Contents
|
Introduction
Originally christened the Leopardette, the Bengal is a hybridisation of domestic cats & Asian Leopard Cats (a small wild cat). In 1963 Jean Sudgen of Yuma, Arizona purchased a female Asian Leopard cat (named Malaysia) from a pet store. Believing the cat to be lonely, she put a black domestic cat in her cage for company. The animals mated & produced two kittens, a male & a female called KinKin. Sadly, the male was fatally mauled by Malaysia but KinKin was safely removed & raised by a Himalayan queen.
Jean contacted Cornell University who predicted that KinKin would be sterile. This proved to be incorrect when KinKin was mated back to her father and delivered two kittens. A black female & a spotted male. Due to the sudden death of her husband this project was abandoned.
In 1980 Jean contacted geneticist Dr Willard Centerwall who was working on a breeding programme which involved crossing Leopard Cats with domestic cats. This was part of a study of Feline Leukaemia. Jean Sudgen (now living in California & remarried as Jean Mill) obtained several F1 (the F stands for Filial) hybrids from this programme.
While in India in 1982 Jean & her husband came across a tailless feral domestic male with markings similar to that of the leopard. He had been living in a rhino enclosure at Delhi zoo. Jean imported this cat (named Millwood Tory of Delhi) back to the United States & he was mated with the female hybrids. Other domestic breeds were used in the breeding programme including Ocicats, Egyptian Maus, Abyssinians, Bombays & British Shorthairs. The breed obtained official recognition with TICA in 1984.
Appearance of the Bengal Cat
The Bengal cat is a medium to large cat with a long, muscular body with robust bones. It’s hind legs are slightly longer than the front legs, the feet are large & oval. The head is broad modified wedge, which is longer than wide, with small ears & pronounced whisker pads. Eyes are black rimmed & almond shaped. The tail is thick, tapering to a black tip. The coat is thick, beautifully sleek & soft feels more like a pelt than fur. The belly is whited & should also have spots.
There are two Bengal patterns. Spotted & Marbled.
Spotted: The spots should be dark & clear, with a crisp outline with a good contrast to the background colour. The spots can be either solid, arrow shaped or as rosettes. Spots should be found on the body, including the belly, the legs will have spots & or stripes. Spots should be random or horizontal in alignment.
Marbled: The marbled pattern consists of contrasting horizontal swirls along the side of the cat. The contrast must be extreme.
Glitter: Bengal cats have a gene known as the glitter gene. It is believed this came from the kitten Jean Mill imported from India. It is a recessive gene & is highly desirable in the Bengal. It looks as if a handful of gold has been sprinkled over the coat.
Silver is dominant, so in order to produce a silver kitten, one or both parents must be silver. It is also possible for two silver parents to produce brown kittens if neither is homozygous for the silver.
Silver can be homozygous (II) or heterozygous (ii), cats with either of these combinations will look silver, but the heterozygous cat will carry the non inhibitor gene (I) as well. Two homozygous silver cats will produce all silver kittens, who will also be homozygous for silver. Two heterozygous silver cats will be capable of producing silver or brown offspring.
Breeders
- Groenendyk, Naomi Benburn Bengals (Australia)
Disease susceptibility
Feline infectious peritonitis
Flat chest syndrome
Amyloidosis