Bengal Mix

[Maruna]

Hi all, I bought my kitten from an untrustworthy breeder who claims she’s half Bengal from a stud (but then also seemed to switch her story up a few times).
I’ve listed some key things about her that might be of use:
- variety of colours on coat, tabby markings
- spotted belly
- tail becomes all black towards tip and then has a ginger streak at end
- one or two rosettes are vaguely visible on one side only when she is stretched out
- ticked fur
- head small in comparison to body
- long and lean body
- pure white fur only around mouth and eyes
- energetic and loves to play

It makes no difference to me whether she is or isn’t half Bengal but I’d like to know your opinion please.

 

[StefanZ]

First, spots on belly doesnt prove anything, because many tabbies have such, both mackerel and classic tabby.
Whitish aroung mouth and eyes is common with tabbies too.

If there ARE some vague rosettes, he MAY have some bengal ancestry, but not nearer than grandad, and heavy money bet is even further back.

To summarize: this young cat seems very nice, and if you are happy with a nice tabby, fine go for it.
Paying the price suitable for nice moggies.

But dont buy him because you want a bengal mix...

 

[lutece]

Your kitten is very cute! She would be described as a brown (black-based) torbie domestic shorthair. Torbie means tortoiseshell tabby.

Spots on the belly are a normal part of the tabby pattern in domestic cats and do not indicate anything about her ancestry. In general, her heavily ticked coat color is not typical of Bengals (which are bred for high contrast between spots and ground color).

In one of the pictures, a rosette-like marking appears to be visible, which might indicate possible Bengal ancestry:



It's hard to say from looking at the pictures whether your kitten's dad could have been a Bengal, or if he might just have a little bit of Bengal ancestry. However, because your kitten is a torbie, one thing to consider is the mother's color:

• If the mother is red (ginger) or tortie / torbie, it would be theoretically possible for the father to have been a Bengal.
• If the mother doesn't have red on her (for example if she's a black cat), the father would have had to have been red tabby in color, which would mean he wasn't a Bengal. He could have had a little Bengal ancestry.