Sierra Gold Bengals review: Cat emotional/behavior problems 2

This is not a slander out of spite, this an honest and understanding observation and I would advice people to stay away from this breeder, as 1) She has way too many cats so I don't know how she can spend enough time with all of them. 2) Seems to be more concerned about breeding show cats than their actual mental health. 3) It's not that she wasn't a nice person, but the fact that she is probably overwhelmed and can't keep up with the amount she's breeding.
We purchased about 9 month old kitten, but did not anticipate the major problems this cat came with. First of all, I'm not an inexperienced pet owner, I've grown up with cats all my life and I know the difference between normal cat behavior and abnormal cat behavior. First night was bad, the cat came to us with diarrhea and a cold (feline herpes). The cat had defecated on the sofa and our bed twice, even though he was using the litter box to urinate just fine. (We used the exact same brands that the breeder used too. Yellow bag litter from walmart and Iams) A four day window is not enough time to confirm if the cat will be fine or not. I was understanding at the time because it might have been the reaction to medication from neutering but he had been neutered 2 weeks ago. There really is no guarantee if the cat is actually sick or just adjusting to surroundings. This takes time. We assumed it to be stress of moving, but it could have also been his sensitive stomach, we weren't sure at the time. Eventually had to change his diet to holistic protein only dry food as he refused to eat what the breeder gave us and preferred wet food over anything or expensive dry food. Unfortunately any wet food gave even more diarrhea so that had stopped and stuck to the holistic dry food and that helped with his stools somewhat. They are still rather soft but not as soft as before and not as smelly either. However, his sensitive stomach could also be from his anxious behavior. The behavior of this cat is another story. We had assumed he was just nervous, being in a new house and all, but got quite comfortable after about a week. He enjoys our company, however, very excessively. This cat really expects us to be in the same room with him 24/7. Going to bed at night is never peaceful as he will cry every night loudly for about 15 minutes. After about 2 months you pick up on all the behavior issues of the cat...and nothing has changed. The cat does not relax at all, he constantly paces around in the area you're in and purposely tries to get your attention by destroying your things. I now hide everything that he can get his paws on. He knows, if we're watching a movie he has to get in the way and advert our attention to him.

We give him plenty of love and attention and the cat just can't get enough. He also can't stand it when I have to leave to buy groceries and makes alot of loud constant meowing and yowling. (Very sad sounding meows you can tell.) He also has alot of bad habits, he steps in his urine and feces when he uses the box several times a week. It's not because I don't clean it, it's not the litter, I clean it twice a day, and it's a large box, and it's the clay he likes but he still has poor litter box habits. He also doesn't clean himself properly, and is quite clumsy for a cat. Loves to suckle and knead blankets and our clothing. (I've done my best teaching him to suckle on his bed instead.) He eats really fast and has terrible gas, doesn't chew his food properly and makes a mess with his water bowl and food so I have to clean my floors and steam clean my carpets several times a day. He places his toys into his water, even though I put out a basket for his toys. Always complaining with loud meows and constant meowing that's non-stop. He expresses alot of symptoms of separation anxiety, a sign of being weened too early as a kitten. It's like living with a child who is so severely attached and always looking for comfort, which in turn is destructive.

We realize bengals are vocal and have more energy and are more demanding, but the level that our cat is expressing is not normal. He is now throwing up for attention because it's a small amount of yellow-ish clear mucusy type substance, not the usual hairball coughing either. He did this because I had put on my jacket and was about to leave the house. I've even noticed a patch of fur missing by his leg about 2 weeks ago. It has now grown back and I haven't noticed any missing fur. I've bought feliway diffuser, and it might have helped him relax when he can actually sleep, but his behavior has not improved.
So now I'm paying the price by vet appointments, possibly anxiety medication and contemplating adopting a spayed female bengal cat to keep our cat happier, because it's impossible to dedicate 24/7 to an anxiety ridden cat who didn't have his mother cat around enough. I'm now taking that role as a mother cat and it's been very difficult. I'm not a cat so I can't give the communication that a mother cat can. Spray bottles and patience can only do so much and he just doesn't seem to learn. I did manage to get him to trust me with trimming his nails. The breeder made it a bad experience for the cat and he was always so freaked out about it. I am now able to trim our cat's nails without problem through training with the proper cat nail trimmers.
It's not the cats fault he was weened too early as a kitten, as what I suspect. He has become a $500 problem, but we still love the cat as our own, he's super affectionate, very cute it's just been a very stressful experience when we've always owned very independent normally behaved cats in the past. Besides it's not fair to our cat to be living a life of mentally induced stress.