Bengals - when is a rib bar not a rib bar?

Can a Bengal have what looks like a rib bar but it's actually not?

Just wondering as a few weeks ago there was a little Bengal girl at show and judges said she had a rib bar, owner/breeder said it really wasn't.

Maybe when it's shaped more like a spot or two spots?

I'm actually curious about that. On one side Nikita has what I tend to think of as a rib bar. It's split in two though but the spots do touch.



Maybe that could be a "disputable" rib bar? I also remember one of Nials show kittens having a spot I thought was a rib bar but it was explained to me that wasn't the case.

I'm just guessing though.

Rib bars are tricky and just about every breeder has their own opinion of what is and isn't a rib bar. The judges in most of the shows don't seem to care anymore, so long as the cat doesn't have more than one vertical marking that resembles a rib bar.

I think you must look at the spot pattern of the rest of the cat to make a determination if it is a rib bar or not. If there is alot of vertical alignment of the spots on the cat and you have a line of spots behind the front leg that are connected, then it is a rib bar.

The following are photos of my cats that exhibit vertical alignment, a rib bar or something that could be misconstrued as a rib bar along with a brief description of my opinion.

Thanks for the explanation Nial.