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So what is a Bengal Cat ??? 

Well firstly they are not part Bengal Tiger !!!!

 
 
Asian Leopard Cat

The Bengal is a result of crossing the Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) with the domestic cat.  Some of the early breeds bred to the Asian Leopard cat were the Egyptian Mau, Abyssinian and Burmese. The Asian Leopard Cat is a small nocturnal wild cat similar in size to a domestic cat.

The Bengal is a medium to large domestic cat with an exotic wild look

(ALC photos are of Taro of Bundas with kind permission of Grace of Bundas Cattery)
 
The first 3 generations of the breeding are considered foundation Bengals and are classed as still too wild to be shown, these foundation Bengals are F1, F2 and F3 cats.  The F standing for Foundation.  The fourth generation (F4) Bengal is know as SBT (Stud Book Registry) Bengal and these are considered as domestic cats, these are the beautiful cats that are shown around the world.
 

F1,  ALC parent  x  domestic Bengal parent

F2,  F1 parent  x  domestic bengal parent  (ALC grandparent)

F3,  F2 parent  x  domestic bengal parent (ALC great grandparent)

F4,  F3 parent  x  domestic bengal parent  (ALC great, great grandparent)
 

CHARACTER
The Bengal Cat is confident, intelligent, affectionate and of course has a wonderful playful nature, they are energetic and athletic cats who are ready to play whenever you are.  They also love to play in water and are happy to join you in the shower !!!  In addition they also have a very loving nature and will enjoy chatting to you as well and are easy to train and enjoy walking on the lead.  Another characteristic with Bengals is that they love to chat but also they have very bad language as well which is like a snarly growl and this mainly occurs when they are playing tug of war games etc, and also when they are nervous
 

COAT

The Bengal has a beautiful soft silky coat with either spots or marble patterns.  The spotted or rosettes make the Bengal look just like the markings of the Leopard and the marble has the look of a Clouded Leopard both are very striking.  Also as the 2 types of patterns the Bengal has many different colours.
 

MARKINGS
Spots  -  These may be plain spots, rosettes.  The rosettes may be arrowhead, doughnuts or half doughnuts and paw prints.  The tail and legs are usually stripe.  The pattern should be random or aligned horizontally and the rosettes should show two distinct colours or shades.
Marble  -  These are swirls of colour just like the Clouded Leopard and the pattern should flow mostly horizontal and should show 3 shades of colour.
 

COLOURS
Browns  -  This is the most commonly seen colour and comes in various shades of brown from the darkest brown to a light tan. The background colour can be a pale or a rich tan and the spots can be black or different shades of brown. Most importantly the markings must be clearly defined and the eye colour on a brown can be green, hazel or brown.
Seal Lynx  -  These are the beautiful Blue Eyed Snows who are born white and their pattern develops as they get older.  The background is a pale ivory colour with the spots or marble colouring being shades of brown.
Seal Sepia  -  These are still Snows but classed as AOC (Any Other Colour) which is referring to the Eye Colour.  The Sepia still has the ivory background but the markings are much darker sepia brown colour.  The eye colour on a sepia can be brown, green or hazel,
Seal Mink  -  Again this is still classed as a Snow but like the Sepia is an AOC Snow. The markings on a mink are more of a mid brown or like a caramel colour.  The eye colour on the mink is an aqua colour.  Also the marking on the mink show up very well from birth unlike the Seal Lynx kittens.
Silver  -  this is a striking mix of black spots on the palest silver grey background and the coat should not show any signs of brown as this is called "tarnishing". The silver tarnish is the red part of the brown colour showing through, as the silver inhibitor gene knocks out the brown in the colour and the red or rufus (being the tarnish) and black part of colouring is left behind