About Bengal Cats

This Asian Leopard Cat is Wildsafari Zarboo. Thank you Mario for letting us use this wonderful picture!

Welcome to the world of bengal cats. They are a fun-loving breed that tends to be smarter than your average cat. It is not uncommon to find them opening cupboards looking for that perfect place to nap (or looking for hidden toys or treats), splashing water from their water bowl like a little kid in a wading pool, or bringing their owners a toy begging to play fetch. Some of them even enjoy a walk on a leash. They will bring liveliness and excitement to any home.

A word of caution...bengals are not for everyone.

While those of us that love bengals believe they are the best cats out there and find all their crazy antics fun and amusing, I need to make it clear that bengal cats are not for everyone. If you like your home peaceful and neat or are looking for a cat that would be a good lap-cat, I would suggest something more like a Persian for you. If you have a home where you have many valuables on display - even if they are high up on shelves a bengal will easily get to them and chances are they will knock down and break the most valuable item. Bengals absolutely love high places and exploring so no area is safe from them. The only option is keeping valuables in a room where your bengal are not allowed, and hope your bengal does not figure out how to open the door. .

ORIGINS:

Bengals originated by crossing domestic cats, such as the Egyptian mau, with Asian leopard cats. The photo at the top of this page is a beautiful example of an ALC which you will find in the pedigree of a few of my cats. His name is Wildsafari Zarboo. ALCs are small spotted wild cats that range in size from 5 to 15 lbs depending on the subspecies. The first through third generations from this cross are called foundation cats. Bengal cats are the 4th generation and on according to TICA. Bengals are inquisitive and outgoing, yet loving and willing to cuddle too. They have soft, thick coats that are called pelts. Their pelts are short to medium in length.

GLITTER:

Some bengals also have glitter. Glitter makes the coat of a brown cat look like it has gold dust sprinkled all over it, or a snow cat look like it has diamond dust all over it. This usually can be seen best when the cat is basking in the sun. It is a recessive trait believed to be brought into the breed by the cat named Tory of Millwood, a beautiful stray cat that can be found in most bengal pedigrees. t

THE PATTERNS:

Bengals come in two patterns. The two patterns that are offered are the spotted and the marbled. The spotted pattern has either solid spots or rosettes running in a random or horizontal pattern across the pelt. The spots should not align in vertical lines. The marbled bengals have swirls that either flow in a horizontal direction across the body or in random patterns. The less of the classic tabby “bullseye” in the pattern, the better. Tri-colored marbles are preferred. This is where there is a base color of the coat, then the marbled markings are made up of a very dark shade and a medium shade.

The spotted pattern was the original pattern and is based off of the ALC look. The marbled came into existence as a very beautiful and striking side product of the wild ALC genes working with the domestic classic tabby look (bullseye you can find in American Shorthairs). The horizontal flow of the wild genes pulled out the bullseye pattern to create a unique design only found in the bengal cats. There is also another phenomena that occurs that creates a complete randomness in the pattern and creates a chaotic marble pattern. The marble patterns are domestic reminders of the wild pattern of the clouded leopard, king cheetah, and wild marbled cat. Rarely do photos of a marble bengal do it justice and only when you see a good marble in person can you appreciate their true beauty.

Here at Braveheart we focus on the marble pattern. We were attracted to the breed by the wild look of the spotteds, but fell in love with marbles when we saw one in person at a TICA show. Since then we have dedicated our breeding to the beautiful marbles and are trying to achieve cutting-edge patterns.

Click here to see some of our past marble breedings and get an idea of where we are going.

Brown Tri-Marble:

Brown Chaotic Marble:

Brown Rosetted (Spotted):

THE COLORS:

The five accepted colors are brown (black) tabby, seal sepia tabby, seal mink tabby, seal lynx point tabby, and most recently silver tabby. There are also colors that can be hidden recessives in certain lines and can show up in litters but are not accepted (i.e. showable in a TICA show). These include blues, cinnamons, and melanistic (all black).

Brown (black) Tabbies

The browns can range from very “hot” coloration - a light golden or reddish gold back ground with darker reddish brown (burnt sierra) markings - to a very “cool” coloration - a grayish background with jet black spots, or somewhere between these two extremes. The degree of rufunism or rufusing is what causes the difference. The more rufus a cat is, the “hotter” the coloration. The less rufusing, the “cooler” the coloration. Complete lack of rufusing is usually refered to a charcoal, and lots of rufusing is refered to as sorrel. These both are genetically brown (black) tabbies and would be registered as such. Genetically the brown tabby gene is dominant.

The eye color can be some shade of yellow, green or brown.

“Hot” coloration/high rufusing/sorrel:

“Cool coloration/low rufusing/charcoal:

The Snows

Many times the seal sepia, seal mink and seal lynx point are all refered to as “snow” bengals and are reminders of their larger cousins, the beautiful snow leopards. It is a bit difficult to tell between the snow if you do not have experience. Eye color is usually the best way, also knowing what genes the parent carry can also be a clue. Genetically the snows are a recessive and the sepia gene and lynx point gene together creates the mink.

The seal lynx point is usually the lightest of the snows. They are usually born all white, but not always, and will darken as they mature. They will retain very blue eyes that can be a light ice blue to a deep sapphire blue. The genetics are very similar as to what is found in the Siamese breed.

The seal sepia is the darkest of the snows and tends to have more brown undertones to the coat. The eye color is usually yellow or sometimes green. The genetics of the seal sepia are similar to those found in the Burmese breed.

The seal mink is a combination of the sepia gene and the lynx point gene. Seal mink is typically not as dark as the sepia, but darker than the lynx point. They eye color is also a mix of the yellow and blue, creating a very pretty aqua color.

Seal Lynx Point:
This girl is a very dark SLP and a bit unusual. She had been born with color and not white like most SLP. However, there is no doubt that she is a lynx point as both of her parents were lynx point, so there is no genetic way to be anything else. In addition she has very beautiful sapphire blue eyes that can only be on a lynx point. I have a 3 month & adult photo here so you can see her color development.

Seal Mink:

Seal Sepia: Photo Coming Soon

Silvers

Silvers are a new color and their can be silvers and snow silvers. The silvers are created by an inhibitor (I) gene that was introduced to the breed by outcrossing to American shorthairs and maus. The gene works by blocking the brown pigment from being produced. So on a brown-based cat it inhibits the brown coloring, leaving shades of white, black and grey. This can be very striking when the base markings were a golden cat with jet-black markings because the resulting silver is a very light, almost white background with jet-black markings. It can also produce “soft” silvers that don’t have jet-black markings and instead a medium to dark grey markings instead, which while are pretty are not as striking.

Tarnish can also result. This is when the inhibitor gene does not stop all of the brown pigment so the result is brown hue on the cat - usually along the back & flanks, very similar looking to actual tarnish that you would find on silverware.

Silver snows are very difficult, and some believe almost impossible without test breeding, to tell from a regular snow.

Silver photo coming soon.

Blues/Dilutes and Melanistics

Blues are a result of the dilute gene working on a brown-based cat. They have blue-grey markings on a peachy background. Melanistics are all black cats, similar to black leopards, and can sometimes can have the markings faintly visible in correct light. These colors are not accepted within the standard and thus can not be shown in championship. However, it is not all that uncommon to find them in an occasional litter. This is because the dilute and melanistic genes are recessive and can be hidden for generations before they show themselves again. I have included them here as I feel they are common enough to warrant noting.

Blue:

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