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.
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.