Adrech is a word in Languedocian (the former language used in the southern France) that signifies "that came from the South", "which is nice", "which is respectful". We gave this name to our baby cat while we were living in Sète, the hometown of the famous French signer Georges Brassens (Sète is located nearby the city of Montpellier, France). Adrech’s name remember us this city we like so much and from which we kept so much nice souvenirs (and friends!). Adrech is our first Bengal, he's a Brown Spotted Tabby. His marking are made of two colors. He's the "son" of the Wimbaï des rêves fauves (the father is also a Brown Spotted Tabby) and Wilddiamond Miss Marble (his mother is a Brown Marble Tabby). This EXTREMETLY and docile male (except for our veterinary !!!) is highly affectionnate, since he's a kitten, he sleep with us, as a manner of fact "we" sleep in is bed... Since nearly 3 years he sleep EVERY night next to our head, on the other side of Fred’s pillow... and if we go to bed later than midnight he loudly make us understanding that it is not polite to make him waiting so much before going to sleep... But as soon as he got his place freed (and BOTH of us -human- in the bed) he gently close his eyes and fall asleep almost instantaneously ! Since Distia as join our family, Adrech clearly look forward to see her in the bed too (Adrech find it so cool to sleep all together !). A little precision: Distia is more than welcome in the bed, but NOT on his spot... the right hand side of Fred’s pillow is clearly is own spot.
Once the sun is there (or almost raised...), he turn out playful as a little kitten. He really appreciate run-and-hide games (indeed, he like to be run after !). He plays with rubberbands (which he invariably drown in it's water bowl; it's more fun to go fishing !), and the clotheshore which he like to climb (and the more the cloths on, the more he like to play in ...). Whenever he need something, or simply to let us know what are his deepest feelings of the moment, he mews.... or more accurately, he talks ! He still had a problem understanding which behavior to express when we are talking on the phone... clearly, he believe that we are talking to him (which he really appreciate)… so naturally he answers with is lovely voice... Many time we had to justify ourselves on the phone that we ain't letting crying a baby or playing with our cat instead of participating on the discussion... thank you Adrech !
Besides the little annoyance related to our home version of "Pavarotti", his mewing are quite useful as he uses different vocalization to let us know that he need water, attention, or if he simply call Distia ! Such "talking cats" are quite interesting as this characteristic add another perspective on the communication. Many We’re staring in front of a "normal" cat trying to talk to him and waiting for an answer that never came. Adrech clearly answer back whenever somebody talk to him (or on the phone !!!).
As for every Bengal, water is clearly a source of interest, however, Adrech raise such interest to the level we should define as a passion. Many times, he ask to open the faucet not only to drink, but only to stare at the flowing water FOR HOURS (when we forget to close the faucet...).
Every cat has is how personality, and on this perspective, Adrech should be defined as a "fine gourmet". As many cats, he loves yogurts, however, not every brands !!! He taste everything we present him, some items are tasted only once (onions, ha ha ha) but other surprising food items are clearly interesting for him:
-Carrots (we will put a movie soon to show him totally nuts about carrots...)
-Basil (which is not cool for us as he's able to clear-cut all flower pots containing basil)
-Vanilla flavored ANYTHING !
-Kellogg's (and only Kellogg's) red berries cereals in a bowl of milk. Adrech is not loving that much milk products, but the milk in which as soaked theses cereals are simply "irresistible" !
Since Adrech is our little male and he is still "intact", we would like to take some line (again) to talk about the "potential" aggressivity of male. In a few words: It is the same as for dogs. Fully confided and loved individuals would not become aggressive if raised properly FROM THE BEGINNING. Some breeder report an higher level of aggressiveness and shyness for hybrids of first generation, in such case we are not talking about "Bengals" (see the section on genetic or history), Bengals are considered as such only after the fourth generation. At this moment, the aggressively level is the same as for 'household" cats IF they were selected accordingly (e.g. not only for color, but also for a good temperament). Our both cats are exceptional to this respect and I (Fred) have a good deal of experience in "cat" behavior (in the past I breed Siamese, "normal" cats, I grew up in the campaign with cat and worked for the SPA in Canada). We have cats and planned to have babies (human to specify !), so we would not tolerate any level of aggressiveness.
The two best examples to illustrate the TOTAL lack of aggressiveness (related to the fact that Adrech is 100% confident in human) are: First, (1) when we leave for holidays, up to 3 different persons take care of him and he readily accept that "strangers" come in the house, manipulate him and even reprimand him if he did something he should not... the second example (2), every night he sleep head to head with Fred (we are sharing the same pillow...), if we kept him in a cage (as unfortunately many "commercial" breeders does) and provide him a minimum of attention he would likely not sleep with me. Adrech is our cat, not a "Stud" reserved for breeding programs.
Finally only to illustrate how Adrech is attached to us, when he did something prohibited (e.g. climbing on an aquaria) and we decided that it requires a STRONG sanction, we did the worst: we locked him outside of our bedroom so he can't sleep with us... Don't be fooled ! He start mewing out loud trying to enter into the room (not that fun for us inside...) and after a couple of minutes (terrible time for him and our ears) he rest in front of the door waiting for us to stop this terrible sanction and allows him to enter. As soon, he will invariably jump on the bed, quickly move to Fred’s pillow, put himself at rest and close his eye...expecting that the nightmare is gone. Basically, he still behaves as an overgrown kitten even if he's nearly 3 1/2 years old.