About Dawnfire Bengal Kittens

About Kittens

The Fuzzies

Young kittens have a camouflage we call "the fuzzies". Some are affected more than others with a layer of longer fur that obscures their pattern and makes it hard to see what a kitten really looks like. Below are examples of how kittens change as they grow. The fuzzies typically lasts from 3 weeks to 12-14 weeks before they start clearing up. A good judge of what a kitten's colour will be when they are an adult is to look at the colour on their face, especially in front of their ears.

The above kitten Cinder is 2 weeks old

Brother Mani at 2 weeks. Notice the copper colour on his face.

Here he is at 7 weeks in the middle of the fuzzies.

7 weeks

13 weeks and still fuzzy

13 weeks he is just starting to clear up.

At 6 months old he is closer to his adult colour and his rosettes are more obvious.

Here he is as an adult - see how much his colour has changed and how his spots have turned into rosettes!

When your kitten leaves for their new home, they will be eating a specific food that we leave out all the time so they can eat whenever they want. We also feed various brands of canned food twice a day. If you are going to switch to a different brand of dry food, do so gradually to lessen the chances of tummy upsets. I usually recommend kittens stay on kitten food until they are about 7-9 months old and then switch to adult food. A high quality food is necessary to keep your kitten in the best health, and it also reduces the amount of litterbox scooping you will have to do!

When you kitten first arrives, it is best if you confine them to one room for 1-2 weeks, especially when no one is home. Only let them out into the rest of the house when they are supervised so they can't get into trouble or create trouble. Kittens are often overwhelmed with their new surroundings, they may forget where their litterbox is, or they may find themselves too far away from it. Kittens can get into trouble by chewing electrical cords, poisonous plants, or falling off railings in 2 story houses, among other things. It is highly recommended to have a litterbox on every floor your kitten has access to, as well as in the room they spend a lot of time in. Sometimes kittens that are busy playing or exploring forget that they have to pee, and when they finally realize, it's good to have a litterbox nearby. This is usually only necessary for a month or two, until your kitten is more mature.

Make sure your house is kitten proof. This can be difficult! Store anything fragile that you don't want knocked over and broken, check all your household plants to make sure they aren't toxic to cats, and if your kitten looks like they want to use a plant pot as a litterbox, put upside down tape crisscrossing the pot so they can't get into it. Other things kittens like to pee on are soft things like piles of laundry, couches and beds, as well as plastic or paper things on the floor like cardboard boxes, grocery bags, even newspaper. Do not ever let your kitten play with string, yarn or ribbon, be careful with dental floss - make sure they can't get into the garbage to pull it out and swallow it. There may be many hidden dangers, such as access to the space between walls, furnace vents with no cover or a loose cover they can pull out and wiggle into (or drop their toys down!), so keep your eyes open and follow your kitten around to make sure they don't find something overlooked.

The ideal time to spay or neuter your kitten is when they are still a kitten, before they hit puberty. Spaying before a female goes into heat will significantly reduce the risk of breast cancer, and will eliminate the risk of potentially life threatening pyometra. Another reason to spay early is because females in heat often spray - just like intact males. They are quite capable of spraying urine on the wall and forgetting they have a litterbox. It's always better they are not allowed to get into a bad habit. Males should be neutered as young as possible for the obvious reason - they WILL spray once they hit puberty, which can be as early as 6 months old. Once they have started it's hard to get them to stop, even after they're neutered. Cat urine can quickly destroy your house. Imagine replacing carpets, subfloors, baseboards, furnace vents, and even the bottom foot of the walls if it soaks in. That's what life with an intact cat is like.

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