Friend got a "Bengal" and I am unconvinced....

[mizzely]

Hi everyone.

An acquaintance of mine recently posted on Facebook that she has finally gotten a Bengal kitten. To me, it looks exactly like a regular tabby you'd find at the shelter. Am I being overly critical or is it possible it's actually a Bengal?

Sorry for the quality of photos, these are what she has posted.

 

[KittyFriday]

Seems like a regular tabby to me. I don't think it's super uncommon for people to believe their cats are breed x or breed y when they are just a regular ol' DSH or DLH. Not that there's anything wrong with those kinds of cats - mine is just a yellow tabby DSH and he's the greatest thing in the world.

So, if she got this kitty from a shelter and wants to pretend its a bengal - whatever. I'd be more concerned if she got this kitty from a breeder and paid a substantial amount of money to get scammed. But what's done is done I guess.

 

[mizzely]

Seems like a regular tabby to me. I don't think it's super uncommon for people to believe their cats are breed x or breed y when they are just a regular ol' DSH or DLH. Not that there's anything wrong with those kinds of cats - mine is just a yellow tabby DSH and he's the greatest thing in the world.

So, if she got this kitty from a shelter and wants to pretend its a bengal - whatever. I'd be more concerned if she got this kitty from a breeder and paid a substantial amount of money to get scammed. But what's done is done I guess.

My understanding is she bought it from a breeder and spent quite a bit on it. I'm with you, I have had three DSH in my life, 2 grey tabbies and a tortie. No idea what they were mixed with lol

 

[jen]

Oh dear i don't think that's a Bengal. Someone scammed her I think?

 

[StefanZ]

I want to see a good pic from aside.

 

[Willowy]

Did she get any papers? If no papers, there's no proof the kitty is a Bengal. I mean, some Bengal kittens do come out looking like regular tabbies; it's not like every kitten will have fancy show quality rosettes. But in that case the breeder should sell it at a reduced pet price and still provide papers.

 

[mizzely]

I'm not sure if she got papers or not to be honest. I just happened to see her post Tuesday saying she was getting a Bengal kitten and then she picked it up yesterday. She's an old co-worker of mine so not exactly someone I talk to daily. I'll see if I can get more info!

 

[SirenSong]

Yikes ... that's a tough one. Some tell tale signs of it being a bengal are having pronounced belly spots (can't tell from the pics provided) and no white spots, but ... honestly ... bengals aren't usually striped like that. I have a female bengal who doesn't really present a great coat pattern (imo). No rosettes ... just spots ... it's the SOFTEST fur you'll ever touch though (another bengal trait) and it has some "glitter" as well. But I think even the "worst" looking coat for a bengal isn't striped like that. Bengals kind of only come in spotted, rosetted, or marbled and marbled doesn't look like that either.

Having said ALL that ... it CAN be hard to tell what the kitten coat will end up looking like as an adult. Coats can change a lot ... It could just be that she got a bengal cat with a really plain "single spot" coat. With the kitten fur, it's hard to tell if it has the tell-tale "ticking" where one strand of fur is comprised of 3 colours or if it will have the tell-tale silky, smooth "pelt" feel.

This picture (kind of) shows what a pronounced belly spot would look like.

Here you can (sort of) see what a "plain" bengal looks like that doesn't come out with those amazing rosettes. Mine is definitely a bengal. Came with papers (I have, since, lost them of course lol) she just doesn't have a great pattern. She's still beautiful to me though!

 

[Sugar Plum]

Maybe it's a bengal mix and her kitten doesn't show it. My local shelter actually has a bengal mix right now. It's got rosettes, but is clearly mixed with tabby. Its head is also a tad small compared to its body. I've noticed many bengals are like that, but that's probably due to their Asian leopard cat ancestry. Nevertheless, the shape and proportion of this kitten's head makes me think it's not a bengal mix either, but I'm definitely not (!) an expert on cat breeds.

I think her kitten is beautiful. She's doubtless already fallen in love with it. So I don't see the point in questioning its ancestry. I'd be careful; you might lose a friend. Reporting the breeder to a cat association might be a more productive step.

