Is my cat a calico bengal mix?

[Nahid1128]

The previous owner said that his mother was calico and the father was an all black cat. However, I'm not really sure. Can someone please help in identifying my cat? Thank you.

 

[Kieka]

Calico is a color pattern describing a cat with orange, black, tans and white coat while bengal is a specific cat breed.

Most cats are not any specific breed but just everyday domestic cat. Breeding cats is a newer human hobby that started only in the last 150-200 years. As such, there is only a very small percentage of the cat population that has any relation to any recognized cat breed. Dogs have been selectively breed by humans for thousands of years for specific work, looks and purpose which is why so many dogs are part of recognizable breeds or related to them compared to cats who were able to breed however they liked for much longer. Bengal being one of the newer breeds is rare to find outside of a breeders. Your cat, whole lovely, is not a bengal. Bengal cats are usually not black or calico and unless your cats parents had pedigree paperwork they were just regular domestic cats.

Your cat is calico because she has the coloring that matches the calico definition. Calico cats usually are female because color gene's are sex linked. In order for a male to be a calico they have to have an extra chromosome, which is a rare occurence. Calico females will usually give birth to calico, tortoiseshell or orange females just because of how genetics work. Your girl does have interesting patterning to her coat and a lot of black. She's very lovely. Her breed would be domestic shorthair and color is calico.

 

[Nahid1128]

Calico is a color pattern describing a cat with orange, black, tans and white coat while bengal is a specific cat breed.

Most cats are not any specific breed but just everyday domestic cat. Breeding cats is a newer human hobby that started only in the last 150-200 years. As such, there is only a very small percentage of the cat population that has any relation to any recognized cat breed. Dogs have been selectively breed by humans for thousands of years for specific work, looks and purpose which is why so many dogs are part of recognizable breeds or related to them compared to cats who were able to breed however they liked for much longer. Bengal being one of the newer breeds is rare to find outside of a breeders. Your cat, whole lovely, is not a bengal. Bengal cats are usually not black or calico and unless your cats parents had pedigree paperwork they were just regular domestic cats.

Your cat is calico because she has the coloring that matches the calico definition. Calico cats usually are female because color gene's are sex linked. In order for a male to be a calico they have to have an extra chromosome, which is a rare occurence. Calico females will usually give birth to calico, tortoiseshell or orange females just because of how genetics work. Your girl does have interesting patterning to her coat and a lot of black. She's very lovely. Her breed would be domestic shorthair and color is calico.

Thank you so much for your response! Also, I got my cat neutered a month ago so he is a male. Although he did have unilateral cryptorchidism. It makes me feel special that male calico cats are rare though!!

 

[Kieka]

He might be a tabby then and the orangish color is more brown. But he is a very pretty kitty.

 

[StefanZ]

Yes I think he is such a warm tabby and white, not "calico".

But. He is very visibly a tabby. Daddy was black so he didnt carry tabby. So momma must have been tabby, so she was either a torbie with white, or possibly an adult copy of your boy.

If you labelled him as calico so why not momma too?

 

[Albus&minnie]

The previous owner said that his mother was calico and the father was an all black cat. However, I'm not really sure. Can someone please help in identifying my cat? Thank you.

I think he's a tabby !
He's very cute!

 

[Nahid1128]

Yes I think he is such a warm tabby and white, not "calico".

But. He is very visibly a tabby. Daddy was black so he didnt carry tabby. So momma must have been tabby, so she was either a torbie with white, or possibly an adult copy of your boy.

If you labelled him as calico so why not momma too?

Well I wasn't sure what he was so I assumed calico because the previous owner said the mother cat was calico. Now I'm thinking my cat is a tabby based on what everyone is saying.

 

[amethyst]

If you are thinking Bengal because of the pattern, that is just the classic tabby pattern which is not breed specific.

 

[jen]

I bet those lighter spots are in fact just brown/gray and will darken as he ages. He doesn't look like calico, but a tabby and white Domestic Shorthair. But it can be hard to tell until their color is fully developed as they grow.

 

[jen]

I will rephrase that to say I think from far away in the thumbnails I can see the thought of calico at first, but when you click for a close up that does look to be more brown.

 

[Kieka]

I will rephrase that to say I think from far away in the thumbnails I can see the thought of calico at first, but when you click for a close up that does look to be more brown.

Yeah, I was on my phone and only saw thumbnails. Opps.

 

[lutece]

Your kitty is very handsome! I would describe him as a brown classic tabby and white domestic shorthair. I am not seeing Bengal influence. Most cats are not any particular breed.

As StefanZ notes, a black father and calico mother cannot produce a tabby kitten. Either the mother was actually a patched tabby / torbie (calico tabby), or the previous owner was mistaken about which cat was the father (quite possible with an accidental litter) and the father was actually a tabby cat.

