Pocket Leopards Bengal Cats

Bengals are known for their spotted coats. The gene responsible for spotting is dominant. That means that it only takes one spotted parent to get spotted kittens. The spotted gene cannot be carried recessively, so if you don't have at least one spotted parent, you know you will not get any spotted kittens. Two marbles cannot produce spotted but two spotted can produce marbles if they both carry recessively for the marble gene (more on that on the marble page).

Some bengals have rosettes which are two toned spots, like that of a Leopard. Usually a rosette will have a dark outline with a lighter color inside. Below are some examples of rosetted spots. All of the pictures are of Pocket Leopards Bengals.

Spots and rosettes come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Here at Pocket leopards one of our goals is to get huge rosetted spots with unique shapes, much like a clouded leopard.

The different shapes of rosettes are called things like: paw print, arrowhead, doughnut, and pancake. Breeders are developing cats with different shapes all of the time. Undoubtedly, we will see more descriptive terms for rosettes as they are developed. Look at the picture above. The cat "Graffiti Art" has an interesting cluster of spots that look just like a baby's footprint. Can you "spot" it?

Spots and rosettes should be horizontally aligned. The more horizontal the better. Some cats even have rosettes that link together horizontally, this is called "chain rosetting" (see pic of the ocelot below).

Spots that run together in the other direction forming a vertical line is not desired in the bengal breed. Generally these lines are seen on the torso on the bengal, right behind the front legs. These lines are called "rib stripes" or "rib bars". Rib stripes are considered a fault and genrally if a cat has rib stripes the cat is not going to be of show quality. To see a picture of a rib stripe, see the picture below.