Bengal cat

Bengal cats probably have their origins in the Asian tropics, where people originally did not care that there were frequent crossbreeds between wild leopards and domestic cats. Hardly any attention was paid to these hybrids, let alone attempts to develop their own breed from them. But in 1963 the American geneticist Jean Sudgen from Yuma Arizona came up with the idea of ??crossing a leopard tomcat with a black shorthair cat. A female progeny was then back-mated to the wild sire. The result was impressive, the litter contained some solid kittens and some spotted kittens. This could have resulted in a spotted breed (Bengal cat), but Jean Sudgen gave up breeding after the death of her husband. At the end of the seventies, the geneticist Dr. Willard Centerwall, a leopard cat with a shorthair cat as part of a University of California study of feline leukemia. Jean Sudgen acquired in 1982 from Dr. Centerwall eight hybrid females, and started breeding for the second time. Her goal was still to combine the drawing of the wild leopard cat with the delicate nature of the domestic cat. The female hybrids were mated with a feral red tomcat, and from these beginnings today`s Bengal cat breed was born. In 1983, the Bengal cat was registered as a new breed by TICA.

The Bengal cat is quite large for a pedigree cat. The females weigh between 4.5 and 5.5 kilograms, while the tomcats can even weigh up to ten kilograms. Bengal cats have a strong and muscular body with long hind legs and large paws. The spotted coat is typical of the breed, even the belly is spotted. The spots are usually monochromatic and dark, but isolated rosettes can also occur. The Bengal cat`s tail is black and not spotted.

Bengal cats are very playful and extremely active into old age. They are very obtrusive, cuddly and like to purr with their obtrusive voice. Bengals love the water and have extreme jumping power thanks to their ancestors.