Tuesday 24th July 2018

The goal of the breed was to combine the coat of the Asian Leopard with the domestic temperament of the house cat. This breed is a long muscular medium/large sized cat with a large head and muzzle as well as high cheekbones and rounded ears. The best companion cats are at least four times removed from the Asian leopard and are wild only in looks, not personality.
The Bengal cat is a hybrid originally created in the 1970's when amateur breeder, Jean Sugden received cats from Dr Centerwall, that had been bred for genetic testing. Meanwhile, Dr Centerwall of Loyola University had been testing Asian leopards for their immunity to feral leukemia, a retrovirus that is spread through infected saliva or nasal solutions. He bred them to domestic shorthair cats for the best results.
It stands out as a breed because it is one of the few successful pairings of a wild cat species and a domestic cat breed. Dr Centerwall bred the Asian leopard to a domestic cat, and after the study was over, rather than destroying these cats, the doctor left the cats at Ms Sugden's home. Sugden chose to take only the cats with desired spotting patterns and a domestic temperament. Over the years, Bengal enthusiasts bred their cats with the cats of other Bengal breeders, and a careful record of genetics helped to prevent inbreeding. This resulted in cats with longer coats, and darker or lighter patterns.
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Charcoal Bengal |

Blue Bengal |
within the breed standards. They are quite beautiful though. The melanistic Bengal must have both parents with the recessive gene for a melanistic cat to appear in a litter. Not all black, the pattern is actually black on black, and the cloudy pattern turns to solid black as the cat matures. This colour type is noted for having unusually silky and shiny coats.