Readers' letter - Toe hunting bengal cat

Toe Hunter
27/11/97. Len Goddard from the UK writes...
I have recently acquired two lovely begal kittens, now about 20 weeks old. They are both fit, healthy, inquisitive and generally well behaved. I have only one problem - how do I stop one of them from burrowing under the duvet at night hunting for my toes?? He is not vicious, but he can inadvertently inflict painful scratches, especially when it is nearly time to trim his claws. Banning them from the bedroom is an obvious answer but I don't really want to do this as once they settle down there are no further problems and I prefer to have the door open for extra ventilation.

Henry Ritson replies

Bengals seem to instinctively hunt feet. It is almost as if feet were the Asian Leopard Cat's natural prey. My own Bengal, a as kitten, first of all took to hunting socks lying on the floor, then later went on to attacking socks attached to feet, seemingly not understanding the relationship with the living creature/owner inside! I recall vividly on one occasion hopping around the bedroom with a spotty ball of fluff literally hanging off my foot by all its claws and teeth.

THE GOOD NEWS IS... this hasn't happened for a long time, for three reasons

Firstly, kittens seem particularly prone to foot chasing. I can just be a phase
I have modified my behaviour
I have trained my cat

Hopefully you will be able to do the same... 'Chase the foot' actually remains one of our favourite games in bed, but always with the cat *on top* of the covers, and the foot safely underneath.

With regards to behaviour modification, I tend to sleep with my feet wrapped in the folded over end of the duvet these days, which keeps them well safe from attack and feels cosy anyway! The extreme version of this is to wrap yourself up entirely as a 'duvet cannelloni". I have also got the hang of judging which types of movement are tempting to the cat, and avoiding them, particularly by stopping moving entirely if it looks like the Bengal is getting interested in my feet, and then by moving my feet to safety VERY RAPIDLY if an attack is starting! Certain small, twitchy movements are very tempting and should be avoided when foot chasing is a possibility.

With regards to training, I simply will not tolerate my feet being attacked. At all. Any attack is boldly chastised by a very firm "NO!" and where necessary a harsh hissing, followed shortly by distracting the cat with something interesting and pleasant so as not to distress it, and to get its mind on other topics.

I don't think my Bengal ever chased feet beyond the age of about 12 months, and these days he spends the whole night curled up in a ball on my feet above the covers, causing no trouble at all. Meanwhile, my Red Burmese chews my legs deliberately to wake me up to play with him, and I have found no solution to that one!