Is this a real Bengal?

tjwharton24

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I was web searching and i came across this. Is this a real Bengal? is there such a thing as all black?



Shadow- Melanistic-Solid
black Bengal male-2
years old.

Jenn
 

hopehacker

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It probably is. There is the Melanistic Bengal, which is basically black. I think you can see the spots in the right lighting. Melanistic Bengals are not show worthy, though. However, they are as much Bengal as the other Bengals are.
 

kai bengals

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It's very hard to tell from the picture what the cats features are, but Hope is correct about the Melanistic bengals.
 
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tjwharton24

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I have been reading up on Bengals and i knew that in the early stages of breeding that some bred the ALC with a black cat i think it said Egytian Mau. Please correct me if i am wrong. But i had no idea that there was a Melanistic Bengal. Thank for the post back. Set me sraight LOL... I'm learning


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hopehacker

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I know they did breed with Egyption Mau's, however they're not black, at least none that I've seen are black. They're spotted cats. I know they have more than one colour in the Mau, and some have black spots with a lighter coat.

Here's a link to the Egyption Mau Profile

http://cats.about.com/gi/dynamic/off.../egyptian.html

Nial would know better than I do, but I think the Melanistic Bengal is black because of a recessive gene, somewhat similar to the long haired Bengals.
 

epona

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Oooooooh! I've been googling having seen this thread and I really like those. I do like the look of bengals anyway but black cats with glitter the thought is just doing my head in. Yeah I know they may not be desirable in breeding terms but I would love one as a pet
 

kai bengals

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Originally Posted by Epona

Oooooooh! I've been googling having seen this thread and I really like those. I do like the look of bengals anyway but black cats with glitter the thought is just doing my head in. Yeah I know they may not be desirable in breeding terms but I would love one as a pet
I agree, would be great to have as a pet.
In 10 years of breeding, we haven't been able to produce one, but if we ever do, he/she won't be for sale.
We'll be keeping that one for ourselves! I've always wanted one.
 

kai bengals

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

Wait! There are longhaired Bengals!?!?
Yes, sometimes. It's not a desirable trait of course and rarely happens, but some lines carry for it. Mine do not.

There are some people wanting to create a long haired bengal breed and call it "Cashmere"
 

white cat lover

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I dunno about this whole messing with the Bengal thing(I'm referring to LH bengals). I think they gorgeous just as they are!
Although...the black bengals are absolutely stunning!


I think I need to go do some more research on the Bengal breed!

ETA: Look at this webpage. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgu...3D10%26hl%3Den They refer to LH, blue, & chocolate Bengals. I never knew any of those really existed!
 

kai bengals

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At the moment there is no such thing as a chocolate or a golden bengal, but breeders do sometimes refer to these colors when trying to differentiate between brown bengals.

A "chocolate" bengal will still be registered as a brown.

It all gets a little crazy after awhile
 

goldenkitty45

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I think some of the Bengal lines were using Ocicats as part of the breeding program - which would explain the "unusual" colors. Once you add in another mix and all that cat's recessive genes (which carry forever) - you will get some weird colored cats from time to time.

If they are getting "chocolate" Bengals - I'm willing to bet its from the chocolate Ocicats
 

siggav

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It's funny before I had Nikita I didn't like the idea of melanistic bengals at all, but now that I've had her (she's a brown spotted) I'd love to have one. I.e it's the temprament and build that makes a bengal more than just the coat pattern so having a sleek black cat that shows spots in the right light and has all the other bengal traits is just very nice.

I understand why it's not a recognized colour and I'm not planning to get more cats at all but if given the choice it'd be very hard to say no.
 

bengalbabe

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Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

At the moment there is no such thing as a chocolate or a golden bengal, but breeders do sometimes refer to these colors when trying to differentiate between brown bengals.

A "chocolate" bengal will still be registered as a brown.

It all gets a little crazy after awhile
Actually there is such a thing as a chocolate bengal and it's not considered brown and it's not an accepted color in the bengal breed.

A chocolate bengal would be recessive at the "B" site (the brown/black gene site) it is recessive to the "brown or black" and this gene control pigment shape. "B" is round, but the recessive of "B" is "b" which changes the round shape to an oval shape, which makes the cat appear chocolate brown in color.

A chocolate cat has a pattern the appearance of milk chocolate, with a lighter background color. The tail tip, paw pads, and nose leather will also not be black but a chocolate color.

Also,
here are some pictures of a melanistic bengal kitten. Almost every breeder cat I own carrys for melanistic and I get them all of the time.




This kitten is now 6 months old. She still has very ditinguishable spots under her black shiny coat. I am going to be using her in a safari breeding program with a melanistic geoffroys cat.

For more information on all of the non-standard bengal colors, check out my site here:
http://www.littleleopardcats.com/ben...ardcolors.html
 

hopehacker

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I would LOVE to get a Melanistic Bengal. I can imagine how beautiful they would be grown up. Like a Black Panther, with the wild nocturnal eyes, and black fur. They are cheaper as well. I wonder if their popularity will make the price go up?
 

kai bengals

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I have to point this out, for the people here who aren't breeders but are interested in bengals, because people DO get confused.

These are the ONLY accepted colors of registered bengals:

Brown Spotted / Marble

Black Silver Spotted / Marble

Seal Mink Spotted/ Marble

Seal Lynx Spotted/ Marble

Seal Sepia Spotted/ Marble


Melanistic, Blue, and any other color of the rainbow are not accepted colors.
Golden, chocolate or any other shade of brown that breeders want to classify their cats as to distinguish them are still registered as brown, therefore technically they don't exist as AOC.

If you ever visit a cat show you will see many shades of brown/rufous/tan in the bengal class, but they are all registered and listed as brown spotted or marble tabby.

Bengal cats also must have a brick colored nose leather and black paw pads (exceptions made for the seal class with paw pad equal to point color) to meet the current standard.
 

bengalbabe

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Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

I have to point this out, for the people here who aren't breeders but are interested in bengals, because people DO get confused.

These are the ONLY accepted colors of registered bengals:

Brown Spotted / Marble

Black Silver Spotted / Marble

Seal Mink Spotted/ Marble

Seal Lynx Spotted/ Marble

Seal Sepia Spotted/ Marble


Melanistic, Blue, and any other color of the rainbow are not accepted colors.
Golden, chocolate or any other shade of brown that breeders want to classify their cats as to distinguish them are still registered as brown, therefore technically they don't exist as AOC.

If you ever visit a cat show you will see many shades of brown/rufous/tan in the bengal class, but they are all registered and listed as brown spotted or marble tabby.

Bengal cats also must have a brick colored nose leather and black paw pads (exceptions made for the seal class with paw pad equal to point color) to meet the current standard.
Nial,
I understand what your saying about all of the brown colors being called different things for example charcoal brown is still registered as just brown and so is golden brown.

However, chocolate is NOT brown and is not an accepted color. It is a mutation of the brown/black gene. The tail tip on a chocolate is not black and neither is the pads and nose leather.

You are getting chocolate mixed up with brown/black. Brown (every color of brown from charcoal to sorral) is genetically a black cat but chocolate is not genetically a black cat.
 
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