There's a lot to learn when you have a new pet. Our sister brand, The Wildest, is here to support you—with new pet checklists, virtual training, and expert guides. Sign up for free.
I found a new home! Plenty of my friends are looking for one too. Check out other pets at this shelter, or start a new search.
Find a pet to adopt
My basic info
Breed
Bengal
Color
Spotted Tabby/Leopard Spotted
Age
Young
Sex
Female
Pet ID
–
Hair Length
short
My details
Shots current
Spayed / Neutered
My story
Share
Here's what the humans have to say about me:
Maia 2 yr old female brown and black spotted bengal
Fostered in Santa Cruz
Well if you are thinking you would like to become a photographer of cats I would not suggest you start with a wiggly young bengal girl named Maia.
Maia in Greek mythology was the daughter of Atlas,of the strong back ( holding up the world) and the mother of Hermes, the messenger with the swift feet. It seemed an appropriate name since she is so strong and fast. She is also tiny. She is a miniature bengal if there is such a thing. No way was she going to pose for my camera. She was so jazzed looking for treats, looking at everything, looking anywhere but at the camera. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.She is a ball of energy. I will try to get better pictures soon.
The photos don't really show how small she is at barely 6 pounds. She's a little underweight and could gain a pound. I think she is too active to put on weight. She loves to eat. RIght now we have her on Instinct raw food- little half dollar sized medallions of chicken that come frozen. She's thrilled. But then again all food thrills her.
Her story is an unusual one. Let me start back a ways. Nice vets often put a tattoo next to a spay scar to help make the scars easy to find. Maia came into the shelter with a tattooed spay scar. Her family abandoned her there for spraying in the house. She was upset and hissy in the shelter and not at all happy to be there. Either problem- spraying or hissing would make her not a candidate for adoption at the shelter. Unless a rescue would take her she would be put down. Taking a cat to a shelter and indicating the cat is not using the litterbox perfectly or sprays in the house is basically a death sentence. They can't get put up for adoption and rescues, of course, are leery and unwilling to take on such problems also.
So we said yes we would take her. This very nice shelter said you know she is acting as though she is in heat but yet she does have a spay scar. They did a blood test and said she had indications that she was intact still. Hmmm. They went in looking and found she had no uterus and no left ovary but her right ovary was there and working. AHA! they said and they removed it. This explained a lot. Every self respecting girl kitty in heat knows her job. Her job is to call out and let everyone in the neighborhood know she is available and even more important she is to spray with her Come Hither Perfume all the time all over the place. "Hello. Come find me. Here I am. I'm oh so ready for you.Over here."( Humans do something similar ) Poor Maia was only doing her job and her poor family thought she was spayed and therefore just misbehaving. I expect they didn't take her to the vet which might have helped them all. It is too bad. I have heard that in order to keep spay incisions as small as possible and to perform the surgery as quickly as possible a hook is inserted into the tiny incision and it is maneuvered to pull out the unneeded parts. In this case it failed to snag the last part and that mistake was not noticed.
So her family had a unpleasant time cleaning their home and Maia almost lost her young life. The good news is she is not spraying at all and she is not hissy and she is a darling beautiful little girl. She is really fun.She really loves to play. She loves to eat. She loves attention.She loves exploring. She loves to run around and climb and look at everything. She is not a lap cat yet and I would not expect it til she is older, if at all. She likes humans and all the wonderful things they can do for her. She is barely out of her kittenhood and has a lot of growing to do yet.
Right now I would say she tolerates cats but does not really like them. With the right slow introduction she might be comfortable in a home that had lots of room and a cat or two. She has a lot of energy and needs room to move and run in. She is great fun to watch. My guess is she is an alpha cat. She knows she is supposed to rule the world.
The shelter sent me this adorable video of her: http://youtu.be/aQtYShNJeyo
If you have ever wanted a miniature bengal now is your chance. I have never seen one so small and beautiful.
