It has not only been us humans missing Suki our much loved Bengal, but Samba her litter mate was unhappy for months and not his normal playful happy self.
Samba had just settled down when we went away at Easter and although my eldest son did not come with us, he works long hours, and came home to an extremely vocal unhappy cat every evening. That made us decide that he needed a playmate and the advice seemed to be that a kitten would be the easiest to settle in. However, the first time I looked on the internet for Bengal kittens, one of the first advertisements to appear was for a female Bengal who had lost her brother and needed rehoming. She had been without her brother for 5 months and had become very vocal. Her owners had been advised to get her a companion but their circumstances meant that they were unable to.
God's hand works in mysterious ways and I truly believe she was being sent to us. We thought about it for a couple of days, as the intention had been to get a kitten, but then phoned the owners, had a long conversation, and two days after that we took a 5 hour round trip bringing home with us 'Marlee'.
Marlee is just 6 months younger than Samba, and very tiny, just half his size. Was Samba impressed? Not exactly! We introduced them very slowly over a couple of weeks, and even then there was lots of hissing and grumbling from both of them, although never physical contact. Now they will play together in the garden, and chase each other around the house, some of the time. Marlee eats from Samba's dishes without him objecting but he's trying hard to be the boss.
Marlee is very entertaining, water is flung out of the water bowls with her paw and she adores playing with the many toys she came with, alongside anything else she thinks should be a toy!
The cat flap in the back door is a new experience and she has struggled to grasp the idea that 'staff' refuse to open the door for her. She pats the door with her paw, but doesn't like it touching her head! We have persevered and at long last, with the help of 2 extra paving slabs outside and LOTS of treats she has finally mastered it! Hooray! It does make life easier and far more enjoyable for her to be able to go in and out as she likes.
