Chinook Arch Bengals

The Bengal breed began as a cross between the Asian Leopard Cat (Prionailurus Bengalensis) and a domestic cat, with the intent to create a docile and affectionate domestic cat with the coat colour and pattern, and strong physical resemblance to its wild ancestor.

 

Stub Book Tradition (SBT) Bengals are at least four generations removed from the Asian Leopard Cat ancestor and are domestic.

 

Bengals are a medium to large sized cat weighing in at 8-12 pounds on average. They have a sleek, muscular look and a spotted or marbled pattern on a short hair coat that is luxuriously smooth and dense. The head should have a wild expression with nocturnal looking eyes, rounded ear tips, and prominent whisker pads.

 

Traditional Bengal colours are Brown (in all tone variations), Snow (Seal Lynx Point, Mink, and Sepia), and Silver. Charcoal is the result of the agouti gene inherited from the Asian Leopard Cat which gives the cat a dark mask and cape on any of the colours. Other colours such as Blue (dilute), and Black (melanistic) are not yet accepted colours in The International Cat Association (TICA).

 

The coat can be spotted or marbled. Spots can be solid or rosettes in arrowhead, doughnut/pancake, or paw print markings that have a random or horizontal flow. Marble colouring is a random pattern of distinctive swirls with sharp edges.

 

Bengals are very active, intelligent, mischievous, and vocal. They have a strong desire to be where the action is and will follow you around the house. They love interactive toys and will bring them to you when they want to play. They like water and have no problems getting wet – I had two who insisted on coming in the shower with me! You must keep toilet lids downs so they don’t play in the water. They are trainable and learn basic commands and can be taught to walk in a harness. They are very social and enjoy your company or that of a fellow animal. They aren’t keen on being picked up and cuddled, but will settle in with you on their own terms. They are very vocal – yes I said that twice. They have a wide range of vocalizations and enjoy “chatting” with you. Be prepared, Bengals are loud! They have no trouble checking the upper limits of the decibel range. They are accomplished jumpers and there is no height in your house that they won’t check out. They are very curious and want to investigate everything. They will open drawers, get into cupboards, and generally try to go everywhere and anywhere they can fit!

 

Some health issues that affect Bengals are Erythrocyte Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency (PK-def) a type of anemia, Progressive Retinal Atrophy (PRA-b) a disease that causes blindness, and Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) a disease that causes thickening of the heart muscle.

 

Because they are inherited diseases, PK-def and PRA-b can be genetically tested for in the breeding cats and eliminated completely in the offspring. These diseases requires two copies of the recessive gene in order for the cat to be affected, therefore you can have a perfectly healthy cat that carries one copy of the gene. As long as they are bred to a cat that is completely negative for the genes, all offspring will be normal, as they can only inherit one copy of the gene themselves.

 

There is no genetic test for HCM in Bengals. It can only be monitored by examination from a cardiologist.

 

Check out these links to learn more about Bengals:

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https://breedguide.trupanion.com/cat/bengal

http://cfa.org/Breeds/BreedsAB/Bengal.aspx

https://tica.org/breeds/browse-all-breeds#bengal

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