai: Hunts that end in a catch only when you make them happen.
Their height
Built for: A forest to climb.
In Dubai: A flat, and whatever they can reach in it.
The midnight racing and the opened cupboards mostly come from that gap.
You cannot give them a forest, and they do not need one. They need hunts that end in a catch, and a flat they are allowed to climb. The ten things below are how.
Your plan is built around what a Bengal is prone to at every age, and the care that goes with each one.
Join the founding families. AED 1,999 of essential care for AED 199.
Ten things that make their life better.
They need more hunting than most cats, and a laser dot they never catch only winds them up.
Every age, busiest from 7 months to 2 years
Why
They need more hunting than most cats, and a laser dot they never catch only winds them up.
What to do
Move a wand toy like prey, away from them and behind the sofa. Ten to fifteen minutes, two or three times a day, more on long days alone. Let them catch it, then feed them. Teach a kitten early that hands are not toys.
A clever cat with nothing to solve finds their own problems, usually in your cupboards.
Every age
Why
A clever cat with nothing to solve finds their own problems, usually in your cupboards.
What to do
Split their food into small meals. Put some in puzzle feeders and hide some round the flat, high and low. Weigh the day's amount, because Bengals can carry too much weight from seven years old. After neutering, ask for their portion to be reset.
They will jump for a bird from the balcony rail, and being agile will not save them from a fall of several floors.
Every age, most of all kittens and juniors
Why
They will jump for a bird from the balcony rail, and being agile will not save them from a fall of several floors.
What to do
Keep them off the balcony unless it is fully netted, and check the netting for gaps. Fit restrictors on every window that opens. Bengals learn lever handles, so lock the balcony door and fit child locks where it matters.
Their ancestor rested in trees. Up high is where they feel safe and where they want to be.
Every age, add steps from 11 years
Why
Their ancestor rested in trees. Up high is where they feel safe and where they want to be.
What to do
A tall cat tree fixed to the wall, shelves or cleared cupboard tops, and a high place in every room they use, plus one enclosed place to hide. As they age, add steps so they can still get up there.
The leopard cat swims and fishes. Water of their own keeps them out of yours.
Every age
Why
The leopard cat swims and fishes. Water of their own keeps them out of yours.
What to do
A shallow tray of water with floating toys, on a towel, a few times a week. A fountain and a couple of wide bowls. Toilet lid down, aquarium covered, never a full bath left alone. From seven years old, tell your vet if they start drinking noticeably more.
Bengals can have bladder trouble from their junior years, and at first it looks like bad behaviour.
Every age, most of all 7 months to 6 years
Why
Bengals can have bladder trouble from their junior years, and at first it looks like bad behaviour.
What to do
One large open tray per cat, plus one, in quiet spots. Scoop daily and notice the clumps. Call your vet if they go often or pee on soft things. A male cat straining, crying or going in and out of the tray with little or nothing coming out may have a blocked bladder. That is an emergency: contact your vet now. If a female cat is straining, contact your vet the same day. A baseline urinalysis (a urine test) is in your plan in their junior years, so their normal is on record.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle) is on their record at every age, and a busy cat can hide a heart problem.
Every age
Why
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle) is on their record at every age, and a busy cat can hide a heart problem.
What to do
Fast or shallow breathing while resting should be discussed with your vet immediately, within the same day. Cardiac auscultation (listening to the heart) is in your plan from their kitten months, and echocardiography (an ultrasound scan of the heart) from their junior years.
PRA-b (the Bengal form of Progressive Retinal Atrophy, gradual loss of sight) runs in the breed, and it shows in dim light first.
Every age
Why
PRA-b (the Bengal form of Progressive Retinal Atrophy, gradual loss of sight) runs in the breed, and it shows in dim light first.
What to do
Notice if they hesitate at night, miss a jump they used to make or bump into furniture. If their sight starts to go, keep the furniture where it is and add steps to their high places.
A strong, fast cat who only sees the carrier before a vet visit will fight it. Bengals are prone to dental disease from their junior years.
