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Millwood Epitimee
Breeder: Jean Mill, founder of the Bengal breed,
Millwood cattery, California, USA |
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Millwood Bongoboy of Savannicas
Breeder: Jean Mill,
Millwood cattery, California, USA
Owner: Monika Binder,
Savannica's cattery, Remlingen, Germany |
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Colour and patterns of the Bengal
The Bengal comes in two patterns:
 | Spotted
The spots are quite large, randomly spread over the body, the
shoulders down to the legs. The spots shall not be arranged
vertically, because they would remember to the mackerel pattern
which is undesirable. If the spots form large "rosettes" as seen
in the leopard cats, that is desired but not a must. The rosettes
are then multi-coloured. The belly must be spotted. There shall be
no unbroken stripes on the whole cat, even the necklaces are
broken, and the rings on the lower legs are also broken. |
| Marbled
This pattern derives from the classical tabby blotched pattern,
but the pattern is arranged horizontally and shall be flowing, and
it shall not remember to the "bull's eyes" of the blotched
pattern. The markings are quite large, and mostly appear in three
colour tones, the inside of the pattern (large rosettes) has a
warmer tone than the lighter ground colour and is surrounded by a
very intense darker colour. Also here the stripes on the legs must
be broken as well as the necklaces. |
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Trollspotting Sixpence
Breeder: Annette Lerche Trolle,
Trollspotting cattery, Denmark |
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The two above mentioned patterns appear in four different
colour variants:
| Brown, sometimes also called Tawny
spotted and marbled
The colour of the pattern is a very dark brown, placed on a golden
yellow (very rich an warm, almost orange) ground colour. |
| Seal Lynx point
spotted and marbled
The colour of the pattern is a very dark brown (called seal)
placed on an almost white ground colour. Note: the eye colour is
blue (because the cat carries the two Siamese-genes).
Those Bengals are also called Snow Bengals. |
| Seal Sepia
spotted and marbled
The colour of the pattern is the same, the ground colour also. The
colour of the pattern is somewhat softer in tone, the ground colour
gets more ivory. Note: the eye colour may be golden or green. The
cat carries the two Burmese-genes.
Those Bengals are also called Snow Bengals. |
| Seal Mink
spotted and marbled
The term "mink" derives from the Tonkinese. Those cats carry one
Siamese-gene and one Burmese-gene. The eye colour is aqua to
green. The colour of the pattern is somewhat softer, the
ground colour more ivory.
Those Bengals are also called Snow Bengals. |
| Please note, to see a difference between a Seal
Sepia and a Seal Mink, when they are grown up, is almost
impossible. This can only be decided through their pedigree. |
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CH Lopend Vuur Sneeuwwitje
Breeder:
Lopend Vuur cattery, Netherlands
Owner: Annette Lerche Trolle,
Trollspotting cattery, Denmark |
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You will find very good articles about the
Bengal, breeding, the colours and heredity at:
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Eurocatfancy
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| Breed profile |
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The Bengal is one of the newer domestic breeds and is
very well known for its striking pattern and its "wild look".
The head is rather small compared to the body with a
longer almost straight profile extending to an elongated forehead.
The nose is broad and straight, cheekbones are high and prominent.
The eyes are large and oval. The ears are small and set at the outer
corners of the head, broad at their base. And they show the
typically "wild spot" (called ocelli) on their backside, thus when
sleeping those ocelli look like eyes as if the cat was watching you.
The whiskerpads are large and pronounced.
The body is rather long, quite heavy and extremely
well muscled, shoulders are pronounced, strong muscled hindquarters.
Thus the body shall resemble the wild cat with a "rolling" movement.
The legs are strong muscled, medium high with large paws.
The tail is medium long and thick, and mostly carried low to
emphasize the long body.
The most striking part of the Bengal is its coat
and pattern.
The coat is very soft and short, and shows a "glitter", as if pure
gold had been spread over the coat. The pattern shows an extreme
contrast to the ground colour. As mostly tabby domestic cats have
ticking, the Bengal has no ticking, thus the contrast in the pattern
gets so extreme. The facial markings are extreme showing all
characteristics known from the wild cat. The pattern is
multi-coloured, i.e. shows different colour tones. The throat and the
belly shall be almost white, like in the wild leopard cats. |
History
The breed originates from crossing the Asian
Leopard cat (Felis bengalensis) with a tabby domestic cat. The
founder of the breed, Mrs. Jean Mill (Millwood cattery) started in
the early 1980th. In the early state of the breeding program also
Egyptian Maus and Burmese were crossed into the new breed. But
recently breeders went back to use the Asian Leopard cat for
outcrosses and had stopped using Maus or Burmese, because the
hybrids resulting from those outcrosses did not resemble the desired
wild look, and contrast and colour had diminished. The new breed has
been recognized first by TICA in 1986. The breed has become very
popular. One of the most recent recognitions of the breed was
through FIFe in 1999.
Please note:
If you want to have a Bengal as pet, then you shall not get a F-1,
F-2 or F-3 generation.
F ... means Filial generation
The F-1 up to the F-3 generation are considered as foundation cats,
and are only for experienced breeders, not for the usual pet owner.
Starting with F-4 or later the Bengal is the same lovely pet as any
other domestic cat, |
Temperament
Bengals are active and very affectionate to their
owners. Bengals can
jump very high, therefore Bengals should have plenty of opportunities to run
and climb. Water is specially attractive for them. The cats are
quite talkative cats, but they usually do not have a very loud
voice.
Bengals are curious about everything and want to know everything what you are doing
at any time.
They need company very much, one Bengal is only half a
Bengal. It easy to keep them together with other animals, because
their character is not dominant and they adapt remarkably
quickly.
Bengals can be busy playing hours for hours. |
Grooming
Bengals have an easy going coat, no knots or
greasy lumps at all. Brushing them from time to time will keep their
coat's lustrous shine. |
Include
the link to the database.
 
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