Princess is a registered (TICA) Bengal Cat, 5 generations from her Asian Leopard Cat ancestors. She was born at Bagheera Bengals near Dothan, AL in December '04, and became a member of our family in April '05. 2011 update: Bagheera Bengals is no longer breeding Bengals and their website is down.

She loves to fetch and follows you everywhere you go around the house, but doesn't care for playing in water like we've heard other Bengals do.

When she first came to live with us, "Mom" knitted her a small fuzzy blanket. She slept on it regularly and, when she got big enough, dragged it around with her - sorta like Linus from Charlie Brown. She still likes the blanket and sleeps with it from time to time, but mainly just carries it somewhere and sits on it. She brings it to play fetch with sometimes, but it doesn't throw very far and she'll only fetch it a time or two before she goes off and gets something else.

Soon after she came to live with us, she became best friends with one of our other cats, Beepers (AKA Beeps - from the beep-beep-beep "radar" sounds he makes when he sees something he wants to catch), a tailless (part Manx I think) mix breed. They play chase up and down the hallway regularly. They also like to tussle, which usually starts with Princess making some slow-motion moves on Beeps to get him interested, but occasionally she just ambushes him from behind a piece of furniture. That isn't to say that she's always the one to get things started, Beeps starts his share too.

She's a very interactive cat and will bring toys to you when she wants you to play too. She'll bring a mouse or ball when she wants to play fetch or her "feather duster" (feathers-on-a-stick cat toy) when she feels like jumping. She really enjoys the "feather duster" and jumps after it like she has springs in her feet. She likes her toys and takes good care of them - "feeding" them with some regularity by putting them in the food bowl. It's quite comical to watch her dragging her "spring toy" around - you hear thump--drag--thump--drag as she takes it somewhere for playing or to the food bowl for feeding. She also likes to "ambush" moose, a stuffed footstool, and wrestle him to the ground.

In the mornings, when "Mom" is getting ready for work, Princess has to get her makeup on too. She hops up onto the counter and paws at the items in the makeup basket until she gets some makeup "applied". A little brushing, "drawing" in some stripes with the pencil, a little lip gloss and she's all prettied up for another day...

She has a great time on our homemade cat tree, climbing the post and snaking her way back down through the holes in the middle levels or playing with a toy through one of the holes. She often sleeps with her belly hanging through a hole - looks mighty uncomfortable, but she seems to like it. She'll get into the box part of the tree and ambush Beeps from time to time too.

She enjoys going outdoors for walks on her leash, and seemed to know just what to do from the first time she went out. She'll hop up into the chair in the foyer and patiently put up with getting her harness on, and repeats the process to get it off after her walk. The only training she got was that we put her in the chair the first few times we put her harness on and took it off - she picked up on the fact that getting the harness on meant that she'd be going for a walk and she took it from there.

Even though she has a water bowl with a fountain, she constantly pesters us to turn on any faucet we are near so she can drink. We got her a self-watering faucet attachment and put it on the laundry sink so that she can get fresh water any time she likes. She learned to use it in just a couple of days - although not exactly as it was designed to be used. Seems she doesn't like to lick it as hard as it takes to make the water come out so she figured out a better way.

	Ain't I Pretty		I'm Gonna Get Those Feathers...
	Here's My Good Side		Wait, Here's My Good Side
	Curiosity Kitty		Christmas Kitty
	Peek-a-Boo		Guess What I'm Gonna Be On Halloween...
	Kneading My Blanket		I Don't Wanna Get Up
	Guess I'll Get Up Anyway...		Getting My Makeup On
	Getting My Makeup On		Getting My Makeup On
	Getting My Makeup On		I'm Bringing Feather Duster - Hint, Hint...
	Playing with Feather Duster		Gotcha
	Super Kitty		Flying after Feathers...
	Flying after Feathers...		Flying after Feathers...
	Thirsty Cat		Getting Some Water
	Let's Tussle		Aw C'mon Now, Let's Tussle
	Ok I'll Get Things Started		Beeps is Playing Hard-to-Get-Started...
	Tusslin' with Beeps		Ok I'm Ready - Throw the Mouse
	Fetchin' Mouse		Taking Spring Toy to a New Play Area
	Playing with Spring Toy		Taking Spring Toy to be Fed
	Toys Waiting to be Fed		Feeding Spring Toy
	Taking a Walk		I'm Gonna Get Ya!
	Are You Sure That's The Same Catnip?		Gettin' Sharp
	Out for an Evening Stroll		Queen of the Rock
	I Need A Nap...		Moose Got Me All Tuckered Out...
	Snoozin'		Snoozin'
	Snoozin'		Snoozin' with Beeps
	Investigating My Stocking		Getting My Stocking Stuffers
	Playing with Possum
These photos are copyright by Michael Strickland, please request permission before using any of them. Comments are also welcome.

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