Last Updated April 18, 2023
Maggie Schlegel

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Bringing Your Bengal Kitten Home

You have searched for months, sometimes even years, and have done so much research on breeds, temperaments, and animal care. You finally found the perfect Bengal Kitten to add to your family and you can’t wait to get them home! But how do you set them up for success in your household? Maybe you have never adopted a young kitten before. Or maybe you are new to owning any animal. Each kitten that comes home to your house will be different and have different needs to thrive. This article dives into this a little bit and will hopefully give you the tools to create a healthy and happy transition.

Recommended Bengal Cat Products

All of the products recommended by us in this article are used by us in our cattery with our kittens.

Once your kitten has adjusted to your home you can start slowly weaning them onto other products.

Bengal Kitten Temperament

Each Bengal kitten that transitions from a breeder to a new Bengal kitten home is going to be different. What works for one kitten may not work for another. The personality of each kitten’s parents plays a large role in determining what temperament your kitten will develop. Another key aspect that plays a huge role is the kitten’s experiences. It may surprise you to know that just because they are in the same litter, does not mean they have experienced the world the same way. One kitten may be the largest and develop the personality of the bully: comes off a bit aggressive but in reality is fearful. One may be the smallest and has had to fight for every scrap of food it can get: resourceful and fearless.

Every kitten is going to have a different temperament and this will change as it experiences new things. The breeder should be able to give you an idea of what direction that kitten’s personality is growing towards while at their house, but once they reach your house those new experiences with you will greatly affect your kitten as well. All of this is important information because transitioning to a bold Bengal kitten home will be a lot different from transitioning to a more shy and reserved Bengal kitten.

Bengal Kitten Socialization

Another key aspect that will affect how your kitten should be integrated into your house, is what their socialization was like at the breeder’s house. Did your kitten only see one room for their whole life or did they have the run of the house? Has your Bengal kitten been introduced to children? Dogs? Other cats? Have they been on long car rides or been introduced to harness training? Hopefully, when you were choosing your Bengal kitten you asked the breeder questions about their socialization process to ensure that your kitten will be ready for whatever adventures you want to have with them. What they have been exposed to before coming home with you will affect how they respond to new situations as well as old ones.

Bengal Kitten Products and Care

The last thing I want to talk about before we dive into specifics is products and care. What your Bengal Kitten is already used to will affect what you should start them off with when it comes to the transition to your home. This can include but isn’t limited to cat food, cat litter, and cat toys.

How your Bengal Kitten has been cared for up to now also affects the transition to your home. Have they received one or two sets of distemper vaccines? Are they spayed/neutered? Have they been wormed? What future routine veterinary care will your new kitten require once they have arrived at your home? These are key questions you should address before you bring any new animals into your home.

Steps for Success with Buckaroo Bengal Kittens

Now let’s talk specifics. The rest of this article is geared towards anyone who is adopting or considering adopting a Buckaroo Bengal. If you are adopting from another cattery, be sure to address these topics with them so that you can be prepared for your new kitten’s arrival.

Vet Care

One of the first things that you should do when you get your new Bengal kitten home, is take them in for a general wellness check. Our contract requires this to be done within 3 business days of pickup or delivery. This way we can ensure that any non-genetic health complications that may arise are not something that was carried home with them from our cattery.

If you are adopting a Buckaroo Bengal, they have already received their first two rounds of distemper vaccines and have been wormed. They will require their last set of distemper as well as rabies shots once they reach 16 weeks of age. Research shows that once they hit the 16-week mark, they no longer have immunity through their mom anymore and the vaccine will be effective. They will also need a one-year distemper booster.

About two to three weeks before you brought your Bengal kitten home with you, they were spayed or neutered. There should not be any complications at this point or they would not have been sent home with you yet, but it is important to remember as you pick your kitten up (especially the females). Keep in mind that the incision is still healing. No additional care should be needed at the incision site.

Feeding your Buckaroo Bengal

Your Bengal kitten is used to having free-feed dry food (monetized) available at all times. They have also been given all they can eat of Weruva Cats in the Kitchen lamb Burger-ini 2-3 times a day (monetized). These are all high-quality, high-protein food options that I recommend. However, as long as you follow the basics of choosing the right food, there is no problem with changing their diet. Make sure that if you do choose to change their diet you do it over a period of about a week of mixing their old food with their new food. Gradually increase the amount of the new food as you decrease the amount of the old food. Your kitten is tiny and has a small digestive tract, so drastic changes all at once can create drastic problems. If as you make this change, your kitten starts having loose poops (diarrhea) you can add a small spoon of canned pumpkin to their diet. Make sure it is not pumpkin pie mix, but straight pumpkin. This adds fiber and can help firm up their poo.

