A Brief Introduction To The Bengal Cat
In the mid 1970s Jean Mill embarked on a breeding programme crossing Asian leopard cats and domestic cats in the USA. (She had achieved some initial success some 10 years previous to this in the 60's) At this time in the 70's important research was being conducted into the Asian leopard cats' apparent partial immunity to feline Leukemia. The research involved breeding Asian Leopard Cats to domestic cats in the hope that this immunity was genetically transferable to the resulting hybrids. Jean took these Asian Leopard Cat/Domestic hybrids to form the basis of the Bengal breed. Although the Bengal is derived from Asian Leopard Cats, the Bengals we know and love today are exceptionally beautiful domestic cats which have borrowed their exotic looks and coat patterns from their wild ancestors. If you want a cat which behaves with the unpredictability of a wild animal then get a wild animal license and buy a wild animal! If you want a pet which borrows its exotic appearance from the wild but is a normal domestic pet cat - then buy a Bengal!
The Bengal comes in two coat patterns -
The Spotted/rosetted Bengal
The Marbled Bengal
Bengals also come in different colours (with variations within each colour)
The Brown Bengal
There are also two types of Snow Bengal
The Blue Eyed Snow & AOC Eyed Snow
Silver Bengals
Both the marbled and spotted patterns are found in all colours.
Blue Eyed Snow Marble & Silver Marble
In addition there are other colour variations including blues & Cinammons
Glittering
There is also an effect called glittering which can be found on some Bengals. On Browns the tips of some hairs have a translucent Gold colour which when reflected in certain lights produces a glistening golden appearance. On Snow Bengals the effect of glitter is often described as being like "Pearldust".
Generations, F1's F2's etc.
Because Bengals originate from crosses of Asian Leopard Cats and domestic cats the method of describing how many generations a cat is from the original wild ancestor is very important.
F1 cats have as one of the parents an Asian Leopard Cat,
F2 cats have an ALC grandparent,
F3 cats have an ALC great-grand parent,
F4 cats have an ALC great-great grandparent.
These F4 cats and all the generations beyond are fully domesticated and make excellent pets. (The earlier generations cannot be shown and are generally considered unsuitable as pets)
At the moment there are only a few books available solely about the Bengal breed. Here are 3 of them:
Getting To Know The Bengal Cat available from www.gogees.com/
Guide To Owning A Bengal Cat - Jean S Mill (T.F.H. RE401) available from the Catworld site
Bengal Cats - Dan Rice (Barron's ISBN 0-8120-9243-0) available from www.amazon.com
