Bengal Cat Glittering

Bengal cat glittering, ticking, the fuzzies, eyes and tail are covered on this page. Go to this page to read about the Bengal cat coat in some detail.

Glittering

This is essentially a self explanatory term. Some coats have Bengal cat glittering and some not.

It is said that there is a "glitter gene". This gene was imported from India in the early 1980's by Jean Mill in a cat cat called "Delhi" (the cat came from India). This cat is part of the foundation of the breed when Jean Mill re-commenced her breeding program. You can read more about the beginning years of the breed by clicking here.

This effect applies to spotted and marbled and gives the cat it's shimmering, golden appearance in certain light.

Bengal cat glittering does not apply to all Bengal cats. It is considered very attractive in appearance on a Bengal. It is not mentioned in the breed standard. Glitter is a very attractive feature on a Bengal. You can sometimes see, under the right lighting, small individual hairs that literally shine like gold. It is like a dusting of gold. No wonder the Bengal cat is becoming the breed to own for the rich and famous.

For the snow Bengals, glitter looks like "pearldust". Amazingly, there are different types of glitter. There is "hollow air" glitter, and "gold-tipped" glitter. It seems that when two Bengal cats with glitter mate the offspring have enhanced glitter (wow..). The glitter gene is probably recessive like the gene for marbling and the snow base color.

Black hairs do not seem to have glitter and shorter coats allow the glitter to be more visible.

Ticked

This term means that some individual hair strands are multicolored which gives a "salt and pepper" look, reducing the contrast between the patterns over the base color. Bengals referred to as 'ticked' are by no means undesirable.

Ticking takes away from the soft plush 'pelting' that Bengals are also very well known for. Clearly, as contrast is desirable "ticking" can be seen as being bad.

The 'ticking" gene was introduced on the domestic side by the Egyptian Mau when the Bengal standard allowed outcrossing to expand the gene pool. Bengal cats in foundation programs must now only use SBT's or Egyptian Mau's, no others.

Fuzzies

This describes the fuzzy hair of a Bengal kitten, which changes to adult coat at about 6 months. Think of the Cheetah kitten in the wild - it's like that. Fuzzies is not ticking. It is due to grey guard hairs muting the pattern.

Eye color

The eye color on the Lynx Point (snow) is blue. It is called the Blue-Eyed Snow Spotted or Snow Marble Bengal carrying the Siamese color distribution.

Seal Minks and Seal Sepia's can be green, copper or gold, depending on genetic background.

Other colored eyes are called "AOC-Eyed" (AOC - any other colored). They carry the Burmese or Tonkinese color distribution. AOC Snow Bengals also tend to have a darker background color and markings.

Tail and belly

This is spotted or ringed tail, with a black tail tip. The belly is always white and spotted.

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