Since a question about the bengal cats ears was brought up in another thread, I'll explain it a little here.
The bengal standard calls for cats to have small to medium size ears which are rounded at the top. In other words, not pointed and without tufts. Everyone's definition of rounded is going to vary a little, but the tuft part is pretty cut and dry.
When bengal kittens are born, they have very short rounded ears which lay flat against their heads. As they age, the ears become upright and seem to grow like weeds, to the point where the ears look like twin radar towers and don't seem to match the head size.
Normally the head catches up with the ears by the time the kitten is 8 months old. The idea is to look for the rounding at the top and of course how the ears are set on the cats head. Placement is important as well, if the kitten is being considered for show.
Here are some examples:
This is Jack at 4 months of age. You can see that his ears look too big for his head, if you were to apply the adult bengal cat standard to him at this age. They are however rounded at the top. We made the assumption that he would be a big cat and his head would grow into his ears, so to speak.
Here's Jack as a young adult, around 8 months old. You can see now, that his ears fit his head much better and he meets the breed standard for an adult cat. Jacks eye color also changed dramatically over those 4 months.
This is Argus, a marble boy we sold as a pet. Pictured here, he's about a year old. You can see that his ears are a bit too tall for his head, but they are still somewhat rounded and not pointy. This cat would have problems winning at shows, because his ears are too tall. I absolutely love this cats face though. The brick colored nose is perfect, awesome expressive nocturnal eyes with the goggle highlights. Very nice muzzle and a strong chin.
The bengal standard calls for cats to have small to medium size ears which are rounded at the top. In other words, not pointed and without tufts. Everyone's definition of rounded is going to vary a little, but the tuft part is pretty cut and dry.
When bengal kittens are born, they have very short rounded ears which lay flat against their heads. As they age, the ears become upright and seem to grow like weeds, to the point where the ears look like twin radar towers and don't seem to match the head size.
Normally the head catches up with the ears by the time the kitten is 8 months old. The idea is to look for the rounding at the top and of course how the ears are set on the cats head. Placement is important as well, if the kitten is being considered for show.
Here are some examples:
This is Jack at 4 months of age. You can see that his ears look too big for his head, if you were to apply the adult bengal cat standard to him at this age. They are however rounded at the top. We made the assumption that he would be a big cat and his head would grow into his ears, so to speak.
Here's Jack as a young adult, around 8 months old. You can see now, that his ears fit his head much better and he meets the breed standard for an adult cat. Jacks eye color also changed dramatically over those 4 months.
This is Argus, a marble boy we sold as a pet. Pictured here, he's about a year old. You can see that his ears are a bit too tall for his head, but they are still somewhat rounded and not pointy. This cat would have problems winning at shows, because his ears are too tall. I absolutely love this cats face though. The brick colored nose is perfect, awesome expressive nocturnal eyes with the goggle highlights. Very nice muzzle and a strong chin.