Bengal Cat Colors Long Island New York
|
Bengal Cat Studs |
Bengal Cat Queens |
Bengal Kittens |
Bengal Information |
Bengal Photos |
Return to HOME page New! More examples of colors/patterns coming soon to Flickr!
|
Welcome to Pleasant Pond Bengal Cat Colors and Patterns page. Our intent here is to pictorially present the colors and patterns of Bengal Cats along with short verbal descriptions. We are not including information on the differences genetically or include any of the coding used by The International Cat Association (TICA) for the various Bengal Cat colors and patterns. If you are interested in these specifics, please visit websites of TICA at http://www.tica.org or The International Bengal Cat Society (TIBCS). Most people who are looking for a nice Bengal Cat to spend the next 20 years with as a pet are really not too concerned with the cats genetics or TICA's color coding, but are very interested in what the cat looks like now, and, if a kitten, will look like in coming years. Some of the colors described below are less "desirable" from a Bengal Cat fancier's perspective. However, this does not make the cat any less Bengal, nor is it an accurate prediction of future popularity! From a pet owner's point of view, we have found several people who actually prefer the blue Bengals when viewing them side by side with a brown spotted. Some of the melanistic Bengals are spectacular, displaying very silky pelted coats. Although most breeders do not have many of the non-standard colors (melanistic, black smoke or blue or a kitten that looks like a marbled Siamese), they do occur occasionally. Like any new endeavor, when the breed was first starting, it was necessary to set standards for the outcome of future breedings. TICBS has a wealth of information on Bengal Cat colors and patterns as well as how the standards evolved. If you are interested in more specifics on this, visit the TIBCS site at http://www.bengalcat.com In this section we will first look at the standard Bengal colors and patterns. Then we will present pictures of the non-standard colored Bengals. Currently the Bengal standard includes two patterns: leopard and marble and three colors: brown, silver and “snow.” There are three different “snow” colors which are described and shown below. Each color comes in either leopard or marbled patterns. |
Brown Bengals
|
Pleasant Pond's Tabasco
Tabasco is a beautiful young rufused and rosetted boy with a great temperament and very nice body type
|
 |
|
When reading about Bengals, you will see the term "hot rufus", "rufism", or "rufused". This means that the cat has a reddish or orange background color in their coat. Leo, shown here, is a nice example of a brown spotted tabby Bengal with "rufism" as well as "rosettes". |
 |
||
| Ariel is a brown spotted tabby having rufism with a mahogany background tone. |
 |
||
| Kumba is a brown spotted tabby with a golden background,
|
 |
||
| The kitten Sundance (right) is another example of an excellent brown spotted tabby, but her background is a light, golden beige. |
 |
| Ellie (pictured at right), is a brown spotted tabby showing some "ticking" in her rather gray background. She has large arrowhead spots with lots of acreage (space) in between those spots. Ticking in the background of a Bengal is not desirable because a ticked background coat will not display the traditional pelt having "glitter". |
 |
||
| Ophelia is
a brown spotted Bengal having wonderful rufism, good contrast and tons
of glitter! |
 |
| Pleasant Pond Evita a beautiful brown rosetted girl with great personality and conformation. Sire: Millwood Bronte` of Pleasant Pond Dam: Millwood Mamara of Pleasant Pond TICA #: SBT 050105 065 |
 |
||
Brown
spotted tabby Bengal  |
 |
|
Mariah is a brown leopard girl with whited underbelly and a nice refused coat with very nice contrast and rosettes. (for more pictures of whited Bengals, see our whited section of this website. |
 |
Brown Marble
|
Butterfly is a very pretty tri-colored marble girl. |
 |
| Trouble is also a tri-colored marble, but has a much darker coat color. |
 |
 Roscoe is another example of a brown marble Bengal. He also has a beautiful whited underbody. |
 |
Silver Bengals - As with the browns, the silvers come in a range or shades.
| X is an example of a truly beautiful silver Bengal. |
 |
|
| Bullet is also a handsome silver boy. |
 |
|
| Silver Hawk is not quite the same shade as either X or Bullet, but still an example of a very pretty silver leopard. |
 |
|
| Gemeni is a lighter silver. |
 |
|
Zoe is a silver leopard girl. She is a
second generation (BON) down from the initial American Shorthair
Bengal cross for our silver program. Zoe has a delightful
temperament, nice dark markings and very nice contrast. Her
conformation and head are more Bengal-like than the previous
generation of American Shorthair/Bengal cross (AON).
