Bengal cat versus tabby

Two months ago I adopted from a shelter a kitten with a marbled coat and a spinal stripe like I had never seen. He has white socks, throat, and belly. His background color is tan.I chose him for his gregarious and playful personality, not his looks. I at first thought he was a "classic tabby", but as time has passed I noticed that his back legs are getting pretty long, he makes kind of a metalic scratchy noise in his throat when he acts affectionate towards me, and he is completely obssessed with running water from the faucet. He also has incredible reflexes, vision, and hearing. I am now wondering if he had a Bengal cat parent. How does one figure - regular tabby or Bengal?

There are actually a fair number of Bengals that end up in the shelter here. Apparently there are some not-so-responsible breeders in the area . But usually when they're turned in the owner tells the shelter that they're Bengals. Although, if someone let their Bengal tom run loose and he tagged someone's moggie female, they'd never know that the dad was purebred. So it is possible, the degree of likelihood depends on a few factors.

Any pictures?

Wow, how kind of you to answer so quickly. Here's 3 photos from when he was about 12 weeks, and 1 from today at about 5 months.

Wow, he's really beautiful.

That's what our family calls a "Racing stripe" down his back

Oh, wow, he's gorgeous! I don't know if Bengal mixes tend to look like that or have more distinct rosettes. His pattern is almost like a clouded leopard . He really hit the genetic lottery--looks-wise at least--no matter what!

Thanks for your input. It was more than I was hoping for. Bengal or not, I'm glad I adopted this interesting cat. And a note to any of you who foster kittens for shelters - it was only after I got home with these kittens that I read their papers more thoroughly, and found out that they had come to the shelter very early in their lives, found as strays, and very sick, malnourished, and full of multipe parasites. Bless whoever fostered them as they got back to health, and bless all of you who do this service.

Just a domestic classic tabby, very pretty but nothing Bengal about his type. The spine line is a normal tabby marking

Thanks for the input. What a good site this is, getting responses to my query so quickly and helpfully. I suppose a Bengal would have more pronounced features, and this is indeed a sporty, handsome young classic tabby. It has been a long while since I've brought up kittens, and I'm guessing I'll be coming to this site for tips again. Thanks all.

Bengals don't typically have white socks so I know he isn't a pure bengal. He might have a TINY amount of bengal but his markings are tabby like. 

Gosh, thanks for all the replies. I certainly didn't think this kitten was anywhere near a proper Bengal. His only spots are along the border with his white belly. It was just with his growing lengthiness, fascination with water, incredible reflexes, and strange throat noises made me wonder if a Bengal was up the line somewhere in his ancestry. But with a shelter kitten, and a stray at that, one can only wonder. That is why I was asking for identifying tips, and it was great that you all responded. The gift for me will be to see how he continues to develop.

There are very slight differences between a Tabby and a Bengal,  Bengal is a cross between a Short-hair Tabby and Wild Asian Leopard Cat, you may already know this. you can get either Marble effect pattern or Spotted pattern.

Tabby on the forehead you can see a distinctive M mark

The Bengal.

First, Bengals have short front legs, back legs are longer,

Secondly they are very intelligent, they pick things up very quickly

Thirdly they are very vocal, when wanting food or want to go out they yowl very loudly continues like a siren, and can drive you mad.

They are very active cat and need plenty of stimulation's.

If it is a Bengal, people won't except it without papers.

I took a stray cat in last July 2013 I thought t was a tabby but in fact was a Marbled Bengal confirmed by two Vets and a expert Cattery owner.

My motto about a Bengal Cat is be prepared, and read up on this breed.  A lot of these cats are thrown out and abandon, The Bengal cat rescues are full up with this breed.  Has far as I am concerned; you are better of with a simple Tabby Cat.

Richard Mills

Just to clear up any confusion that may arise from this thread, 'tabby' describes a marking pattern of the coat that can occur in many breeds and also in what we describe as Domestic cats, or 'moggies' with no breed ancestry. The Bengal is a breed, recently developed, whose coat patterns are normally 'tabby' though the texture of the hair is finer and the belly is spotted, something that may or may not occur in other tabby cats. Within the 'tabby' marking there can be variations, 'marbled', 'classic' and 'mackerel' and tabbies come in many colours, black, grey, brown, red and blue, though the most spectacular is silver. Even pointed cats like Siamese can have tabby in them, showing tabby markings on their ears and tails.

The kitten featured here is an absolutely beautiful example of the tabby gene, certainly unusual and he will be a gorgeous cat.

