Hi all! :)

While I do not have her YET, I will be picking her up this weekend.

A little about her (pictures will be provided soon I promise!)

She is a snow leopard bengal, born mid-Nov. My wife affectionately has named her Bloo.

I will be posting much more in the future, but just wanted to say hello and if anyone can offer some words of wisdom regarding her first day home it would be greatly appreciated! (I will be using the search function heavily I swear! :)

Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

Khalid

Hi Khalid. Welcome to the forum and congratulations on your Bloo. You should prepare a "safe" room for your baby! It can be a bedroom or bathroom and that is where you will feed her, put her litter box, toys, beds, etc. It's really overwhelming for a new kitten to be removed from her siblings and mother and now be in a whole new environment with new people, new smells, strange surroundings. The safe room allows them a smaller area to get acclimated. You can play with her and spend time with her there and then slowly introduce her to the other areas of your home. You should have a tall cat tree that she can climb. Make sure you use the same type of litter box and cat litter and food that the breeder has been using. At least something will seem familiar to Bloo. Most of all, be patient with her. She may adjust quite well in a few days, but some kittens can take weeks. Let her go at her pace. Naturally, try to engage her in play with wand toys. Enjoy the adventure.

Bloo may be scared for a few day and run and hide from you. Don't worry, that is quite normal and just a reaction to the sudden change in environment. The safe room is a very good idea and will help Bloo adjust and gain confidence in your home. Follow Sherry's advice about the food and litter and things should work out fine. Be patient and sympathetic and allow your new kitten to explore at her own pace.

Great advice, too, Jill!

Thanks so much for the warm welcome everyone! I'd like to apologize in advance, as this may get a bit long:

The first day had been a bit stressful for her, but by the end of the second day she was following me around and LOVED to be held and even fell asleep in my lap. She had definitely made herself at home :).

However after a trip to the vet, she determined she was getting really sick due to a parasite (lots of diarrhea).
So we had to take her back :(

But the great news is, we found another! :) It's a boy this time, about 13 weeks old, and picked him up last Saturday.

As my wife named our first, I got to name the second. Due to how much he likes to fight his teaser, I felt the name Aries was appropriate. He is a seal lynx, and is definitely healthy.

Now where it gets a little long..

On the way home, (about 2 hours) he sat in my wife's lap, didn't make a sound. We get him home, and put him in a playpen I purchased for him. Per the reviews, it works well and he won't be able to get out. It was not until I got home did I realize how smart he was..he found a way to unzip the door. I know for a fact that if I was as young as he was I definitely would not have been able to get out. Oh well, no worries.

He found a way to get under our cabinets, and did not really come out for the first day. He came out at night for food when we had gone to bed..now the fun begins..

I get home the day after, he hasn't touched his food. I manage to put my phone inside the crevice and take a picture in the book he is hiding in (making sure he was still there). Turns out the poor guy was stuck! :(

By the time I had figured this out, my wife come home from work. Once I told her she went into a panic (I don't blame her).

After a bit of thinking, I ended up tearing apart most of that area, and used a soup ladle to scoop him out. As soon as I pull him out, my wife takes him and he proceeds to lick her chin and snuggles himself into her arm. Of course I gave him a talking to as his mama had no saved him lol.

Fast forward to progress:

We put him and all his toys in our bedroom, where he freely roams around now. He has turned the area under our bed as his safe place, which works out great as we do;t have too much down there so we can still keep an eye on him.

I tried to play with him, but he still seemed a bit scared, so I left him alone for a bit. I went out and bought some Feliway, and now he is starting to feel a little less anxious. :)

He will come out to play for a bit, and then will make his way back under the bed, but hey progress is being made! :)

I promise to have pictures very soon, hopefully by this evening.

Thanks again for reading and sorry for this post being so long!

Oh my gosh, you have been through a lot! I am so sorry about your other kitty. I don't know that I would have returned the cat, but had the cat treated and healed up and asked the breeder to help pay the bill. But .... what's done is done and now you have Aries! Poor little thing getting stuck! I'm surprised he didn't cry out! You truly have to start thinking like a kitten and get on your hands and knees and see what can be the potential dangers. I hope he settles in well. Just because the other one did instantly, doesn't mean this little one can do the same! Each kitty is different. He should want to start playing once he gets more comfortable. It appears he is a little more stressed out than the other one was. Give him a few more days and he should be fine. Congratulations! Now we want to see pictures. How about the one you took with your phone with him stuck?

So some thoughts....

1. It is *very* common for a new kitten to have parasites. If you search the forum a bit you'll see that, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the second kitten you got also has them. It doesn't always show itself right away, but most people deal with this problem, rather than returning the kitten.

2. With bengal kittens, as you've learned, you need to make a real assessment of your home and kitten-proof things. And it only gets more challenging as he gets older. These cats can leap 6ft in the air, no problem, climb just about anything, and open just about anything.

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The little monsters 3

It is true -- almost every cat owner deals with parasites at some point in the kitty's life. It's not always pleasant and the kitties don't like the medication -- but kitties get sick just like people and so I hope you are prepared to deal with these issues as they come along.

I've been lucky as my guy hasn't dealt with parasites yet. But as far as the kitten proofing, I thought I had it all down, I got on my hands and knees, and even stayed home with Crow for a week when he first arrived. Yeah, he found places in my home I did know existed. lol Luckily he hasn't gotten stuck anywhere, or anything harmful, but apparently the door knobs that are like a lever and not a knob are his new toy... Just be careful and keep looking even when you think you've done everything.

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Stephanie
Chicago, IL USA
New mama to Crow, my Silver Smoke boy born 9/29/15

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The little monsters 3

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Stephanie
Chicago, IL USA
New mama to Crow, my Silver Smoke boy born 9/29/15

My Magic does the same thing with the doors, walks in stands up and pushes the door shut then wonders why he can't get back out.

I noticed Pearl did the same thing tonight but she hasn't quite got the weight behind her yet to shut the door.

She is a right little minx, last night she had the devil in her and totally annihilated my silk flower an twig display, I had two, one either side of the fire place now I only have one which I have took away, instead I have bought some metal wall art flowers to put on the walls instead.

Good job we love them dearly and forgive them.

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Clare
Magic (brown spotted boy born 31 March 2012)
Pearl (seal Lynx Point girl born 1 October 2015)
Bristol, UK

We have the lever door knobs, too! Raiden tries to open the doors. He managed to enter a bedroom that was previously a junk room and off limits. I've cleaned it up, so he can go in there if he wants. Thankfully, the doors he should not open are the ones that open in the opposite direction, so he hasn't mastered those, just yet. He keeps trying, however.

Serafina actually managed the seeming impossible, when she learned to open the door that leads out to the garage, that has a circular knob, and opens inward (towards her). How? Well if I didn't close the door *real* tight, she learned that she could run her paw along the floor, facing up, and "hook" her claws into the bottom of the door, then pull. Now I have to do a "door check" pretty frequently.

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The little monsters 3

Our little monsters! Raiden will open doors that are not shut tight as well. You really have to be careful. They are worse than children at times. A cat has to be really good to manage a round door knob and opening a door that opens in toward them.