Breed Information
Bengal cats and their non-domestic heritage
Bengals are a domestic cat breed, originally established by crossing a small, non-domestic cat—the Asian Leopard Cat—with domestic cats. The goal of the Bengal Breed is to produce a domestic cat that looks as if it just stepped out of the jungle into your living room.
Bengal cat temperaments
While Bengal cats look wild, they are amongst the most outgoing and friendly of all domestic cat breeds. They are highly intelligent and interactive members of the family. Their curiosity and heedless enthusiasm can often get them into “trouble.” They don’t look before they leap and they welcome challenges, such as how to sleep in your dresser drawer or what can be found inside the kitchen cabinets. Your Bengal will greet you at the door and want to be with you, participating in whatever you are doing, including your morning coffee or helping with your work on your laptop.
Bengal cat colors and patterns—Oh my!
Bengal cats come in a plethora of color and pattern combinations. The brown spotted tabby, or “leopard” color and pattern, is the most common and well recognized. In addition to the spotted pattern, Bengals also come in a marbled pattern. And in addition to the brown tabbies, Bengals come in the albino, or “snow”, series—pointed (lynx point), mink and sepia tabbies. The silver, or inhibitor, gene can modify all of the preceding colors to make, for example, silver (instead of brown) tabbies and silver sepia tabbies. And finally, the charcoal phenotype can modify any of the forgoing, for example, charcoal lynx point. When you combine these colors with spotted and marbled patterns, well, we’ll let you do the math on the number of possibilities. Bengals can be found in other colors as well, but these are the only colors/patterns eligible for championship in TICA; blue is accepted for championship in CFA only. While we generally work with shorthairs, there are also longhair Bengals, accepted for championship in TICA only.
We are always happy to talk more about cat coat color and pattern, including the genetics.
Bengal cat health
Bengal cats are susceptible to the same infectious and genetic diseases as any domestic cat, and in addition, there are some diseases for which we must be especially vigilant.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM): HCM is a heart disease found in all domestic cats and because of certain founder effects in the breed, HCM is more prevalent in Bengal cats than in the general domestic cat population. Although it is inherited as an autosomal dominant genetic disease, the defective gene(s) responsible for HCM in Bengals has not been identified. Cats must be screened for HCM by echocardiogram, and only cats clear from HCM should be used in breeding programs. Thus, regular screening for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) by Board Certified Veterinary Cardiologists is a MUST for any reputable Bengal breeding program.
Erythrocyte Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PK Deficiency): The Bengal breed was established with the use of many different domestic cats and cat breeds and along with the desirable traits, some undesirable genetic traits were also brought in. PK Deficiency is an autosomal recessive genetic disease that can result in a number of symptoms, primarily anemia due to difficulty in making red blood cells. Fortunately, genetic testing enables breeders to determine the PK Deficiency status (normal, carrier or affected) of our Bengal cats and we can over several generations remove it from our breeding programs and the breed. Interestingly, the severe symptoms of PK Deficiency are rarely seen in Bengals even when homozygous for the allele.
Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA): PRA is an autosomal recessive disease leading to blindness. Genetic testing is available to prevent breeding two cats who carry the gene and have normal vision. Thus, PRA is becoming increasingly rare in Bengals.
Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP): FIP is perhaps the most devastating of feline diseases because it mostly claims kittens and young adults in an insidious disease process. While infection with a common virus (FECV) is a necessary condition for FIP, it is not sufficient. Environmental and genetic factors contribute to the development of the disease but are not well understood presently. FIP can afflict any cat but occurs at a higher incidence in some breeds, including Bengals. Thus, while we strive to better understand the disease, we also do what we can to minimize contributing factors.
Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) and Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV): Readily available testing for FeLV and FIV has made it possible to eliminate these disease-causing retroviruses from breeding programs, and catteries these days should be free from FeLV and FIV.
Check out the EveryCat Health Foundation for more information on feline health.
Genetic terms:
- Autosomomal: the gene is located on non-sex chromosome (i.e., not the X or Y chromosomes and so inheritance is not sex-linked)
- Dominant: 1 copy of the gene can confer the trait or condition
- Recessive: 2 copies of the gene (i.e., 1 from each parent) is necessary to exhibit the trait or condition