 

[Aglaya Felipe]

 

[Aglaya Felipe]

One of my kittens looks the same! I was told they were "part Bengal", they are sisters. One has more calico pattern marking and one has more of a marble. Both have tricolor marble patterning down the back while for the kitten with more white she does have a couple open, tricolor rosettes on either side mixed in with half a marble pattern- it's so interesting looking, and her sister looks like more of a marble tabby, but again- tricolor marble (hard to see in photo...I don't have too many yet- just got them!) And I read that Bengal have asymmetrical patterning- half her face looks like a carmel marble, and the other half more of an tan/ash/black. So far they're both super vocal, follow me from room to room and super explorers. It would be cool to know. But the more marble looking sister looks almost exactly like your kitty! So I think they could be because like I said, marble's sister here has got some rosettes.

 

[lutece]

One of my kittens looks the same! I was told they were "part Bengal", they are sisters. One has more calico pattern marking and one has more of a marble. Both have tricolor marble patterning down the back while for the kitten with more white she does have a couple open, tricolor rosettes on either side mixed in with half a marble pattern- it's so interesting looking, and her sister looks like more of a marble tabby, but again- tricolor marble (hard to see in photo...I don't have too many yet- just got them!) And I read that Bengal have asymmetrical patterning- half her face looks like a carmel marble, and the other half more of an tan/ash/black. So far they're both super vocal, follow me from room to room and super explorers. It would be cool to know. But the more marble looking sister looks almost exactly like your kitty! So I think they could be because like I said, marble's sister here has got some rosettes.

Your cats are beautiful!

In the pictures, they both look like classic pattern torbie and white domestic shorthairs. It's normal for torbies to have asymmetrical color patterns, because the torbie patching is random. Where are you seeing rosettes or "tricolor" marbling on them?

 

[Aglaya Felipe]

Your cats are beautiful!

In the pictures, they both look like classic pattern torbie and white domestic shorthairs. It's normal for torbies to have asymmetrical color patterns, because the torbie patching is random. Where are you seeing rosettes or "tricolor" marbling on them?

I've been trying to figure out if the "part Bengal" thing is true, in part because I want to make sure I have enough for them to do of they are, and in part out of curiosity. The kitty with more white, in the photo where she's sort of crouched you can see what look like 3 open rosettes near her tail, and there's another one you can kind of see towards her front leg. She has those kind of top of other color blocks. On her other side she has these marks where it's almost like little daubs of blended paint, ash into carmel into black on top of larger color blocks. But then up her back she has two stripes like a marbled cat, they stand out against the surrounding colors, but while her stripes run longwise, each stripe is alternates orange/black/orange/black. And then the kitten that looks more like a marbled tabby, her stripes are also kid of like that too, it's kid of like her base color is black ticked with silver, and then her stripes are black filled in with orange...except then her flanks are orange. They also kind of do have a shorter fur that's really silky, and almost a little wooly like a deer's or something on their bellies. Honestly- probably better just to take more pictures in the bright light- but they are either curled in a ball asleep, rolling all around for pets or scampering everywhere!

 

[Aglaya Felipe]

Thank you! I will tell them! I found this post looking for pictures of what a bengal cat mixed would look like, or what kind of other cat they could be mixed with if they are part Bengal.

 

[lutece]

In the pictures above, I don't see Bengal-specific patterns such as rosettes or marbling, but maybe you can try to take pictures in better lighting, showing the features you are talking about?

Classic torbie cats can have a more random / "marbled" appearance than other classic tabbies, due to having torbie patches overlaid over the classic tabby pattern making it more difficult to see. However, this picture clearly shows the typical classic tabby bullseye:



Since Bengals are well known at this time, it's pretty common for people to assume classic tabby or torbie cats have a "marbled" pattern and therefore must be part Bengal. Is this why the people thought your cats were part Bengal? Or did they have specific information about your cats' ancestry?

 

[Aglaya Felipe]

These are Aglaya's perhaps most prominent circular spots (rosettes?). And a couple other photos of pretty Pheobe's coat. I adopted from a pretty established rescue network that works with the Petco near where I live. I don't where the rescuers saved them from though. They had the kittens listed as Bengal/mixed on the adoption website. But you know, like you said- they're such a trendy breed rn it seems like something someone might say to help them get adopted. (They really needed no help, when we open their kennel Phoebe walked right into my arms and Aglaya kept giving me the most soulful furtive looks with her copper eyes! I was immediately smitten!) When I was younger I had a striped grey and black tabby that had some ginger/carmel in his coat as well. What seems a little unusual to me is the orange IN the black marble stripes Phoebe has and these donut spots that Aglaya has.

 

[lutece]

Beautiful!

They both look like classic torbie and white girls to me. The circular swirl in the first picture (Aglaya?) is the "bullseye" which is typical of the classic tabby pattern. The last picture (that one is Phoebe?) also shows a "bullseye" marking.

They have orange areas in their black markings because they are torbies. Torbies have random red tabby patches all over the body, that are overlaid on the black-based tabby pattern. In tabby pattern areas that would normally be black, the red tabby patches turn the stripes red / orange. In the tabby pattern areas that would normally be background (agouti hairs with black ticking), the black ticking turns red / orange. Classic pattern cats have very bold markings, and when these bold swirling markings are combined with brilliant black and orange tortoiseshell patches, classic torbie cats are really dramatic and beautiful! It's really one of the prettiest and most dramatic color combinations