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PREPARATION:
- Food: We feed Science Diet Kitten Food. This
food has excellent nutrition. It will help your kitten
grow to its full potential, and is easily obtained all over the
country from your veterinarian or PetSmart.
- Litter box: We find a plain,
small unhooded litter box
best with kittens. We strongly recommend the use of
corn
litter for kittens, since it is digestible it is the safest.
Do not use clumping litter with young kittens. Kittens may
ingest some out of curiosity - this can lead to a serious even
life threatening impaction of the intestinal track. The
use of cheap, unscented, clay litter is your second best choice.
Corn litter can be purchased from PetSmart and some grocery
stores.
- Dishes: We recommend stainless steel bowls because
they will disinfect more completely. A pet placemat is
nice to confine the little scraps of food and water drips.
- Toys: At the pet store you will find a variety of
toys. What we have found they like best is the inexpensive
rabbit tails (a strip of rabbit fur), small balls, toy mice, a
feather on a stick, or a crunched up piece of paper. Bengals
love height so a carpeted cat tree will be dearly loved - the
taller, the better. Bengals also love water - a small
steady stream from the faucet is a great "toy". Make sure
all toilet seat lids are down when not in use, as a bengal will
always head for the toilet bowl. Don't be surprised, when
he is a little older, if he joins you in the bathtub. Such
Fun!!
- Enrichment: Our bengals love to watch gerbils in a
glass aquarium (with a sturdy, locking lid on top). A
gerbil running on an exercise wheel is great excitement time.
The gerbils feel very safe in the glass enclosure and therefore
are not afraid of the cats. They also love to watch fish
in an aquarium, it can be as simple as a 5 gallon tank with
goldfish.
THE BIG DAY:
Please expect your kitten to be nervous at first. After
all, he has just been taken away from his home and his litter mates.
Your kitten has been placed in a carrier and taken on a trip (a
noisy one if by air). He is now among strangers and in a whole
new environment. Please give him some "space". Do not
overwhelm him. Let him settle into his new home at his own
pace. He may have a litter box accident due to nerves and the
box looking and smelling different and in a different location.
Do not scold nor discipline him, he'll figure things out. Cats
are naturally clean.
The following is a list of suggestions I find work very well when
bringing home that bundle of joy:
- Give her a small room such as a bedroom (not a bathroom).
In advance, place her litter box, food and water bowls, fluffy
bed, and toys in the room. Place a small tension gate
(24") across the door (this is not to keep the kitten in the
room - it is to keep other animals and people out). If you
have other adult cats, you may have to close the bedroom door
until they have become acquainted under the door (playing
footsies).
- Upon arrival, take the kitten into "his" room and open the
door of the carrier. Place the carrier in the floor and
let him come out on his own. He will stay in the room a
while and will thoroughly investigate his room. If you go
in or he feels frightened, he will dart under the bed.
This is okay. He'll come out when he feels safe.
- After about an hour or so, go into the room and sit in the
floor and start playing quietly with a toy, e.g. feather. Her
curiosity will be aroused and she will come out to investigate
the toy and you.
- Let him come out of the room on his own. He will come
out and start to investigate, but with the gate he knows where
his room (and safety) is. He will eventually investigate
the whole house.
- Bengals love attention and human companionship so within a
few days she will be all over the house and you.
This method does not traumatize the kitten, and you do not get
scratched out of fear. This method has him seeking
your
attention which he will do the rest of his life.
LATER:
After the kitten is well settled, it is time to start teaching
the rules of acceptable behavior. If your kitten is getting
onto places and into things you want to be off limits, try using a metal can with
dried beans and shaking the can when the kitten is somewhere that is
not acceptable. Never hit your bengal - you want him to think
of your hands as love not pain.
If your kitten has decided it wants to destroy your furniture,
drapes, etc., with its claws and it becomes necessary to have him
declawed, please make sure you get a good surgeon who uses a
laser to perform the surgery. This surgery is the amputation
of the last joint of his toes - the surgeon's ability and method
does make a difference on the success of the surgery and the amount
of pain the kitten will endure. Please follow the surgeon's
instructions carefully for the post-operative care.
Afterwards, keep these cats inside unless supervised, since they
cannot defend themselves. All cats should be kept indoors so
they do not wander off, get attacked by stray cats or by dogs, hit
by a car, etc. Getting into fights with stray cats can lead to
the acquisition of potentially fatal diseases. |
