About Bengal
Cats
The Bengal
cat is a new (less than 20 years old), exotic breed of domestic cat originally
created by the breeding of the small, wild Asian Leopard Cat to a domestic
cat such as the Abyssinan, American Shorthair, Burmese, or Egyptian Mau.
The Bengal breed allows those of us who love and admire wild cats to live
with and enjoy their beauty and uniqueness in our own homes, while also
benefiting from the domestic Bengal's loving, friendly, playful disposition.
Bengals must be four or more generations removed from their wild Asian Leopard Cat ancestor, and have three consecutive generations of Bengal to Bengal breeding in order to be eligible to be shown in T.I.C.A. (registration paperwork will reflect "SBT" in the registration number, which means the cat has "studbook status".) Currently, SBT Bengals can be shown in T.I.C.A., U.F.O., A.C.F.A., I.C.E. and a few other Cat Associations, some for Championship Titles. The early generation Bengals, which we refer to as "Foundation or Filial Bengals", such as F-1, F-2 or F-3 (one, two or three generations, respectively, removed from the Asian Leopard Cat) are best left to specialized breeders or properly prepared and informed owners who are equipped to take care of them. F-4's and beyond, or SBT's, are the true domestic Bengal. They usually make the best pets, and when they are carefully bred within highly selective and loving breeding programs, make delightfully affectionate, stunningly gorgeous family companions!!
Domestic Bengals are no different than any other domestic cat when it comes to care and feeding. Female Bengals average from 7 to 11 pounds at maturity, while the more heavily muscled males can average from 11 to 18 pounds at maturity. Bengal owners delight in the intelligence, playfulness, and affectionate natures of their companions, and also love to talk about their athleticism, leaping ability and the dexterity with which they use their paws. Many Bengals also have an instinctive love of water, and have been known to climb in the shower or bathtub with their humans!!
Bengals
look like....
Bengals
come in a variety of colors and in two patterns of markings. First is the
Spotted pattern, fromsmall spots spread thickly over the body to large
and often rosetted spots with large unspotted areas between them (referred
to as acreage). Look for tons of contrast between the base color and the
spots. There are four different color variations, Brown Spotted, Seal Sepia
Spotted, Seal Mink Spotted and a Seal Lynx Point Spotted. In all colors
and patterns allow for kitten fuzzies that tend to hide or mute the coat,
this will pass and is natures way of hiding the very young. The Seal Lynx
Point kitten will be almost totally white.
The marbled pattern occurs no where else in nature, while called a Brown Marbled, look for the tricolormarbled kitten. Patterns should be symmetrical on both sides of the body and the pattern should swirl and flow around the body, like the colors in a glass marble. No bullseye pattern on the sides is best. You can literally find yourself "waiting to exhale" so awesome is the beauty in this pelt pattern. Marbled Bengals also come in all three snow variations, the Seal Sepia, the Seal Mink and the Seal Lynx Point who also sports deep blue eyes.
Whether you are lucky enough to "own" a "show quality" Bengal or a "pet quality" Bengal, you find that once owned by them, no other cat will ever quite do!
More on Marbled Bengals
The classic tabby gene creates the marbled Bengal and represents a change of pattern from spotted to swirled or marbleized. This dramatic pattern is comprised of swirls of brown spotted colors flowing in a horizontal fashion instead of traditional spots. Preference is given to the more horizontal, flowing and "ocelot-like" patterns. The "marbled" pattern can also occur in lynx, sepia and mink color/patterns.
According to various articles written by Jean Mill, the very first marbled Bengal appeared in 1987. The parents were Millwood Silk n Cinders (a beautiful cat who had the glitter gene from "Tory of Delhi", Jean's rescue domestic kitten from the New Delhi zoo, plus Cinders also had an unusually clear, non-ticked coat, with very large, dark spots) and a cat named Torchbearer. This first marble kitten was a female, and her coloring was very soft and rust-colored, with a pattern described by Jean as looking like "drizzled caramel".
It was due to the overwhelming popular demand of cat show judges and audiences clamoring to see this amazing marble kitten in Madison Square Garden and all over the country that Jean Mill began campaigning to add the marbled pattern to the Bengal breed standard. Originally, her intent had only been to produce a domestic spotted Bengal cat. As anyone who has ever seen a spectacular marble Bengal will attest, these cats will truly take your breath away. Not only are they beautiful, but they have been proven over and over again to contribute to such wonderful and difficult to breed genetic traits of the Bengal as the "outlining" gene, beautiful multi-colored types of rosetting to the spots, and having a horizontal flow (attributed to the Asian leopard cat) to the overall pattern of the cat, rather than the vertical flow common to traditional domestic cats.
or call
919-690-1250
9 am to
9 pm Eastern standard time
Updated 06-18-08