Playing with your kitten before feeding them is a good way to stimulate what their feeding schedule would be like in the wild, with a hunt and then a meal. There is a lot more information on choosing species-appropriate food and good feeding habits here.

A Litter Box for your Bengal

This is one of the most important topics to cover and I cannot stress enough how important it is to follow this. One of the biggest reasons that cats wind up in shelters is litter box avoidance. It is way easier to stop the problem from occurring in the first place than it is to fix the problem once it has begun. So please, if you don’t take any of the other advice in this article, at least follow this, even though it is not the easiest.

For the first two weeks after you bring your Bengal kitten home, it is important to keep them in a small room with their litter box, food and water, and some toys. Your kitten is well on the way to being litter box trained, but it is important to maintain good habits in a new environment. Remember your kitten is still very tiny and very young. A massive house is a huge environment for them to be in. When they are allowed out during that 2 weeks, make sure they are supervised at all times. Make sure they know where all the litter boxes in the house are and periodically place them in them to remind them to use them. Often young kittens get so absorbed in play that they sometimes forget to find a litter box before it is too late.

Make sure if you have a multi-story home, that you have a litter box on each floor. Your kitten is used to an open litter box with Tidy Cats Clumping litter. They have also been exposed to the Tidy Cat Breeze pellet system as well as a litter robot, so transitioning them to either of these shouldn’t be too hard in the future, but for now, stick with the simple open box. Should you decide to buy a litter robot, make sure you don’t have it turned on to auto cycle until they are over the recommended weight (I believe it is currently five lbs). The litter robot is great in a household that includes someone with cat allergies. It is also a good idea to buy some cat litter attract until they are used to their new box. After they are regularly using their box you can slowly transition to a different cat litter brand if you don’t like the smell of the one they are used to, but again, stick with what they already know to start.

Behavior and Playtime

Hopefully, when you chose to adopt a kitten in the Bengal breed you did your research and are aware of how active they are. One of the primary causes for a Bengal Kitten to start to act out is because they are bored. It is so important that they get appropriate human interaction. You can expect your Bengal cat to always want to be where the people are. Another important thing to note is that they will need very stimulating toys. Cat wheels are a good option as your cat can do that by themselves. I also recommend harness training as a good way to give your cat an outdoor adventure. But there are lots of other good stimulating cat toys available out there. It is important to be prepared when you bring your Bengal Kitten home, with lots of toys for them.

Introduction to Family Pets

Introducing new animals to existing family pets correctly is very important and a bit subjective to every different animal’s personality. One of the benefits of keeping your new Bengal kitten in a small room when you bring your Bengal kitten home is it allows your current pets to meet your new kitten in a slow gradual way. First through smell and sound and finally by sight. Cats are territorial animals, so if you have cats before getting your kitten, they will take the most time to accept the new kitten into the family. Dogs can often be fairly easy to introduce new animals too, provided you can be sure that they have been around cats before and they have a good temperament. They are a lot bigger, and you don’t want them to try and play too rough. Making sure you have lots of high places for your kitten to get to when you start the introductions is very important. Sometimes this is a slow process that requires a lot of time and sometimes it goes fairly quickly. It all depends on both sets of animals’ personalities.

Lifetime Support

If you choose to adopt a Bengal Kitten from Buckaroo Bengals, you have our lifetime support. This means that we encourage you to reach out to us first with any environmental, social, or health problems your Bengal may be experiencing. We were there from the start of your Bengal Kitten’s life and are attached to each one of them. We would much rather have you reach out to us than reach out to strangers for their opinions. We have a vast storehouse of knowledge specific to your kitten and their genetics. That being said, of course, include your vet in any health issues that may crop up. They are specialists in animal health.

Ultimately, we are so excited to have you join the Buckaroo Bengal family. We cannot wait to get your new furry friend to their new home with you and wish you all the best in your new adventure with them! Bringing your Bengal kitten home will be a piece of cake if you follow the few simple set of steps outlined here

Maggie Schlegel

A long time cat enthusiast and a passionate animal lover. Maggie spends her work days out on a ranch in Colorado, and every free moment goes towards playing with Bengal cats and Bengal kittens!