Wondering colors for Bengals

SiameseLuverr

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Our two purebred Bengals have mated and we are patiently awaiting for our queen to go into labor. What I am wondering is, what colors are possible from a brown to brown mating? Both our queen and male are brown rosetted but I have read that two brown Bengals are able to make other colors depending on genes. This is her first litter and it wasn't planned so we didn't do any of the genetic testing that is done for genes, etc. Would love some opinions! Here is a picture of our queen and male. In the pictures they look almost the same color but the male is a lighter brown compared to our queen. Thanks everyone!
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lutece

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It's difficult to know what colors are possible, because it will depend on which recessive genes your cats carry. Since brown spotted (rosetted) is dominant, almost anything is theoretically possible. For example, they might carry:
  • classic (marbled) pattern
  • colorpoint (snow)
  • sepia
  • charcoal
  • dilute (blue)
  • solid
  • or even longhair!
You might be able to make a guess about what recessive genes they carry, or might carry, by looking at their pedigree, or talking to your cats' breeder(s). For example, if each of your cats has one classic (marbled) parent, they would both carry the recessive gene for classic pattern, and you could get classic (marbled) kittens. Usually however, it's not so easy to get definite information about recessives from a pedigree, because recessive genes can hide for many generations without being expressed.

For genetic testing of Bengals in a breeding program, I would recommend Optimal Selection Feline if you want to get a complete picture, including known disease genes, color and other traits, genetic diversity, and breeder matching tool. It won't give you results before your kittens are born, but it will still give useful information about what your cats and potential kittens may carry. Optimal Selection has very good coverage of Bengals with a large number of cats of that breed in their database already. I can give you more detailed information if you send me a private message.
 

StefanZ

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That said, most kittens will prob look as the parents, because its dominant patterns. And it depends also, on how purebred their lines are.
But as Lutece said, if there are recessive genes flowing around, you can get someone or two in the batch with different looks.

The longhair is the least probable, because longhair isnt used for purebred bengals. But unsworn is the safest. :) So, do bet money against this if you wish, but dont swear on it!
 
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SiameseLuverr

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Thank you both! I figured they would all be brown rosetted (spotted) but I was just wondering what the chances are of other colors. I can't wait to meet these precious babies!! I will post pics when they are born so you all can see how the babies turned out as well 😊
 

lutece

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The longhair is the least probable, because longhair isnt used for purebred bengals. But unsworn is the safest. :) So, do bet money against this if you wish, but dont swear on it!
Longhair Bengals were accepted for Championship in TICA in 2017. They are part of the Bengal Breed Group.
 

StefanZ

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Longhair Bengals were accepted for Championship in TICA in 2017. They are part of the Bengal Breed Group.
Aha, tx for the info. I didnt knew this. Do you know how this began? Had someone intentionally breed forth a longhair variation, or simply there are anow and then occasional longhaired born, and with time, they were accepted as a legit variation / legit sister breed (as happened with British shorthair).
 

lutece

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Do you know how this began? Had someone intentionally breed forth a longhair variation, or simply there are anow and then occasional longhaired born, and with time, they were accepted as a legit variation / legit sister breed (as happened with British shorthair).
As far as I know, the introduction of the longhair gene was not intentional. It happened to be in the gene pool, and eventually this coat length was accepted. Domestics were used in the early development of the Bengal breed, and it's quite possible some of those domestics might have been longhair carriers.

If you are curious about the prevalence of recessives in the Bengal breed, here are various allele frequencies as actually tested by Optimal Selection, including all the pedigreed Bengals in their database (a large number of Bengals):
  • a allele (solid) - 8.85%
  • APb allele (charcoal factor) - 9.33%
  • cs allele (colorpoint) - 31.89%
  • cb allele (sepia) - 7.97%
  • d allele (dilute/blue) - 8.14%
  • M4 allele (longhair) - 4.37%
The recessive classic tabby allele (responsible for marbled pattern in Bengals) is not included in this list, as Optimal Selection doesn't yet include this test in their panel.
 

cataholic07

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For bengals it is recommended to do genetic testing if you want to know recessive genes otherwise its hard to say. Brown Bengals can be carries for a lot of different colors unfortunately, sepia, mink, and snow. Do you know the colors of the parents? And do you plan on spaying and neutering both parents or breeding again in the future? If you plan on breeding you will want genetic testing as well as HCM test and a few other common bengal genetic issues.
 
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SiameseLuverr

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For bengals it is recommended to do genetic testing if you want to know recessive genes otherwise its hard to say. Brown Bengals can be carries for a lot of different colors unfortunately, sepia, mink, and snow. Do you know the colors of the parents? And do you plan on spaying and neutering both parents or breeding again in the future? If you plan on breeding you will want genetic testing as well as HCM test and a few other common bengal genetic issues.
Our male is neutered already. We got him at 4-5 months old as a rehome from someone who couldn't handle him and we had an appointment for a few weeks later. We thought he was too young to get our girl pregnant as Bengals don't fully mature until around 2 years but boy we were wrong! Lol

Our girl ended up having her kittens 3.5 days ago! They are all brown spotted, except for 3 (2 charcoal spotted and a brown marble). Just thought I'd let you guys know how the coloring turned out for her litter!! Here are a few pictures of mama and kittens 😻😻
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SiameseLuverr

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Also, forgot to mention: she ended up having 8 kittens, with 7 of them living. One unfortunately didn't make it and came out not fully formed.

So in total we have 4 brown rosetted, 2 charcoal rosetted and 1 brown marble. So excited to watch them grow 😻
 
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SiameseLuverr

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Wanted to show some updated pictures!! Kittens will be 2 weeks old tomorrow and are doing AMAZING. It seems mama is a complete natural 😻
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SiameseLuverr

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Here's a few updated pics. The kittens are now 5 weeks old. They go for their vaccines in 2 weeks and all are doing amazing!! They are so friendly, cuddly and absolutely LOVE to play!!

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Silver Crazy

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Wow..you have got quite a variety of patterns and colors...cant wait to see them when the kitten fuzzies all go and the true colors come out.
And soon the stampedes around the house..lol..got a lot of fun coming.
 
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