Policies | bengals

Dear Bengal Enthusiast, Thank you for taking the time to read this page and we hope that you enjoy viewing our Studs, Queens, Kittens, and especially our Gallery photos. We here at Sutterpride Cattery are proud to offer to you a chance to own a piece of the Wild!!!

Please review our policies and practices, Contact us if anything is unclear or you have questions not addressed here.

***About Your Kitten***
When you purchase a kitten from us, we believe that you are not just purchasing an exotic cat, you are purchasing a unique friend. The said kitten, when purchased by you, will become your kitten. Depending upon what you choose when purchasing your kitten, he or she will be sold as a pet (with no breeding rights, but with show rights), or if you desire breeding rights, it is at an additional charge. For those purchasing a kitten as a pet and not with breeding rights, the “TICA Blue Slip” for registration will be sent to the new owner after proof of spay or neuter has been performed on the said kitten by a licensed veterinarian.

***Health Guarantee***
Sutterpride Cattery offers a limited health guarantee, giving the new owner a 72 hour option to have his or her new kitten checked out by a licensed veterinarian for any untreatable or life-threatening disease that was not caused by harm (by being dropped or physically harmed) from the new owner(s). When we deliver a kitten to his or her new owner, he or she is given to the new owner as a healthy kitten to the best of our knowledge. After these 72 hours, any health guarantee becomes null and void, for the reasons as follows: we have no control over whom or what the new owners will subject the said kitten to.

***About Our Cattery***
Presently we are a “Closed Cattery,” we are the sole owners of our Studs and Queens, we do not send our Queens out for breeding and we presently do not offer stud service to others. Our kittens are not touched by anyone other than our family until after they have received their first shots. Our Bengals are given Feline 1-HCPCh and Feline Leukemia Fel-O-Vax LV-K twice a year as a safety precaution. We still own our very first Bengal, “Tika,” she is still a very happy and healthy girl, now a grand-mother as of this year. It is because of her that the love of the Bengals was developed within our own family.

***Shots and De-Wormings***
We here at Sutterpride Cattery will administer the kitten’s first shot and de-worming at our cost (it is included in the purchase price of the kitten). First shots are generally administered at the age of 8-weeks, in the event that a client wants to take his or her kitten to a certain licensed veterinarian for his or her inoculations, Sutterpride Cattery is open to discussion about this subject. Some states require a rabies shot for any pet over the age of 4 months. If we are sending a Bengal to one of these states we will add the cost of the shot to the shipping fees.

***Food***
We offer our cat’s free choice dry food and supplement with canned food or tuna. We give our cats a daily liquid supplement called “Spectrin for Cats” by Nusentia, we find that this supplement contains a vast supply of nutrients for our cats. We include a small bag of the dry cat food that we feed with the purchase of our kitten to give the new owner a chance to introduce his or her choice of dry cat food by mixing with our choice of dry cat food to help with the transition for the kitten to his or her new home.

***Shipping***
Sutterpride Cattery only ships within the United States. Shipping costs are to be solely born by the purchaser of the kitten. Because we have our kittens’ best interest at heart, we prefer to meet with the new owners within a 400-mile radius of our home, but if this is not possible, there are other options for our kittens to reach their new homes. These include using a pet ground transportation service, or flying using the United Airlines Pet Safe Program, allowing a safe and comfortable way for the kitten to reach his or her destination.

We expect the purchaser of the kitten to pay all shipping fees prior to the kitten leaving our premises. Presently we are offering the personal delivery to the new owners within a 400-mile radius from our home at the rate of $0.35 (35-cents) per mile; this will include mileage to and from the destination point. The shipping rate per United Airlines (or a different airline that offers similar accommodations and pricing) is approximately $350.00 per kitten and for an additional kitten to be shipped at the same time in the same carrier would be approximately $50.00 more. This $350.00 includes the cost of the airfare, the carrier, the vet health check, rabies shot, the health certificate, trip to and from the airport, and all required paperwork.

