Bengal Cat Personality

I have a neighbour who has an F3 Bengal cat called "Daniel". I have filmed him and photographed him. He is active, alert, athletic, intelligent and needs to be watched when taken for a supervised walk in the garden. He can run very fast. He is a sprinter rather than a long distance runner. Does that give a flavor of the Bengal cat personality.

Daniel F3 Bengal Cat in the garden. Photo by Michael

The Encyclopedia of the Cat by Dr Fogle describes the personality as, "elegantly conservative". I don't quite know what this means but I tend to disagree with it. The character is more "active intelligent".

It is worth mentioning that at the outset when the breed was new to the cat associations there was a fear that these wildcat hybrids, the first mainstream wild cat hybrids bred as companion animals, would be too aggressive and too wild. The cat associations insisted on making sure that they were truly domestic. Stud Book Tradition (SBT) cats - fourth and fifth filial cats  - are truly domestic. As in fact are properly raised F1-F3s.

The International Cat Association (TICA 1999) stated in the breed standard that, "Temperament should be unchallenging. Any sign of definite challenge shall disqualify [meaning in cat show competition]. Cat may exhibit fear, seek to flee, or generally complain, but may not threaten to harm. Bengals should be confident, alert, curious and friendly cats." That is the standard and objective concerning Bengal cat personality.

The F1s to F3s will have more wild blood but should and will, with proper socialization, be very friendly and settled with other cats and people.

Gloria Stephens who wrote Legacy of the Cat says that the Bengal cat personality is "curious and entertaining". Agreed. This is an intelligent cat and intelligence leads to curiosity.

Because of its wildcat inheritance the Bengal cat tends to like water - being in and around it.

The Bengal cat is talkative. The video below gives a nice feel for the Bengal cat I think:



and here is a nice trill murmur sound:



See cat sounds.