Bengal History

What is bengal cat?

The Bengal Cat is a unique domestic breed derived from crossing various breeds of domestic cats with Asian leopard cats. Breeders are working to create a cat that has the shape and beautiful coat of the Asian Leopard Cat and the friendly temperament of the domestic cat.

The Bengal is descended from crosses between wild Asian Leopard Cats and domestic shorthairs. The first Bengal breeding program began in 1963 and the breed was first accepted for championship status in TICA in 1984. It is a large cat with a short glossy coat.

While most Bengals are commonly seen in the brown spotted tabby pattern or just simply classic Tabby as shown below. You can see the tabby M on the forehead.

picture is brown marble

Glittering refers to an effect on the coat that makes it looks as if the coat was sprinkled with glitter, rosetted refers to the spots forming distinct patterns, preferably with more than one color tone within the spot. There is also the tri-color marble shown below. Three tone colors shown below cream, rust and black with a very nice horizontal flow to the sides of this kitten with a open pattern.

picture is a seal lynx point marble

Seal sepia, seal lynx, and seal mink, color patterns with a pale white or cream background, are popularly referred to as "snow"

In 2004 the Silver bengal was excepted for championship.

Well-bred Bengals are active, intelligent companions. Buyers should ask how many generations removed Bengal kittens are from wild blood; the best companion cats are at least four generations removed. Most pet Bengals are wild only in looks, not in personality.

Interesting fact: An SBT (stud book tradition) Bengal represents at least four generations of Bengal-to-Bengal breeding, and thus will be no less than four generations removed from wild blood. F1 through F4 (filial) bengals are anywhere from one to four generations removed (F1 is the offspring of a Bengal-to-Asian Leopard Cat breeding, an F2 is the offspring of Bengal-to-Bengal breeding with at least one F1 involved, and so on). An SBT cat would thus be at least an F5. Most pet Bengals are F4s or SBTs; cats with more wild blood than that may make difficult pets.

The pictures below are an example of how the seal lynx are born pure white, Both pictures below are the same kitten, the top was taken at 2 weeks old the bottom was taken at 7 weeks old just to give you an idea how they develop