Bonding with your F3 Foundation Bengal kitten.



Even if your kitten is not an early generation Bengal kitten, this article has a lot of insight into the unique Bengal personality.

Bonding with Your F3 or F4 Foundation Bengal Kitten.

Because of the Asian Leopard Cat ancestry in your kitten’s background, you can expect the personality to be different than other cats and different than other Bengal kittens: more hyper - alert, a bit more people oriented, and possibly a one-person cat or more bonded to just one person or just one family.

1. The first thing to remember is that this kitten is coming from a group of kittens and adults; brothers, sisters and mother, other co-parents. So the first phase will be marked by reactions to the isolation and strange surroundings.....behaviors will include hiding, calling as they try to find their friends, startling, maybe trembling....all fear reactions.....limit their contact with other people or pets during this phase....from several days to a week.---and keep them in one room with litter box or we even recommend multiple boxes until they are familiar with where the litter box is and begin to trust you. The smaller the room the better to start out with, as that forces them to interact with you. A bathroom is ideal until they start greeting you, then move them to the bedroom. Think of the first three weeks as the transition period before you start expecting them to feel really at home in your environment.

Abandonment; they may scream if you leave them as they begin to bond with you.....take them with you if you can, as long as it is safe and not too frightening.....Don’t worry about making them too dependent...this neediness is just an age-related thing, it will disappear later.....but the main thing is that they come to trust and rely on you.

2. You are the source of all things good: Food, water, comfort, play, warmth......keep that happening and do no corrections at all until much later.....if the kitten has an accident, just clean it up, no correction...be sure and use a de-odorizer on the spot. Rubbing catnip on the area will keep them from re-using that place. They were having no accidents here, so if they do, it is either about being upset or they cant find the litter box or they are in another room too far away from the litter box to make it or they smell a spot where they went before or they are having a digestive upset......Anticipate the need for the litter box; 1/2 hour after eating and upon waking up and watch them carefully during those windows of time.

Playing is better 5 minutes 1-2x/hour than one hour sessions 2x per day. Use food to urge them to come....call them every time you feed them.....If you are home, don’t leave the dry food out all day, call them for 4-5 meals of it instead. Same with the am and pm feeding of meat....call them and maybe break it in to two meals each time, fed with you right there. After a week of that, advance by calling them onto your lap to eat every other meal. Call them onto your lap to give them treats. (don’t leave meat out more than 1/2 hour and don’t leave kibble exposed to air or out more than one day)

Gradually work in jumping off the ground at toys at a much older age, like 9-12 months....younger than that can injure shoulders and hips. We suggest trying to limit jumping to the height that they are stretched up on their hind legs until about a year old when they have fully developed muscles. They love 1” hard rubber balls or the plastic ones with a bell in the middle. Avoid leaving out toys they can chew pieces off of.....Give them a basket where all the “chew-safe” toys are kept and teach them to get them out and to put them away....(they will) Give them access to high perches or they will find them on their own and may not be able to get down safely.

Talk to them. Bengals, especially the Foundation Bengals are very responsive to human voice and enjoy being told verbally what to expect.....I have seen some amazing things happen when I explain things to my Bengals. They also like being told things like good-bye if you are going to leave them and told you are coming back.

3. Use treats...when you call them, when you come home, when you take them somewhere and you “arrive” in the strange place, whenever they get a visitor....(you give it to them, not the visitor) . suggestion: cooked bland chicken...tiny 1/2 teaspoon sized pieces....Clicker training works with Bengals, just as it does with dogs.

4. Very slowly, gradually work at it until you can turn them upside down and they will lay there and you can rub their tummy. Then work on it in your arms.. They will do it with me here. Do this once a day. Whatever step they take towards total relaxation in your arms, praise them lavishly. (do not treat for this)

5. Don’t worry about gentle chewing on your fingers, they will outgrow it. But don’t allow any vigorous biting, like they are used to doing with their litter mates..... .To break them of chewing on you, stick your finger further back in their mouth towards their throat which they will find very uncomfortable and will quit the behavior w/o realizing you were correcting them.

6. In General: Clip their nails once every 2-3 weeks.

Mark the vaccination schedule on your calendar; don’t let the vet give the 3in1 and Leukemia shot on the same day. And don’t let the vet worm them unless a fecal test shows worms...(they don’t have them nor do any of my cats) There is a lot of mis-informed opinions about hybrid Bengals, don’t accept any disparaging generalizations about Bengals. They have the widest gene pool of any breed, and are exceedingly gentle and loving and healthy.

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