There are pet ground transportation services also available for the transport of kittens/cats, and although they offer a more pleasant shipping opportunity for your new kitten, they are also often more pricey than the airlines.

We are willing to work with you in concluding the best and easiest transition for your new kitten from our home to yours.

***Deposits/Waiting Lists/Payment***
We here at Sutterpride Cattery require a non-refundable deposit of $100.00. This deposit represents that you are serious about purchasing a particular kitten. This deposit of $100.00 will be applied to the purchase price of the chosen kitten.
If you prefer to be placed on a waiting list or for a kitten from a particular mating awaiting its litter, a non-refundable deposit of $50.00 is required to be placed on the waiting list. Once a kitten has been chosen from the awaited litter the additional $50.00 for deposit (also non-refundable) is required (these sums are to be applied toward the purchase price). The kittens' pricings cannot be determined until they are approximately 6-weeks old. Once this price is set we do not raise the price of the kitten even if he or she turns out better than we anticipated.
Individuals on a waiting list must understand that whoever is on the wait list first is also the first to be able to choose a certain kitten. In the event that several people are interested in a certain kitten, we will ask the individual first in line to make a “timely” pick. If a kitten pick is not received within a certain amount of time, then the kitten will be offered to the next individual in line on the waiting list. In our opinion, communication and fairness to all involved to the best of our ability is the only satisfactory way to handle such a situation.
Before a deposit can be accepted, we require a sales contract to be filled out agreeing to the purchase of a chosen kitten or kittens. The same is required for a deposit on a kitten from a future litter or a kitten from a certain mating of a Stud and Queen.
Included in this sales contract is an agreement as to the agreed upon purchase price and the arrangements for pick-up of the chosen kitten. In the event that a $50.00 non-refundable deposit is given towards a kitten from a future litter, then the deposit will be described as a “deposit for waiting list on a kitten from a certain Stud and Queen,” or future litter.
Here at Sutterpride Cattery we believe in a first-come-first-serve basis. If you are interested in a certain kitten or a kitten from a future litter, we highly recommend that you place a deposit on the kitten or future kitten as soon as possible. It is not possible for us to guarantee a certain kitten until we receive your deposit, so we urge you to keep this in mind.
We accept deposits and payments in cash (in person), through PayPal, or by Western Union. All fees for using these services are to be paid by the purchaser of the kitten(s). When paying with PayPal, please use the “PayPal Calculator” to determine the PayPal fees for the payment. Before placing a deposit, please remember that deposits are non-refundable.
A final comment, if by chance something happens to a kitten (while in the care of Sutterpride Cattery) that a deposit has already been placed on, then the purchaser of the said kitten will be offered a choice to place the deposit money on a different available kitten, a future kitten, or receive a full refund.

***Communication is the Key***
In the event that an unforeseen hardship occurs during the purchase time of a certain kitten, Sutterpride Cattery believes that the best way to handle the situation is to be notified as soon as possible from the purchaser so hopefully a satisfactory solution can be worked out for all parties involved.
If an individual chooses to default on his or her sales contract, chooses not to pay for shipping fees, or does not come to pick up the chosen kitten per the agreed upon date, then all monies deposited/paid to date are at this point forfeited. This is why communication is so important, we here at Sutterpride Cattery understand that sometimes things get in ones way and change his or her plans, with enough notice it may be possible to avoid losing all of the monies that you have paid by placing it on a future kitten.

***In Conclusion***
We absolutely understand that the anticipation and wait time for your new addition to arrive home is very taxing and we will do our best to send you new photos each week of your chosen kitten. If we accidentally do not send you a set of photos on a certain week, please feel free to remind us, please note that this is not our intention and that we too have a very busy schedule that requires a tremendous amount of our time and effort. Again, we here at Sutterpride Cattery believe that communication is the key to a successful relationship between the seller and purchaser of these beautiful and exotic Bengal kittens.