The Bengal Cat

The Bengal Cat is one of the most intriguing cats available in the domestic world today! The Bengal is a medium to large domestic cat that was bred from crossing an Asian Leopard Cat (Prionailurus Bengalensis) with domestic cats.  The name Bengal comes from the Asian Leopard Cat's scientific name Bengalensis.

Bengal History

The Bengal was first hybridised in the 1960's and then again in 1980's in the US by a woman named Jean Mills.  The original breeding included Egyptian Mau's, American Shorthair, Abyssinian, Ocicat and the domestic shorthair in an attempt to create a companion with the "exotic" look of the wild with a domestic cat temperament.

Bengal Personality

A Bengal can best be described as playful, affectionate, active and extremely intelligent.  Bengals love water, and will splash in the sink, or even jump into the shower with you.  They love to be where the action is.  They are no couch potato in a leopard suit.

            Helping with the Washing Up                                 "Who's no Couch Potato"    

My husband trying to read the paper

Relaxing in front of the fire.

Geisha and Polar Bear paddling in the pool 

Wildkatt Honey Dew and Wildkatt Vanilla Ripple (Jahnamir Bengals)    

The Bengal combines the exotic look and feel of the small forest-dwelling wild cats they descend from with the dependability and loving temperament of the domestic cat.  For a "walk on the wild side" with an affectionate companion, you can't go wrong with a Bengal.

Bengal Characteristics

There are three accepted divisions for show competition, "Brown", the three "Snow" colours, and "Silver".  The Brown Tabby's background includes a wide range of colours, from gold through the many shades of brown and beige, with a contrasted darker pattern.  The "Snow" is broken down into three recognised colours: Seal Sepia, Seal Mink, and Seal Lynx Point.  Silver has a nearly white or silver background with black markings. Within each colour division there are two accepted pattern types, Spotted and Marble.

Spotted - The spotted Bengal most closely resembles the Asian Leopard Cat.  They can have spots or rosettes which should show at least two distinct colours or shades, and come in different shapes, such as paw print, arrowhead and doughnut or half-doughnut.  Contrast with ground colour must be extreme, giving distinct pattern and sharp edges.  The belly must be spotted.

Rosetting

A "Paw Print" rosette,  is several dark unconnected spots in a rough circle, surrounding an area of different colour than the background colour.

An "Arrowhead" rosette is shaped like an arrow head with two tones, a short dark stem and a trailing second colour.

A "Doughnut" rosette or partial doughnut  is a circle or partial circle of very dark brown or black enclosing a lighter centre coloured differently than the background of the cat.

Marbled - In some of the early litters came an interesting pattern that was later called marble.  Because of their exceptional beauty, marbles were later recognised as well.  The pattern should be random, giving the impression of marble, preferably with a horizontal flow when the cat is stretched.  Contrast must be extreme, with distinct shapes and sharp edges.  The belly must be spotted.

Colours

Brown Tabby

         Brown Spotted                                                        Brown Marble

  Eye colour may be gold, copper, green,  bronze, brown or hazel. 

"THE SNOWS"

The snows, as breeders fondly call them, describes the three following recognised colours in the Bengal Breed - Seal Sepia (darkest), Seal Mink, and Seal Lynx Point (lightest).  They were not introduced by actually breeding with a Snow Leopard.  These colours came from Siamese and a Burmese ancestor.  The Siamese is the ancestor for the seal lynx point (blue-eyed) and the Burmese ancestor gave us the seal sepia (gold or green-eyed) which have ivory backgrounds with contrasting spots.  The seal mink (aqua or green-eyed) spotted is a combination of one each of the above pointed Siamese lynx and the Burmese sepia genes and shows up if the two types are bred together in a kitten's pedigree.  Extreme contrast between the markings and the ground colour is desirable in each spotted colour.  All snow Bengals are actually derivations of the very same albino gene often found in Nature, which can show up in many wild species.

Seal Sepia Tabby

Seal Sepias are clearly marked at birth.  Adult Sepias should have gold eyes but may also have gold green eyes, with dark brown pattern.

Seal Sepia Spotted/Rosetted

Kaos Pughbert (WA)

Seal Sepia Marble

Seal Mink Tabby

Seal Minks have faint spots at birth, usually light brown.  As adults they have Aqua (blue green) eyes, but may also have green or green gold coloured eyes, usually with dark brown or grey-brown pattern.

Seal Mink Spotted/Rosetted

Seal Mink Marble

                Jahnamir Water Edge (Coco)                            Wildkatt Desert Sands (Desi)    

NOTE:  The foundation cat to look for in Bengal pedigrees is "Nola Kotton Pickin of Gogees", now recognized as the foundation sire for the seal sepia and seal mink snows.  Sepias and Minks are considered genetically different from each other, and are therefore each in their own separate division within the Bengal breed.  It is very hard to tell the difference between a Seal Sepia and a Seal Mink in some cases just by looking at them.  The pedigree must be carefully studied to see if sepia is possible, and the cat may have to be test bred to verify what colour it is genetically.  However, amber eyes (at full maturity), that have no hint of green, are probably sepia.

Seal Lynx Tabby

Seal Lynx are completely white at birth, the markings start showing up at a couple of weeks.  As adults, some have startling blue eyes.

Seal Lynx Spotted/Rosetted

                        Wilderside Winter (Loki)                        Panthers Sable Mink (Wildkatt Bengals)

Seal Lynx Marble

Wildkatt Vanilla Ripple (Polar Bear) Jahnamir Bengals    

Silver Tabby  

Black Silver Spotted

Silvertrace Sacha Gen 1 (Wildkatt and Silvertrace Bengals)

Black Silver Marble

Tooblue Moonshadow (Murray)

Eye colour may be gold, copper, green, bronze, brown or hazel.

Glitter:

A trait unique to the Bengal breed, causes the Bengal hairs to sparkle and glitter like a prism when light hits it just right.  Not all Bengals are glittered, and glitter is not part of the breed standard. Many breeders consider it a desirable trait.  

Millwood Tory of Delhi, a domestic cat with green eyes found by breed founder Jean Mills in the rhino pen in the New Delhi (India) zoo, is considered to be the cat that introduced this flashy trait to the breed.  In brown tabby Bengals, the hairs glitter gold; in the "snow" colours the glitter appears crystalline.

Fuzzies:

An unusual stage many Bengal kittens go through, starting at about 4-5 weeks of age.  the coat changes colour and texture, becoming greyish and fuzzy looking, obscuring the pattern. This may be a camouflage trait inherited from the leopard cat ancestors - a protective coloration for leopard cat kittens as they emerge from their den.  Many, but not all kittens go through the fuzzies; it generally clears up around 11-12 weeks of age, when the coat returns to its original colour, texture and clarity.

    

    6 week old kitten in the fuzzies                                    Same kitten at 12 weeks no fuzzies.