Features of the Bengal Cat

1. FEATURES - How to distinguish a bengal cat.
2. CARE - How to look after your bengal: first of all, lots of love.
3.TEMPERAMENT - A wild tame feline.
4. STANDARD - The perfect bengal cat for competition.



THE FEATURES. How to distinuish a bengal cat.

The bengal cat has an appearance of a miniture leopard. The body is strong and muscular, weighs between 5 to 8 kilos. The males are quite big, growing much more than the females. The back legs have special strength that allows them to jump high like a gazelle. The shoulders of a male bengal are muscular and quite elastic, which allows them to prowl like the large felines.

During the creation and development of the bengal, generation after generation, they have been using the most tame and loving examples to make that dream come true for many people. Today we can enjoy the presence of this fantastic breed in our homes: it is loving, sociable, playful, and always seeking the company of a person.

At four weeks old, the kitten starts to grow long black hairs along the body, giving it a fuzzy appearance. But after this fuzzy stage, the original color of the coat comes through, the spots start to mark and its glittering starts to shine in the daylight. The bengals' coat usually has the typical golden glitter on its tips, just like our Gogees Nitro Glistening of Ramazan imported from America in 1995. In contrast to glittering, the coat never has to contain “ticking”, it is classed as a fault if a bengal has it on its coat. The tummy has to show a lighter colour with very dark spots, as on the chest or between the back legs. It is consider a fault if vertical stripes or bars show up along the ribs.

Nowadays, the majority of the bengals show a “Tabby” marking on the head. This mark shows the shape of an “M” on the forehead. Then we see two horizontal parallel lines: one has the starting point at the exterior part of the eye; and the other, at the cheeck, both drawing themselves towards the ear without crossing themselves. Around the neck it must have a dark collar as a semicircunference.

We must add that the bengal has a special touch on his pelt. It is unique to this breed, as it feels like silk when you stroke the bengal. In deed, with our eyes blindfolded we would be able to distinguish it from another short hair breed.
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THE CARE – How to look after your bengal: first of all, lots of love.

Just like any other short haired cat, the Bengal hardly needs attention to keep them in perfect condition. They are always cleaning themselves. We only have to remind ourselves to take them to their regular checks to the veterinary from time to time

Nonetheless, we must say that the Bengal generates more earwax than other cats, for which we must clean the ears on a regular basis. We also find that the Bengal generate some sort of dark grease below their chin that at a first glance, one may think it is dirt, but must also be cleaned regularly. These things are normal for a bengal cat. [up]

Bengals are very curious and intelligent cats. There is no other sort of excitement for a Bengal than that of investigating into handbags, shopping bags, etc... They will go crazy! It's hilarious!

They aren't afraid of water, on the contrary, they are attracted to it. This is something that they carry in their genes, from the Leopard Cat that always lives close to rivers. They don't mind wetting themselves, it's a reason why some bengals even go into the adventure of swimming in the bath, specially when the bath is nearly overflowed. A good activity for them is to put a little bit of water in the bath and a ping-pong ball, they will go mad! When they drink they sometimes paddle the water with their paws.

The bengal tolerates living with other cats, even of different breeds, or other animals such as dogs! They are very active cats, loving and playful, they love to sleep with you when you are watching a movie at night on the sofa! Most have a soft voice, except when they are in season looking for mates. Some make strange noises even quite talkative. Some bengals can be tought to walk on a lead. Although the best is left to when they are running free, hunting, running or playing with a leaf or a little paper ball.

The bengal can also be very calm. Some are really sweet and affectionate, always on top of you, asking for attention from their owners, purring loudly and turning around on the floor so you can see their black spots on their light coloured tummy so you may stroke him or her. This type of cat creates some sort of instant addiction when you come into contact with it, and when least expected you have been hours just playing and looking at all the funny things he or she does.

The main goal of the Bengal Breeders is no other than to preserve as most the fidelity to the wild look of the Leopard Cat, but with the character of a pet.

1. Colour: It is allowed all variations of the “brown spotted tabby”, although it is mostly desired a high level of “rufinism” (orange tones). The base of the coat color can have creamy tones, beige, greyish, golden or rufus. The spots can be black or brown, or as in the rosettes, it can also contain chocolate and canela tones. The chin, whiskers area, tummy and in between the back legs, must be of a color such as white or any other light tone. But along the sides and the back must be darker to enhance this contrast between these areas. Outlining around the eyes and nose must be black and the mucose membranes must be brick red. Pads and tale tip must be black.

2. Head: Should be wedged-shape. Broad and rounded, longer than wider. The males jaws must be quite wide. The size has to be slightly smaller in proportion to the body

3. Profile: Slightly curved forehead, concave. Nose wide and big, with the whisker pads slightly puffed up. High and noticeable cheek bones

4. Ears: From small to medium size, short and wide, and rounded. They are positioned symmetrically following the face outline. It is accepted some horizontal light color marks on the back part of the ears. The “Linx Tipping” (long hairs at the end of the ear) is not desireable.

5. Eyes. Oval shaped, although can be slightly almond shaped. Large, well separated in line with the base of the ears. The color can be gold, green or blue, but never yellow. Only one variety of bengals, the “Snow Leopards” have blue eyes.

6. Neck: Thick and muscular (more in the males), slightly bigger in proportion to the head, and slightly longer in proportion to the body.

7. Body: Long and solid, strong but not as the “oriental” or “foreign” type. The body is big, although not as big as the largest domestic cat, and the bones are quite strong, far from being delicate. Very muscular, specially the males, which is one of the most outstanding feature.

8. Legs: Medium size, the back legs slightly longer than the front legs. Thick and solid skeleton, in no way delicate. Very muscular, just like the body.

9. Paws: Big in size, rounded and black paw-pads.

10. Tail: Thick reducing slightly to the end, tale tip is always rounded and always black. The length is medium, and the thickness from medium to large.

11. Coat: Short haired. In the kittens is allowed a slightly longer hair, as when they are in their fuzzy stage. Thick, shiny and extraordinary soft coat.

12. Punctuation. Markings, 30 points. Color, 10 points. Head, 10 points. Ears, 10 points. Eyes, 5 points. Neck, 5 points. Body, 10 points. Legs, 5 points. Paws, 5 points. Coat, 10 points.

13. Penalizations: a) The markings in the body that unite forming vertical stripes, known as “mackerel tabby”. b) The locket, a button of white hair on the throat area. c) No point is given if the following things are present: when tale tip's color is different than black, spots missing in the tummy area, pink paws. [up]