Bengal Ear Example

Since a question about the bengal cats ears was brought up in another thread, I'll explain it a little here.

The bengal standard calls for cats to have small to medium size ears which are rounded at the top. In other words, not pointed and without tufts. Everyone's definition of rounded is going to vary a little, but the tuft part is pretty cut and dry.

When bengal kittens are born, they have very short rounded ears which lay flat against their heads. As they age, the ears become upright and seem to grow like weeds, to the point where the ears look like twin radar towers and don't seem to match the head size.

Normally the head catches up with the ears by the time the kitten is 8 months old. The idea is to look for the rounding at the top and of course how the ears are set on the cats head. Placement is important as well, if the kitten is being considered for show.

Here are some examples:



This is Jack at 4 months of age. You can see that his ears look too big for his head, if you were to apply the adult bengal cat standard to him at this age. They are however rounded at the top. We made the assumption that he would be a big cat and his head would grow into his ears, so to speak.





Here's Jack as a young adult, around 8 months old. You can see now, that his ears fit his head much better and he meets the breed standard for an adult cat. Jacks eye color also changed dramatically over those 4 months.




This is Argus, a marble boy we sold as a pet. Pictured here, he's about a year old. You can see that his ears are a bit too tall for his head, but they are still somewhat rounded and not pointy. This cat would have problems winning at shows, because his ears are too tall. I absolutely love this cats face though. The brick colored nose is perfect, awesome expressive nocturnal eyes with the goggle highlights. Very nice muzzle and a strong chin.

Cool Nial - Next week we are going to our 1st ACFA show (Charlie's last kitten show" and will be meeting a Bengal breeder to do a picture difference with the Bengals and Ocicats for head, body, etc. differences to help us all.

Argus's ears look almost like Charlie's ears But Charlie has tiny tufts too


BTW check your messages - I left you one regarding the Bach Remedy question

I had thought rounded meant, literally, more like a half circle, but now I see what you mean on Jack, more rounded than pointed at the TIP, but not necessarily meaning the entire ear.

Thank you for the lesson, Nial!

Even though I am not owned by a Bengal, this is very interesting.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Argus's ears look almost like Charlie's ears

But Charlie has tiny tufts too

Click to expand...

That's what I thought, they are Oci-like. Demetri has tiny tufts too

So Nial, would you say my Simba's ears are a bit too big like Argus? His ears are rounded at the top, but they are longer than Angel's ears. Actually, I think Angel comes very close to the standard.

Ooohh! Since we're getting kitten ear evaluations...

I was thinking that Ares and Dreamers ears were too big, but maybe they will grow into them more? Ares is a BIG boy too. Sometimes their ears look almost floppy, they seem so large in comparison to Dukes ears.

I've found that in pics, it depends on the angle of the shot too (Dreamer left, Ares right).

They look kinda long and pointy here:


But very rounded here:

They look rounded at the tip to me, especially in the last 2 pictures.

It seems to vary so much depending on what exact angle you have on the ear.

Throwing yet another pair of ears into the thread. Nikita's ears look quite rounded to me in this photo here:



But they do look abit more pointy sometimes. Depending on the angle and what mood she's in.

The look rounded to me, as well. I've noticed with my Simba that sometimes his ears look really look and pointed and at other angles his ears look smaller and more rounded.

Originally Posted by tiffanyjbt

They look kinda long and pointy here:


But very rounded here:

Click to expand...

My haven't they grown!!!!!!!

In the pics where they look more rounded - their ears are pointed forward which will make them APPEAR smaller and rounded.