I've noticed a lot of Tabby kittens here in the UK are been sold as Tabby/Bengal cross kittens especially on sites like Gumtree , I think people have cottoned on to the fact that kittens that display classic tabby markings can pass for a Bengal mix , I've seen moggies going for £170 on this site.

A couple of people I know have asked if Tallulah is a Bengal marbled cross as her classic tabby pattern is quite striking when you say she's just a classic tabby and white they say are you sure .

I think there is money to be made out of tabbies with nice markings seems so here in the UK.

My beautiful Tallulah a classic tabby and white not a Marble Bengal cross

There are marbled tabbys that are related to bengals fron inherited along the genepool..I have had a few of them.They have spiral type markings with blotched round markings on their legs.Color can range from black and gold or black and silver.They are very beautiful cats and I search for them when seeking a cat.With the 3 I have right now unfortunately I cant take any in.I even had the opportunity to get a full blooded Bengal but since my space is confined I had to turn the opportunity down.

My mom was given a brother and sister by a woman who was taking them to the shelter.  She had been trying to bred Siamese and Bengal's to create Padam, my avatar.  She was using pure breeds, but probably not show quality. Things didn't go as she had hoped and this is what happened.   Shu shu, the mama, is absoluty beautiful, huge blue eyes and stripped points. BC, the papa is the grey one cuddling with his ginger son Amos and his son Ezzra.  BC is my darling, rides around on my shoulder.


And then there is Milo.  He is possibly one of the prettiest black cats I've seen. Long legs and lean,very elegant guy and really doggy. His belly has spots.


Sarangs eyes are all better now,  She's the little white one.  Basically a lot of them came out polka dotted.  The grey ones actually have the copper highlights that sparkle in the sun, but that doesn't show up in pictures. And they have the strip down the middle.  It's the same color as my mothers pure bred Bengal.  A few have huge feet for some reason and gigantic claws.  A couple sort of do that bark like sound the Bengals make.  All of them are crazy for water, few play fetch.  This is a product of the brother and sister the woman was taking to the shelter, since her experiment didn't go as planned.  My 80 year old mother failed to get them neutered.  By the time I got there, there were 10 of them, along with 2 pure bred Bengals and an Abyssinian.  I know, in breeding is terrible and that is way too many cats.  My mother just sort of lost track of time,  and she was under the impression you can't fix a female who is in heat or nursing.   Anyway as a person stated above, it's a crapshoot mixing breeds. 

With as many pure breeds going to the shelter, why are people trying to create more breeds?  

It could possibly be part Bengal my cousin didn't get her expensive Bengal Cat neutered and she happened to prefer using the bathroom outdoors instead of the litter box, I will have to ask I think her cat was expensive I believe F2 will have to ask when she comes over to visit my kitten.   Needless to say the neighborhood Tom Cat got a hold of her and she ended up with a litter of 4 kittens, and all of them looksimilar to your pictures 2 of the girls including mine has white boots.. 

I agree - Bengals don't have socks, either.  Beautiful kid, though! <3

Your cat looks at least part Bengal or maybe a marble tabby.beautiful markings how is his or her terperment?Is the cat very vocal or not so much.

Your cat is so stunning, he's a real beauty!!!!!

I don't know really anything about purebred cats, so forgive me if im wrong here. I read you can tell if the strands of fur split off into different colors at the end, than it's not purebred. I don't know if that helps. Also, I visited shelters that had tiny Bengal kittens and they were SOOOOO loud and followed you around like little duckings. It was adorable! It's totally possible someone turned their unaltered Bengal loose, or it got out somehow and ended up producing offspring with a tabby cat. I'm not an expert though, I know you can have blood test done.

I think our girl, is just a tiger kitty, and the only reason I would ever question her breed is because of how crazy she is. She's wild, I mean like wild on the Savannah lol! She'll climb up the Christmas tree like a squirrel, or jump from heights that make you scared  she'll break her leg. She also makes these odd noises and they are also changing, it's never the same cry or meow. She's very lengthy and agile.


We found her as a stray kitten cold and starving. She was tiny, we dont know if she was born to a feral mom, or if she was someones pet, but she came right up to us.

There's a lot of careless breeders out there, like others here have said, that dont really care for the well being of these cats. I came to this thread looking for answers too, but I can relate so I thought I'd share my opinions as well.

But regardless, I hope this helped at least a little bit, and that you find out if he is or not

The cat on my avatar pic is the same way,she follows you everywhere and makes a lot of different vocalization sounds..She likes to pick things up like a string or sock with catnip and carry it around making these strange sounds.She also does this real fast double meow thing when she gets excited.Ive had a few other cats mostly tabbys and one Bengal that's was so vocal it drove my\e crazy.

Your cat is a beautiful and lovely markings.