First and foremost, it is the responsibility of the breeder to ensure that all kittens that they cause to be born into this world receive the appropriate early experience in order to make them sweet, wonderful pets. We know that you expect your kitten to walk straight into your hands, home and heart with a high level of confidence and a minimum required transition time.

We at Bagheera/MillCreek Bengals, together with other responsible breeders, typically do not let kittens go until they're 12 weeks old. Some of the many reasons for this include:

• proper socialization,
• having a fully functioning immune system,
• being acclimated to solid food and,
• good litter box habits.

The critical socialization period for kittens is the first seven weeks of their life. This is the time during which kittens must meet people, other animals and novel situations in order to accept them as a normal part of their lives. Lack of appropriate experiences during this period significantly increases the likelihood of behavior problems and associated compromised welfare in later life.

The window of opportunity to appropriately socialize a kitten is firmly shut by six weeks of age and it is incredibly difficult to overcome an under-socialized kitten's natural fear of the unfamiliar.