Bengal Cat Book

Personally I would recommend books that are about the cat breeds generally rather than books about the Bengal cat. This is because all cats are the same and the books about a specific cat breed mainly contains information about cat maintenance etc. Whereas the cat breed books are of better quality and contain the same information but better illustrations and are by better authors (dare I say it). I recommend these two:

• Encyclopedia of the Cat by Dr Bruce Fogle and;
• legacy of the cat by Gloria Stephens and Tetsu (the photographer). Hover your cursor over the titles to go to Amazon to buy it.

If you want a Bengal cat book here is a selection:

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.

Bengal Cat Health Problems

All cats have health problems of some sort as do all humans. Purebred cats tend to have a propensity to certain genetically inherited illnesses to a lesser or greater degree. It depends mainly on the breeding of the cat breed and the number of foundation cats that were used to create the breed. It also depends on how closely selective breeding takes place.

As I remember it, the Bengal cat is founded on a small number of "foundation cats" (e.g. Millwood Tory of Delhi). Jean Mill the cat breeders who created this breed used certain individual cats that are the cornerstone of this breed. This was in the 1970s and 80s. Testing for genetic illnesses was probably in its infancy then. I don't know how carefully she focused on health issues. I do know that she seemed by my standards to treat her cats with less than the kind of care I would hope for.

Anyway, the Bengal cat does have some well-known genetically inherited diseases that need to be checked out before buying. Breeders should be asked questions about these diseases. Have any of their breeding cats ever suffered from them, for example?

The diseases are: HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) and Progressive Retinal Atrophy. I discuss these on this page. There are links to more on the page.

The Well Socialized F1 Savannahs

I have a YouTube Channel (my own home page on YouTube) and I am what is called a "partner" at YouTube. The channel does well mainly because there are several videos of two large domestic cat to wild cat hybrids: the Guinness World Records tallest cat MAGIC and TITAN, a superb male. My thanks to Kathrin and Martin Stucki of A1 Savannahs.



Both are F1 Savannah cats. "F1" stands for first filial, which in turn means the first generation from the wildcat to domestic cat mating. These are half wildcats. Their father is a serval.

But the point I would like to make in this short posting is this: these cats are superbly well socialised. They behave like domestic cats. It is the domestic cat half of the cat, if you like, that is the character of the cat. Of course, there is a wild cat element. That's what makes these cats fascinating and desirable. But the wildcat element is shown in subtle ways not in overt and uncomfortable ways. There is that wild look on the face (see header photo). They like water and will join you in the shower - this sort of thing.

F1 Savannah FOCUS - a darling cat - Photo: Michael

I mention this because the videos of these cats get thousands of comments. And nearly all the comments are nice but there is a notable few that demonstrate a lack of understanding of the socialization of these domestic cats - the largest domestic cats in the world.

People say things like, "that girl is going to get scratched" or "if I handled my cat like that he would bite me".

Of course it depends how you handle your cat but it also depends how well socialized your cat is. Socialization is the process whereby a newborn kitten is trained to be comfortable around and with people and other animals. This is not formal training but simply ensuring the kitten during the first 7 weeks of his or her life is handled properly by people and is in contact with and associates with other cats and dogs etc. in a beneficial way. This makes them relaxed around people and animals and prevents them from being defensive in their presence.

A1 Savannahs who raised MAGIC and TITAN ensure that their cats are socialized to the highest level. It is obviously of particular importance that this happens in respect of large first filial wildcat to domestic cat hybrids.

Bengal Cat Key Facts

Seal Sepia Spotted Bengal Cat
Photo copyright Helmi Flick

Date of Origin: 1983 (Encyclopedia of the Cat) but Robinson's Genetics says that this cat breed started in 1963. The discrepancy is probably due to the fact that there was a false start by Jean Mill. In other words she created the breed, stopped and restarted. Hence the two dates.

Place of Origin: The United States of America. This is very definitely a USA invention. Americans like the wildcat but unfortunately they like to either own it or shoot it! That is too harsh but there are a lot of pet wildcats in the USA and it is largely unregulated. Massachusetts is a state that is a notable exception.

Ancestry: The wildcat parent is the Asian leopard cat. This is a small wildcat. Sometimes people tame and domesticate the Asian leopard cat but it is not advisable in my opinion. The original leopard cat parent for this breed was being used in medical research! Jean Mill got hold of it and mated it with a domestic cat. Bingo: the first Bengal cat. Since then there has been lots of selective cat breeding that some might argue has gone to far as there are some Bengal cat health issues. Also there are not enough foundation cats resulting in a small gene pool.

Outcross Breeds: None - should this be changed? Has it been changed?

Names: Once also called the Leopardette.

Weight Range: 5.5-10 kg or 12-22 lbs (note: weights of cat breeds are not that reliable).

Temperament: Active, interactive, intelligent and a desire to use his or her athleticism.

Cat Associations: TICA, GCCF and FiFé (note: the CFA refuse to recognise wildcat hybrids).

Colors: This is a tabby cat. You will see brown, and silver backgrounds and rosettes, spots, twirls and blotches as forms of tabby cat coats. There are snow Bengals too. See Bengal Cat Coat for lots more detail.

The photo on this page is protected by copyright ©. Violations of copyright are reported to Google.com (DMCA).