Every age, start as a kitten
Why
A strong, fast cat who only sees the carrier before a vet visit will fight it. Bengals are prone to dental disease from their junior years.
What to do
Leave the carrier out with a blanket in it. Once a week, touch their paws, ears and mouth, lift their lip to look at their gums, then give them a treat. Start brushing as a kitten, a few seconds at a time. A dental evaluation (teeth and gum check) is in your plan every year from their junior years.
In a Bengal, heart trouble and fading sight both look like age at first.
Every age, most of all from 7 years
Why
In a Bengal, heart trouble and fading sight both look like age at first.
What to do
Weigh yourself holding them, then without them, and write down the difference. Once a week, feel along their ribs and spine. Notice if they stop using their high places.
Three of these are in your plan. The rest you can do at home.
Join the founding families. AED 1,999 of essential care for AED 199.
Their health, at every age.
How old are they?
Their age
the first six months
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
7 months to 2 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
2 to 6 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
7 to 10 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
11 to 14 years
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Their age
15 years and over
What to watch for
The care that goes with it
Breed predispositions indicate an increased risk rather than certainty of disease. What is right for them always comes from their own history and an evaluation.
Before they come home.
F1 to SBT
Every Bengal has a leopard cat somewhere in the family, and the papers say how far back. F1 means a leopard cat parent, F2 a grandparent, and so on. SBT means at least three generations of Bengals bred to Bengals, the domestic Bengal most families have. The lower the number, the more of the leopard cat you are living with.
Colours
Bengals wear spots or a swirling marble, most often in brown or snow, and less often in blue or silver. Many have a glittering sheen that catches the light, gold on the brown cats and a pearly dusting on the snow.
The first six months
Their vaccinations, microchip and Dubai Municipality registration come first, and their heart and eyes are already on the kitten record. Start the carrier, the handling and short wand-toy hunts now, and teach them early that hands are not toys.
Kitten health, 0 to 6 months
Getting the home ready
Net the balcony and fit restrictors to the windows before they arrive, and child locks on the cupboards that matter. A tall cat tree fixed to the wall, two large trays, and the toilet lid down from day one.
Ten things that make their life better
Before you commit
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM, a thickened heart muscle) can affect a Bengal at any age. Ask the breeder which generation the kitten is, and whether both parents have had a heart scan.
Before the clinics open
AED 1,999 of essential care for AED 199. No payment now.
If it's a kitten: First 30 days with a new kitten · Kitten vaccinations in the UAE
When it is not behaviour.
He'll still join you in the shower. If he stops wanting to play, call your vet.
Before they were yours.
South and East Asia
A small spotted wild cat of forest, scrub and wetland, from India to Indonesia. It lives alone, climbs and swims well, and hunts rodents, birds and frogs.
What they still carryThe spots, the energy, the climbing and the water.
1963, Arizona
Jean Mill made the first recorded deliberate cross of a leopard cat with a house cat, hoping for a spotted cat people could keep.
What they still carryThe idea of the breed, and that coat.
1970s to 1980s, California
Mill bred hybrid females on to house cats, choosing the calmer kittens each time, so several generations of house cat now sit between the leopard cat and the pet.
What they still carryA domestic temperament, with the wild energy still in it.
1983 to 2018
The International Cat Association registered the Bengal in 1983. Britain's Governing Council of the Cat Fancy followed in 1997, and the Cat Fanciers' Association in the US in 2016, with championship status in 2018.
What they still carryA wild ancestor several generations back, and more energy than most house cats.
Today
In the UAE, Bengals live indoors as pedigree cats, many of them in flats.
What they still carryA leopard cat's hunting, climbing and love of water, in an air-conditioned flat.
The ones you type at midnight.
If the Bengal suits you, so might these.
SavannahThe same kind of cat: the other wild-cross breed, from the African serval, taller and even more of a climber
Egyptian MauThe same spotted, athletic look, in a natural breed with no wild cross and a quieter voice
Turkish VanThe same busy, playful temperament, in a bigger semi-longhaired cat from Turkey, often happy around water
AbyssinianA similar size and an easy short coat for flat life, in a ticked coat rather than spots, with a quieter voice