Zoe's
parents are Pleasant Pond's Gypsy (Zena) and Aluren Xhilaration
(X). We are looking forward to some beautiful silver
progeny from her.
|
|
|
|
Silver leopard female |
|
|
| Silke is a dramatic example of a silver marble Bengal. |
 |
|
| PattiLace is also a very beautiful silver marble girl. |
 |
Zoe is a silver leopard girl. She is
a second generation (BON) down from the initial American
Shorthair Bengal cross for our silver program. Zoe has a
delightful temperament, nice dark markings and very nice
contrast. Her conformation and head are more Bengal-like
than the previous generation of American Shorthair/Bengal cross
(AON).
Zoe's parents are Pleasant Pond's Gypsy (Zena)
and Aluren Xhilaration (X). We are looking forward to some
beautiful silver progeny from her.
    |
Snow Bengals
Seal lynx snow Bengals are
born snow white and develop their color over time. Sometimes for
several weeks it is difficult to tell if a new born seal lynx is a
leopard or a marble. The lynx adults will have blue eyes. To
see the progressive color and pattern development in babies at 2 and
8 weeks of age, click
here.
Seal mink kittens are born with visible color and pattern. Their markings tend to darken as they mature. They will have aqua eyes as adults. The picture at right shows a seal lynx and a seal mink kitten from the same litter. Seal mink Bengals, have a light, creamy or ivory background coat with darker contrasting pattern.
| Two snow leopard kittens at 4 weeks of age, the kitten on the left is a seal mink (aqua eyes as an adult and born with clear markings) and the one on the right is a seal lynx (blue eyes as an adult and born with very little visible pattern). Their color and markings will become much more dramatic during the first year. |
|
| Sebastian, shown here is a magnificent Seal Lynx Point Marbled Bengal. |
  |
Three different cats, three variations of snow
|
|
Pleasant Pond's Shoe Too Sire: Pleasant Pond's Avalanche Dam: Pleasant Pond's Celine SBT 053005 068
|
Melanistic Bengals
|
Pleasant Pond's Silver Onyx (Oannie)Oannie is a black smoke female who will be contributing to our silver breeding program. She is a nice conformation and temperament and a beautiful black smoke PELTED coat. If you look closely you can see that Oannie has a silver undercoat, thus distinguishing her as a black smoke (silver cat). In a melanistic cat, this silver undercoat would not be present. Watch for her progeny to show up in our silver breeding program in late 2009.
|
The International Cat Association (TICA) was the first registry to recognize the Bengal Cat. The colors they recognize in Bengals are Brown, Silver, Seal Lynx, Seal Mink and Seal Sepia. There are some other colors now such as silver seal lynx. These kittens occur in litters with one silver parent and one snow parent. TICA also recognized two Bengal patterns; Spotted and Marble. It is possible to find Bengal Cats with any of the above colors in either pattern. The color and pattern most often associated with the Bengal Cat is the Brown Spotted Tabby or leopard. Within this color classification, you will see several shades of background that may include; reddish-orange, mahogany, sorrel, golden, tawny or gray. AS you can see, Bengal Cats have a tremendous variation even among the recognized colors.
The Gray Fuzzies
So you have put a deposit on a beautiful little Bengal kitten that had a sleek coat and beautiful contrast. Then your breeder sends you an updated pictured of your little one as he is growing, and this picture looks nothing like the clear coated new born on whom you had put your deposit.
When looking at
Bengal kittens, usually a few weeks old, you may encounter the "gray
fuzzies". This is a camouflage stage 
displayed
with some kittens. In the wild, this stage most likely correlates with
the time kittens begin to wander out of the nest, and so, from a
survival perspective, it is a useful stage. Unfortunately, it is not
particularly useful when you are shopping for a kitten! It is a stage
however, and will pass between 3 and 6 months. What was a very clear
coated kitten at birth and up to 2-3 weeks, can suddenly look like the
basket full of babies pictured here.
For more Bengal information, please visit our Bengal Information page!
Email or Telephone: (631) 205-5036
Long Island New York