Coat Colours and Patterns

The Bengal cat has a very soft short to medium coat that is slightly longer in kittens. It is thick and luxurious and comes in various colours and patterns such as rosettes, spots and marbles. Some have glittered coats (as if gold dust were sprinkled over them) which is a very desirable quality. They have large alert eyes and they are very curious. The Bengal cat makes a great family pet, they get along great with their family as well as the family dog.

Bengals are very active cats, especially when they are kittens. They are very inquisitive and like to explore anything they can access. This usually involves things getting chewed or broken if you haven't kitten-proofed your home (which is highly recommended if you don't want things destroyed). They do slow down somewhat once they hit adulthood, so don't worry, you wont have to deal with this craziness forever.

The spotted variety of the Bengal can take on many differences in patterns. A spotted Bengal can have a solid spot of one colour, or we can have a rosetted Bengal. A rosetted Bengal is still spotted, but the spots have two colours to them. Usually there is a dark spot of either brown or black, and then a kind of rust or orange shading inside or around the spot, creating a rosette like you would see on a wild cat like a jaguar. The photos below show some of the rosettes of brown Bengals, but you can have the same markings on any colour of Bengal.

Below are photos showing different types of coat patterns on a brown Bengal.  Of course these can vary in size and colour depending on the Bengal breed. Hopefully these will help you identify your Bengal's coat pattern.

Bengals have many different coat colours, brown being the most common. Other colours include Silver, Snow (Lynx point, Mink & Sepia), Charcoal, Blue (dilute) and Melanistic (Solid). Some can even be a combination of a few different colours.

The brown Bengal without doubt is the most popular and commonly bred Bengal. However this may be because the brown gene is the most dominant colour within the Bengal breed, it is felt the brown Bengal is the closest representation of the Asian Leopard Cat.

Snow Bengals are divided into three different colours, Seal Lynx, Mink, and Sepia. 

Seal Lynx Point (SLP) is the lightest, they are most often born completely white and their pattern develops as they get older. As adults they can have a background colour that is white to cream coloured and pale to medium coloured rosettes. They typically have darker markings at the points (head, feet, tail) and darken in cooler climates. Seal Lynx have blue eyes.

Mink are born with a visible pattern. As adults they can have a light cream to light tan background colour with light to medium tan coloured rosettes. Mink Bengals have Aqua coloured eyes.