In the case of the Bengal, what we want is to mimic the look of the wild cats in ways that could never happen if the ancestry was not a hybrid between the two. The Bengal standard specifically desires to mimic the look of the Asian Leopard Cat from which the Bengal has acquired its wild genetics.
Amongst many breeders, there is a desire to mimic other wild cats, like the snow leopard; hence the interest in the silver Bengal as a domestic representation of the snow leopard (panther). There are colors that are currently accepted in the standard as snow Bengals. These are the product of the albino series of genetics from domestic cats, the Burmese and Siamese. These cats are ivory colored and there have been problems with the spotted pattern disappearing as the cat grows older because the background color may deepen. Head type has been a problem as well. Getting the genetics from the leopard cat to dominate in the currently accepted "snow Bengals" to create larger and rosetted spots has rarely occurred.
Although the silver gene in the Bengal also comes from the domestic, it creates a truer representation of the snow leopard because of the snowy white background and true charcoal to black spotting. (Interestingly, it is not an albino gene, but a an inhibitor gene, it inhibits color (by degrees). Albinism is the absence of color (by degrees). Many breeders consider silver more consistent with the specific goal of mimicking the Asian Leopard Cat since among the sub-species of Asian Leopard Cats, there are cats that are grey with black spots.
BengAlpine specializes in the traditional brown spotted and silver spotted. What you are seeing on these pages are the steps leading to creating a very high quality coat, type, pattern and personality Bengal. On the last page, Bengal cats are offered to you who have made apparent the recessive (hidden) genes which, when paired from the parents, produce a kitten whose phenotype (appearance) may look like it came from different parents altogether! (For instance, I have a solid black Bengal cat who fits the physical and color type of a Burmese to a tee, but his parents don't at all. He got his genetics through them from their ancestors.) The color recessives came from the domestic cats used in developing the breed. Test breedings reveal the recessives and I have spent the last four years testing my cats for phenotype and genetic-based health. On the adult and kitten pages is YOUR opportunity for a VERY affordable Bengal --
the cat of a different color.
