Wild Pets – The Bengal

Many people adore watching programs on big cats such as lions and tigers or seeing them on safari or at the zoo.  Some of us would love to work closely with such an animal and be able to see what it is like compared to our domestic cats.  But for those who can’t do this, the next best option is to own a breed of cat that is part wild cat and that little bit different to the normal tabby or Persian.  One such breed is the Bengal.

About the Bengal

Crosses between the domestic cat and the Asian Leopard Cat or ALC date back as far as the late 1880s.  Top cat writer Harrison Weir spoke about them in his book, Our Cats and All About Them.  By 1927, another cat writer, Mr Boden-Kloss was also writing about these hybrids and that the people of the Malay Peninsula kept them as pets.  The first confirmed cross was in 1934 in Belgium and again in 1941 in a Japanese cat magazine.  Jean Mill was one of the early influential breeders of the Bengal and she submitted a paper to her genetics class in UC Davis on the subject in 1946.

Mrs Mill was among a small group of people who went on to work on forming the breed into a recognisable domestic breed in the 1970s.  By 1983, the Bengal was accepted by TICA and others began working on the breed.  Greg and Elizabeth Kent worked with breeding the ALC to the Egyptian Mau and from this combination, many of the modern cats are descended. 

Today the breed is well established but not accepted by all cat registries.  There are some 60,000 cats registered with TICA.  It has even led to different variants including the long haired, sometimes referred to as the Cashmere Cat and the Cheetoh, a crossing of the Bengal with the Ocicat, another hybrid, with the aim of creating a cheetah-type coat pattern.

Description

The Bengal retains the wild cats’ rosettes, large sports and light belly colour as well as a body structure similar to the leopard cat.  They also have foreleg striping and the ‘mascara’ markings of stripes alongside the eyes.  They are classed as brown spotted or snow spotted with variations within depending on the style of the markings.  Other colours accepted by TICA include the brown, lynx point, mink and sepia.

In personality, these cats have a typical domestic cat demeanour once they are at least four generations removed from the leopard cat.  Prior to this, designated F4, they are not suitable as pets and are kept only by established and experienced breeders as their temperament is more wild cat.  They are playful and affectionate cats but also need plenty of attention to stop them getting bored – they love to play with their owners and are excellent jumpers, able to reach eight feet from the ground easily.