Let's talk Bengals

All you need to know about the breed

If there’s one breed that embodies the moniker “curious cat,” it’s the Bengal. There’s a confidence within them, a desire to go out and explore their domestic surroundings, and with such a brilliant animal in your midst, it’s easy to let the adventure begin. Bengals have a fearlessness that’s fascinating to watch, and they don’t mind the audience.

Another great thing about having a Bengal cat around? Their fabulously unique rosette-shaped coat. The Bengal is the only breed that’s adorned with these uncommon graphics. The Snow Bengal is another variation of the breed, which is exceptional coloration that’s mostly white. It’s a recessive color point gene that makes for the white or light brown pattern, a very unique motif indeed.

The fur of the Bengal breed can also be marbled or speckled, with its plush thickness another signature trait. Whatever the form, it’s incredible to behold.

If you value having a cat with off-the-charts energy, this is your breed. In fact, the Bengal is known to be kitten-ish even into their senior years. The unique crossbreeding of a domestic cat with one that calls the jungle home isn’t lost on this feline. They are unusually agile and athletic, and very strong yet graceful. For the highly desirable Bengal, words like magnificent, wondrous and striking definitely apply.

The Bengal is known oddly enough for being very drawn to water, sometimes coming into the shower with family members or gazing upon water being run for cooking, bathing, brushing teeth or even the mere washing of hands.

The Bengal cat takes their name from the Bengal tiger since they have a coat that resembles their distant cousin. Truth be told, the domestic breed does descend from the wild. The Bengal entered the domestic domain in 1963 after being developed by Jean Mill, an avid cat breeder from Arizona. The fan of all things feline cross-bred an Asian leopard cat with her own black domestic tomcat. The resulting Bengal had a housecat disposition and jungle cat-like athleticism.

Mill then further bred the first female kitten, producing litters from there. The Bengal was then developed at the University of California at Davis when Mill assisted in the breeding of eight kittens with an Abyssinian Burmese and Egyptian Mau.

The Bengal breed has now become much more domesticated but also a prized possession, known in feline circles as the “Rolls Royce” of cats.

The International Cat Association adopted the breed in 1983 but granted it experimental status only. The Bengal was then given full status in 1991, and in 1999 recognized as an official breed by Federation International Feline, a widely lauded federation of cat registries.