Sphynx Bengal Cross

[Bairhaifisch]

I adopted two kitties today that are just wonderful looking. I met the mother (Sphynx) and their aunt (calico Sphynx) but unfortunately it was not able to meet the father (supposedly a Bengal). The story goes that Mom and Aunt are owned a woman who babysat a relative's Bengal while they werr on extended vacation. Despite best efforts, they had a party of the adult kind.

They aren't breeders by any means and wanted the kittens gone. They are 8 weeks old today. Anywho. So I picked out a brother and sister pair.

Do you think it's likely the father actually is a Bengal? What would you call these markings? The blue female has long fur, stark Stark white markings, and spots on her underside. The male has short creamer fur and thicker tabby markings

What is odd is that their fur has a rough texture yet is incredibly sparse. They don't seem to shed...at all. It's a new and strange texture to me.

 

[lutece]

In your pictures it looks like there are three blue tabbies, a cream tabby and a black and white kitten, is that correct?

I can see classic patterns on the cream tabby and at least one of the blue tabbies, I suspect that all of the tabbies may be classics considering how dark their backs are. It is not easy to see the tabby patterns, but from these pictures I don't see anything unusual about their patterns that would suggest a Bengal father. It is normal for classic and mackerel tabbies to have spots on the belly; this doesn't indicate Bengal ancestry.

The mother appears black and white in the pictures, but she must actually be a tortoiseshell and white in order to produce that litter of kittens (because there is a cream male). The father of the litter, on the other hand, cannot be red or cream (or else the blue girl would be a dilute torbie). He must be a tabby of some sort (in order to produce tabbies with a non-tabby mother). He might be brown tabby or blue tabby. He probably doesn't have white on him.

Because there are blue and cream kittens, we know both parents must be carrying dilute (blue); this makes the father seem less likely to be a Bengal, since blue is extremely uncommon in Bengals. Did you say the girl has long hair? If so, both parents would have to carry the longhair gene, also. The longhair gene is extremely uncommon in Bengals.

 

[FlawlessImperfection]

I’m sorry I’m not able to answer your questions, but I just had to say:
1- Whatever they are is nothing short of adorable.
2- You’d better take them all, they look super stressed!
Oh Heavens the spotted belly and the outstretched feet, lol!
What a goon! Keep us updated on your new family, congratulations!

 

[Azazel]

Agree with lutece. They are adorable! But nothing to indicate a Bengal father.

 

[talkingpeanut]

I do think you were told a bit of a tale here, and that the mom probably just got outside.

I hope you can encourage them to spay their girls!

Which kittens did you take?

 

[Bairhaifisch]

I think you are all spot on. Mom's sibling is a red/black calico and while it's hard to tell, it does look like she had some tortie blotches. Mom might be a dilute, it's all muddied up and hard to tell.

I'm guessing dad was some kind of solid tabby running loose. Who knows and it doesn't really matter. I'm enjoying my kittens and definitely going to get both of them altered. I woke up this morning to the cream boy playing with my hair.

Does anyone have experience with Sphynx mixes? I ask because their fur is course yet sparse. It's not soft like traditional kitten fur. I adopted the upside down girl (the one where they are on the blanket) and the creame boy in the photos. One of the blue girls was practically bald.

If I didn't exam them and see where they were living, I'd assume they had some kind of disease. It's just so thin! I'll get some close up photos tonight. I wanted to leave them alone for at least a day to adjust.

 

[GreyLady]

SO cute. That little blueone with the spotted belly, I woThe rough fur is very interesting, If I had to guess Id say it came from the Sphinx side. Luckily there were no bald kitties in the litter, or half bald kitties.

 

[lutece]

Does anyone have experience with Sphynx mixes? I ask because their fur is course yet sparse. It's not soft like traditional kitten fur. I adopted the upside down girl (the one where they are on the blanket) and the creame boy in the photos. One of the blue girls was practically bald.

The Sphynx hairlessness mutation is considered to be recessive to normal coat, and dominant to the Devon Rex curly coat mutation. Because mom is hairless, we expect that she has two mutant alleles and at least one is HR (hairless). She is likely to be homozygous HR/HR (two copies of hairless), although she could possibly be heterozygous HR/DR (one copy of hairless, one copy of Devon Rex coat).
Summary of Sphynx and Devon Rex genetics here:
Sphynx/Devon Rex Coat

Each kitten in the litter got one copy of a mutant allele (HR or possibly DR) from mom, and one copy of a normal coat allele from dad. I don't have personal experience with Sphynx mixes, so I don't know whether it is typical for carriers of the HR mutation to have unusual coats, but it is certainly possible that the mutation has an effect on the coat in heterozygotes. In this paper on Sphynx and Devon Rex genetics, it is noted that two of the hairless Sphynx in the study were actually heterozygous:
The naked truth: Sphynx and Devon Rex cat breed mutations in KRT71
"However, two Sphynx were not homozygous for the hr mutation nor compound heterozygous with the re mutation, suggesting that these cats have some other epistatic mutations or hairless is dominant with variable penetrance in expression."

 

[Bairhaifisch]

SO cute. That little blueone with the spotted belly, I woThe rough fur is very interesting, If I had to guess Id say it came from the Sphinx side. Luckily there were no bald kitties in the litter, or half bald kitties.

That's my little girl! Her fur is curly, course, and sparse. The other blue tabby female was practically bald with short but very sparse fur.

lutece Very interesting read. So, the Devon rex Gene is somewhat like patchwork hairless rats it seems. I took some additional photos I thought you might be interested in. The male has soft shorter hair in his coat while still having the longer coarse (guard hairs?) hair. The blue tabby female doesn't seem to have the soft undercoat he does.

I included some shots where you can see how the texture is coarse, somewhat curly, but lacks density. It appears in both that these longer hairs are white tipped? The male appears to shed and the female doesn't seem to be able to loose hair if she wanted to. I gave her a good scratch down and not a single hair came off her!

 

[lutece]

They have very interesting coats, for sure! You will have to see how the coats develop. Kittens at this age still have baby fur; the texture may change as they mature. They are adorable, too