Lesson Time - Ocicat vs Bengal

bengalbabe

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Originally Posted by tiffanyjbt

Bck to the head thing, not all bengals have as round a head. I think the standard calls for a modified wedge with well pronounced whisker pads and a broad nose. I think Ares has a great head (though his ears aren't as nice as Nikitas) Hopefully I can get him to a show soon so the judges can confirm:



My two are both very long. Dreamer is actually a petite girl as far as bengals go. Both, though, are solid muscle and you can really tell when you feel/hold them.

I'll try later to get pics of Ares' tail and some better shots of his head as well.
Your right about the head. The rounded head (usually from male jowels in an unneutered tom) comes from the domestic cat not from the ALC so it's not supposed to be very round unless your talking about an unneutered tom which the standard makes allowences for.
As far as striping on the legs and tail, actually the more spotting the better. Spotting down the legs intead of stripes is ideal. A spotted tail is better than a ringed tail as the ALC has a spotted tail. Breeders are now starting to breed bengals with rosetted tails. That is one thing in working on in my own breeding program and am having some success (along with spotted legs instead of striped).
The "hump" mentioned earlier is the shoulderblades. They stick up fairly high. The rump is higher than the rest of the body.
For lots of good info about bengal "Type" go to my webpage here:
http://www.littleleopardcats.com/bengaltype.html
it compares the bengal tt the ALC, which is ultimately what we are aiming for.
 

siggav

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I don't think I've seen any bengals with a very round head and Ares is just gorgeous I love his colours.

I went and tried to take a photo of Nikita from the side to show her build.



You can see a few things that should mark her as a bengal.

First of all she's fairly long bodied, especially for the size of her head. The shoulder blades are very noticable (and roll up and down when she walks). Her hips are a bit higher than her shoulders as well and her tail is carried low.

Then she has a blunt muzzle with filled in whisker pads and small ears. Her spots are not as dramatically rosettaed as in most show quality bengals but they are very irregularely sized and placed with a few of them being two toned which is not what you would expect to see in an Ocicat. Can also see a much paler colour on the inside of her leg and on her chest.

The primordial pouch is there as well and can be seen a bit as the much fluffier skin on the part of her belly closer to her back legs.

All this is both info I've gathered up myself while learning about bengals but also from everyone here in this thread
If I'm wrong, please correct me.
 

kai bengals

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Siggav,

Nikita is a very nice bengal. I was admiring her short rounded ears in the face shot you posted the other day. Those ears remind me very much of one of my former show cats, Blaze.
Her shoulder markings are also very nice along with the arrowheads rosettes on her flank. Also nice thick tail with good carriage as you mentioned.
She's got a good thick muscular build, especially for a female.

You've got yourself a good bengal there.
 

tiffanyjbt

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Nakita is gorgeous! I love everything about her (did I mention the ears yet?).

Ares' tail:
 
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goldenkitty45

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Oci's better NOT have rosettes! They are supposed to be round spots only (or the classic pattern which can't be shown anyway.
 

tiffanyjbt

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Also the Bengal has marbled patterns - but they should not be bullseye like in a classic tabby pattern. The idea is to create a more "wild" pattern that is horizonal.
Tri-Color Marble Pattern with horizontal flow. Many well bred Marbles will have rossettes on their hips like Dreamer:
Ares-

Dreamer-



We noticed a little differences in the markings on the head around the eyes - seems the Bengals have straighter "eyebrow" markings, while the Ocicats have a more curved stripe. Not a total indication of the breed, but enough to mention.
Bengal breeders try to breed away from the tabby "M", though its really difficult to do. ALC's do not have an M on their foreheads, so the straightness of it probably comes from them.


The color of the belly is whiter in a Bengal - doesn't seem to have as much spotting all the way down. The Ocicat's color is the same as the background color on the sides and the spotting goes all the way down and inside the back legs.
The belly is definitely paler. Spots go down to pelvis, with some spots on inside of legs as well (though these are more squiggles than spots because these are Marbled Bengals):




The pattern on an Oci's tail is a line on top with spots on the sides instead of stripes. The Bengal has very deep stripes (like a tiger) that go around the entire tail (or almost)..
Ares and Dreamer actually have rossettes on their tails as well. Unfortunately, I haven't figured out the exposure settings on my camera yet, so its difficult to tell. You can see it a bit in the picture of Ares' tail I posted earlier. Marbles, because of the nature of their pattern, are more likely to have rossettes on their tails than Spotted Bengals, though I've seen a few photos of spotted bengals with rossetted tails.
 
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goldenkitty45

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I'll have to look up the Bengal standard on tail markings - the Bengal breeder told us that they were NOT supposed to have spots. Can anyone print the standard for that part?
 
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goldenkitty45

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Thanks, I'm confused then - why would she tell me that stripes were the standard????
 

hopehacker

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Although Simba has too many stripes, and too large of ears, to be show Quality, he does have spots on his tail, and you can sort of see his glitter on this picture. I think he'd be almost show quality if it weren't for his ears. Either way, I do think he's a beautiful Bengal, and I love his wild face.
 

kai bengals

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Thanks, I'm confused then - why would she tell me that stripes were the standard????
Not all the breeders agree with each other. If I could put only spots on all my cats legs, I'd do it in a heartbeat, because that is what is most desirable for the breed. ALC's have spotted legs.

If you look at most bengals, titled show cats to pets, nearly all of them have stripes or stripes mixed with spots.

All spots on the legs is difficult to achieve, but most of us are working towards that.

Stripes are the norm, but not the standard.
 

siggav

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One question I suddenly realised I didn't know the answer to. What are the shoulder markings supposed to be like on Ocicats?
 
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goldenkitty45

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Spots, spots and more spots
Seriously, the oci's have very little "stripes" - even the spine line is more or less spotted down the back. I had to go find Charlie and see
 

tiffanyjbt

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Spots, spots and more spots
Seriously, the oci's have very little "stripes" - even the spine line is more or less spotted down the back. I had to go find Charlie and see
Can you post a picture of Charlies shoulder markings? Do they look anything like bengal shoulders?
 

missymotus

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3 different shades of chocolate Ocicats. Hot Chocolate, Chocolate & Chocolate Silver. Also a mix of male and female.
 

sadie's mom

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Originally Posted by missymotus

3 different shades of chocolate Ocicats. Hot Chocolate, Chocolate & Chocolate Silver. Also a mix of male and female.
Questions - (1) can you tell which Ocicat is which coloring? (2) which is the female? and (3) which Ocicat do you think is the oldest?
 

sadie's mom

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Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Oci's better NOT have rosettes! They are supposed to be round spots only (or the classic pattern which can't be shown anyway.
And, the Ocicat does not have glitter either (which is a shame...)
 

tiffanyjbt

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Originally Posted by Sadie's Mom

Originally Posted by missymotus

3 different shades of chocolate Ocicats. Hot Chocolate, Chocolate & Chocolate Silver. Also a mix of male and female.
Questions - (1) can you tell which Ocicat is which coloring? (2) which is the female? and (3) which Ocicat do you think is the oldest?
1) From left to right: Chocolate Silver, Chocolate, Hot Chocolate.

2) Center is Female (left is Demetrius, right is Charlie)

3) Gonna say the female in the center is the oldest, next Charlie, then Demetrius.

All guesses though, did I get it right???
 
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