Is she a seal mink bengal

[zenny1]

Hi, just bought this little stunner and was told it was a certain breed. What do you think? I was told she is a seal mink bengal.

She does have all the characteristics that I have been ready and black feet.

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• zenny1
• Dec 10, 2013

 

[zenny1]

Sorry about the masses of typos but i think you'll get the idea

 

[maewkaew]

Well she's awfully cute!  Very  pretty girl,  and she does look like a Seal Spotted Mink or Seal Spotted Sepia. ( which look similar... I'm not saying I doubt she is mink) 

To be honest at least right now she doesn't look like the most  typical Bengal kitten to me.    ( and I show in TICA so I see a lot of Bengal kittens).   She has some MAJOR ears for a Bengal!  She looks like she may be a bit lanky and refined for a Bengal too.   I'm not saying she isn't... she looks like she COULD be a Bengal,  and do think I have seen a couple SBT Bengal kittens that had a similar look.   It's true she's a kitten,  so she may grow into her ears.  and kittens do go through some interesting shape changes as they grow up.   

I  can't help wondering if she has something else in her not very far back that is popping up here.   

 I'm curious, what does it say in her registration slip about the breeds of her parents,  and in the pedigree about the grandparents,  great grandparents etc.?   Were there nothing but Bengals in her  ancestry for at least 4 generations?.  I could imagine some other possibilities. 

Hopefully you did get a registration and pedigree.   The "papers" cost the breeder very little if the parent cats have full registration,    and should always be included when you get a  kitten from a breeder. .   (Or if you buy with a contract requiring you to neuter / spay before you get the registration,  you still should have got a copy of the parents pedigree, and should have been able to see the parents registrations if you asked.  )

  So... what are you calling her?

 

[zenny1]

Hi thanks for the reply. She's called pepper and 14 weeks old. From what iv read she has all the characteristics and personality of a bengal. From what I understand she is some sort of mixture. Her dad looked just like her and just like a seal mink bengal and mother was a snow bengal. However neither had large ears. Sadly she wasn't bought with papers but was from who I believe is a reputable breeder (after some research and referral) I was also thinking the same about her ears as they are massive!!!! This was the main reason for my query. She has a very spotty stomach but I know this isn't an indicator of definitely being a bengal. Sadly without papers I can't verify anything so was mainly looking for a bit of advice. Thankfully I didn't pay over the top for her so not too fussed. I'm of the thinking she has some ancestry of bengal but certainly has something else in her.

I am in the market now for a friend for her. I am thinking an sbt rosetted bengal and will be looking for tica registration and pedigree papers. Any good breeders you know or recommend that don't charge over the odds would be appreciated.

Thankfully she's a darling - very clean, very active and vocal, bounces around like zebidee and a nutter of a kitten just like we wanted.

 

[maewkaew]

Hi Zenny.  

 I'm sure your little nutter would enjoy a playmate!

  You didn't say where you're located.  but you could start a search via  this breeder's list from The International Bengal Cat Society.  http://www.tibcs.com/breederlistingmain.aspx

Another idea is you could ask the regional director of TICA in your region.  http://www.tica.org/public/contact/directors.php

 As I said, I have seen a similar look in  1 or 2 kittens in a litter of Bengals with nothing but Bengal in the pedigree for at least 4 generations and including some successful show cats as recent ancestors.  So it can happen.  Not all kittens meet the standard.   Also sometimes kittens go through odd gangly stages and then grow up to be much closer to the breed standard than it seemed they would be.  

 But the absence of papers  combined with the kitten's type looking different,   would make me  at least wonder a bit if there might have been an "oops" mating  in a recent generation.  But if so,  they should be honest when selling the kittens.  

You're right,  a spotty tummy is even seen in moggies  so it doesn't give a lot of clue. 

Bengals have become very popular  and there are a lot of people now passing off Bengal mixes as Bengals,  or breeding pet quality cats bought  with an agreement that they were to be neutered.   ( That is one reason why someone might not have papers. because they  aren't allowed to register kittens from those cats. If they would lie to the breeders they got the cats from,they will lie to kitten buyers , too. )

 & watch out for breeders who don't bother to do health testing,  like the heart scans for HCM that the better Bengal breeders have done regularly on their breeding cats.  & some of them giving very little socialization to the cats and kittens ,  and paying very little attention to temperament when making breeding decisions. 

Here is an article that might be helpful  :     "Determining a Breeder's Reputability"   ( written by a Bengal breeder who is very active in TICA)  http://www.tica.org/members/publications/brochures/breeder.pdf