Ocicat rumours

Opening the can of worms here.

I belong to numerous cat lists on the internet and recently several people have suggested that the current top Ocicats in several of the major registries have bengal blood in them, due to their features and as some have suggested...rosetted spots.

I've looked at some of the photos, and while they seem to be more "wild" looking in the face than Ocicats from years ago, that could very well be from selective breeding.

It has been implied, that since some Oci's were used in the bengal breed, that some of these Oci/Bengals have made it back into the Oci gene pool.

I don't recall seeing rosettes on Oci's, although some people I've chatted with say they are appearing at shows.

I'm sure all the Oci breeders will deny any bengal involvement. It's an interesting subject non the less.

What is strange is that the E. Mau was the cat heavily used in the bengal development and I have not heard of anyone claiming bengals are involved in improving that breed. Oci's weren't used to any large extent in bengals, but they would be the breed that would most benefit from bengal blood.

Nial - pm me with some names/catteries and association involved and I'll check it out and pass it on to Nancy at the show this weekend - see if she wants to do some research on this.

I know for a fact that Nancy's cats are NOT in that catagory - I've traced her lines back to the originals

I'll have to take a look at CFA's Oci's this year.

IMO some of the catteries that might be dealing with Oci, Bengal, Savannahs, etc. all in the same cattery might be those that "mixed" them! I know of 2-3 Ocicat catteries that deal with the other spotted cats.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Nial - pm me with some names/catteries and association involved and I'll check it out and pass it on to Nancy at the show this weekend - see if she wants to do some research on this.

I know for a fact that Nancy's cats are NOT in that catagory - I've traced her lines back to the originals

I'll have to take a look at CFA's Oci's this year.

IMO some of the catteries that might be dealing with Oci, Bengal, Savannahs, etc. all in the same cattery might be those that "mixed" them! I know of 2-3 Ocicat catteries that deal with the other spotted cats.

Click to expand...

As of right now, it's just rumour and random speculation by various people. No specific cattery has been pointed out, but I do have an email inquiry to the woman who insists that some of the current winning Oci's have bengal blood.
When and if I find out more, I'll PM you.

This could all just be nonsense, or even cat show "sour grapes".

Are they CFA, TICA, ACFA or what? I took a look at the CFA ones and checked out the catteries.