 

[lutece]

I'm not seeing any similarity to the Bengal breed in the kitten's pictures at all. I would describe this cute little kitty as a brown mackerel tabby domestic shorthair. It's a beautiful kitten, and domestic shorthairs are just as nice and special as any pedigreed cat... but it does not appear to have Bengal ancestry. My guess is that the "breeder" is selling domestic shorthair kittens as "Bengals," possibly out of ignorance.

Some tell tale signs of it being a bengal are having pronounced belly spots [...]

Belly spots are not a tell-tale indication of Bengal ancestry. This is a common misconception. Belly spots (even very obvious and "pronounced" belly spots) are a normal part of the mackerel and classic tabby patterns. Bengals and other spotted tabby cats have these spots, but other tabbies also have these spots (some people call them "vest buttons").

With the kitten fur, it's hard to tell if it has the tell-tale "ticking" where one strand of fur is comprised of 3 colours [...]

Ticking is not a tell-tale indication of Bengal ancestry. All tabbies have ticking (known as agouti). Bengals are tabbies, so they have ticking like other tabbies.

Some of the other things you mention in your post S SirenSong are better indicators of Bengal ancestry:

• Rosetted spots -- not all Bengals have rosetted spots, but a cat with rosetted spots probably has some Bengal ancestry
• Very soft "pelt" feeling to the coat
• "Glitter"

However, "pelt" coat texture and "glitter" can be difficult for people to recognize unless they have experience with Bengals. Lots of cats have a soft coat texture that can be mistaken for the feeling of a Bengal coat, and healthy tabby cats often have a shimmery or sparkly appearance to the coat that can be mistaken for glitter. So that can confuse people, too.

 

[SirenSong]

I'm not seeing any similarity to the Bengal breed in the kitten's pictures at all. I would describe this cute little kitty as a brown mackerel tabby domestic shorthair. It's a beautiful kitten, and domestic shorthairs are just as nice and special as any pedigreed cat... but it does not appear to have Bengal ancestry. My guess is that the "breeder" is selling domestic shorthair kittens as "Bengals," possibly out of ignorance.

Belly spots are not an indication of Bengal ancestry. This is a common misconception. Belly spots (even very obvious and "pronounced" belly spots) are a normal part of the mackerel and classic tabby patterns. Bengals and other spotted tabby cats have these spots, but other tabbies also have these spots (some people call them "vest buttons").

Ticking is not an indication of Bengal ancestry. All tabbies have ticking (known as agouti). Bengals are tabbies, so they have ticking like other tabbies.

Some of the other things you mention in your post S SirenSong are better indicators of Bengal ancestry:

• Rosetted spots -- not all Bengals have rosetted spots, but a cat with rosetted spots probably has some Bengal ancestry
• Very soft "pelt" feeling to the coat
• "Glitter"

You're right. Those things alone do not indicate bengal. I only mention them as part of a list of possible indicators. You can certainly have tabbies with belly spots but if they have white, probably not a bengal. Maybe you have a cat that has "ticking" and belly spots but not any of the other criteria like the pelt feel or rosettes. It's mostly just "stuff to check for" in conjunction with other things.

The most surefire way to know is to ask the breeder for papers or for copies of the parents papers

 

[lutece]

You're right. Those things alone do not indicate bengal. I only mention them as part of a list of possible indicators. You can certainly have tabbies with belly spots but if they have white, probably not a bengal. Maybe you have a cat that has "ticking" and belly spots but not any of the other criteria like the pelt feel or rosettes. It's mostly just "stuff to check for" in conjunction with other things.

The most surefire way to know is to ask the breeder for papers or for copies of the parents papers

I agree that's the most surefire way to know.

Literally all tabbies have ticking, and most tabbies have belly spots. Checking for those particular characteristics doesn't tell you anything about whether a tabby cat is a Bengal; those characteristics simply aren't relevant to the question. Ticking and belly spots only tell you that the cat is a tabby. The belly spots in particular are a very common misconception; we have people coming here all the time with pictures of their tabby cat's spotted belly, asking if their cat is a Bengal. (You can search the forms for "spotted belly" or "belly spots" and you'll see lots of these posts.) That is why I am addressing it, because other people will come and see this post and think that a spotted belly means their cat is a Bengal

 

[mizzely]

Maybe it's a bengal mix and her kitten doesn't show it. My local shelter actually has a bengal mix right now. It's got rosettes, but is clearly mixed with tabby. Its head is also a tad small compared to its body. I've noticed many bengals are like that, but that's probably due to their Asian leopard cat ancestry. Nevertheless, the shape and proportion of this kitten's head makes me think it's not a bengal mix either, but I'm definitely not (!) an expert on cat breeds.

I think her kitten is beautiful. She's doubtless already fallen in love with it. So I don't see the point in questioning its ancestry. I'd be careful; you might lose a friend. Reporting the breeder to a cat association might be a more productive step.

This post was more for my own curiosity, not so I can go off and prove that she got swindled. If she did get taken, I feel bad for her but I won't be the cause of a kitty getting booted from the house because of something like this. She is definitely smitten with the kitten and I'm not going to be interfering with that bond.

 

[NY cat man]

Your friend's cat looks almost like one of ours, one of 3 feral littermates we took in. We were told by our vet that she has some Bengal traits, mainly the rosettes on her rear flanks, but she is mostly a regular tabby, which is fine with us. Her brother also has several rosettes, but her sister does not, and that's fine too.

 

[tarasgirl06]

This post was more for my own curiosity, not so I can go off and prove that she got swindled. If she did get taken, I feel bad for her but I won't be the cause of a kitty getting booted from the house because of something like this. She is definitely smitten with the kitten and I'm not going to be interfering with that bond.

That's the MOST important thing -- that there is a bond of love and commitment from the adopter to/for the kitten, who is adorable. I'm not a proponent of "purebred" so I won't weigh in on that subject.

 

[jefferd18]

I looked at different Bengal cats and I guess your friend could have one there. But either way, she loves him/her, and that is what counts.

 

[lutece]

jefferd18 I was curious about the kitty in the picture you posted, because it has a broken mackerel pattern which is not typical for the Bengal breed. So I did a google image search, and found that it seems to be one of those stock images that is all over the web without attribution. Lots of stock images of cats labeled as a specific breed aren't really that breed at all... so I don't think we can confidently assert that the kitty in your picture is indeed a Bengal. It does have a high contrast between pattern and background, and as this is a trait of the Bengal breed, I think it's possible that the kitty in the picture you posted has some Bengal ancestry... we don't know for sure, but possible. If you look at the pictures posted by S SirenSong you will also see a high contrast between spots and ground color.

Comparing to the OP's pictures however, you will notice a big difference. The OP's pictures do not show the same degree of contrast between pattern and background. The lower contrast pattern in the OP's pictures appears more typical of a random bred domestic cat, rather than a cat with Bengal ancestry.

 

[mizzely]

All I've learned is that she is "from a breeder" in a nearby town which I can find no mention of a Bengal breeder there. And this adorkable photo of the little thing LOL.

I'm not really pressing for information as again I don't want to plant that seed of doubt for her

 

[Maria Bayote]

All I've learned is that she is "from a breeder" in a nearby town which I can find no mention of a Bengal breeder there. And this adorkable photo of the little thing LOL.


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I'm not really pressing for information as again I don't want to plant that seed of doubt for her

She is so cute. You are right, either way, better to leave it like that. Your friend seemed to have been bonded already with the kitty, and that is all that matters. I also do hope that when she learns she has been probably scammed she won't have a change of heart.

 

[lutece]

I understand why you wouldn't want to make your friend feel that you doubt her story. But when you do eventually get around to talking with her about it, you don't have to make it sound like you believe she was scammed. Even if the kitten isn't a Bengal, that wouldn't necessarily mean it was a scam. Maybe the person who raised the kittens decided their cat was a Bengal based on pictures they saw online, and then thought it was accurate to advertise the cat's kittens as Bengals. Most people who misrepresent kittens' breeds are just misinformed, and don't intend to scam others.

It's also theoretically possible, I guess, that the kitten could be a pet quality Bengal, going through the "fuzzy" developmental stage during which the coat pattern is not very clear... although it's really not typical of a Bengal to have that type of broken mackerel coat pattern... and at this time it just looks like an adorable little domestic shorthair kitten.

In any case, even if the kitten isn't a Bengal, that wouldn't mean that the kitten is any less special! Domestic shorthair cats are just as wonderful pets as any pedigreed cat. Sometimes, for example with pet insurance, it can even be advantageous if your cat is identified as a domestic shorthair rather than a pedigreed cat (especially a hybrid breed like a Bengal).