| Our Commitment to Excellence Here at Fire Mountain Bengals we strive for excellence in our bengal kittens. There is much more to cat breeding than genetics, color, patterns, contrast etc. After kittens are born it is crucial that the mother be capable of nursing them. She has to be in excellent condition before during and after pregnancy so she can adequately care for her little ones. Kittens should be nursing up into the 8th week of life to receive the proper antibodies and immune strength they need. At this point I wean my kittens and wait for a week to administer the first vaccine. I wait this week of time so that the antibodies from the mother's milk are no longer acting to counter the vaccine, and instead it is able to activate the kitten's own immune response as it is intended to do. This full term of nursing combined with the vaccinations spaced at 3-4week intervals gives the kitten what it needs to counter common illnesses that plague kittens. No kitten ever leaves this cattery without all of these precautions being made for it up to the first vaccination. If I suspect a kitten is unhealthy I will simply not send it home with you until I am sure it is healthy. THERE ARE PLENTY OF ILLNESSES THAT COST MORE TO GET RID OF IN TIME AND MONEY THAN THE COST OF A HEALTHY PUREBRED CAT. Be careful who you buy from. I CAN TELL YOU FROM EXPERIENCE, IT IS MUCH EASIER AND CHEAPER JUST TO BUY FROM A RESPONSIBLE BREEDER IN THE FIRST PLACE THAN TO BUY CHEAP AND PAY LATER. There's no shame in paying full price for a healthy kitten. When you pay for a nice cat, you're paying not only for the cat, but the amount of work that has gone into that cat. If a breeder is selling their purebred kittens for really cheap, it tells you how much time and effort they put into their kittens. The other thing you pay for when you buy a pure bred cat is the breeder. The breeder of your new cat or kitten will be your source of help and information about the breed and how to care for your baby. Buy from someone who is accessible and willing to help you with your new baby. If you are wondering if we at Fire Mountain fit this description feel free to visit our References page and contact our former customers and friends who would be glad to tell you what we and our cats are like. Kittens, and especially wild hybrid kittens also require constant human contact in order to accommodate them with human interaction. Without this attention, cage raised kittens usually become very unsocialized and afraid of humans, and especially of humans holding them. This fear, once embraced by a cat, may never go away. My kittens all get handled individually on a daily basis from before they open their eyes. When you buy a kitten from Fire Mountain, you can rest at ease knowing it was properly raised by a healthy, loving mother and helping human hands. I select my breeders with a fair amount of scrutiny as I can only keep a few breeders at a time and still give them the attention they deserve. I look for rounded profiles, small ears, leopard short tails, body shape, nice soft thick pelts, nice patterns both spotted and marble, rosettes, contrast, sometimes glitter, pedigree, and a human friendly disposition. So your kitten is likely to be strong in many of these traits. All of our kittens come with blue TICA registration paperwork so you can register your new pet as an SBT Bengal. SBT stands for Stud Book Traditional, which just means they are accepted as a full blooded Bengal cat by TICA. |
| !!!SEE BENGAL 411 BELOW!!! !!!LOOK AT THE NEW QUEENS BELOW!!! |
Welcome to Fire Mountain Bengals. We are a Bengal
cattery specializing in high quality silver, golden, and
brown bengals of both spotted and marbled rosetted
patterns. In this short document I will attempt to answer
many questions you might have about what Bengals are,
where they come from, what constitutes a "good"
Bengal, why you should choose them as a pet over any
other animal, and why you should buy your Bengal from
Fire Mountain.
Bengals are a domesticated hybrid breed derived from
the Asian Leopard Cat (Prionailurus Bengalensis), a
relatively small hunting leopard indigenous to many
parts of Asia from India to Korea. Notice that the Asian
Leopard Cat is in a genus seperate from the domestic
cat (Felis Silvestris), making Bengal Cats an
intergeneric hybrid. I have often seen the ALC genus
mistakenly listed as Felis. The species name of
Bengalensis comes from the Bay of Bengal where the
type specimen for the species was captured after
swimming over to a boat in the bay! (Pocock, 1939)
Needless to say the ALC is at home in the water, and
also has webbed toes.
The ALC is referred to more generally as the Leopard
Cat, and is so variable in size and coloring etc. that it
was once considered several different species and
called several different names including: Jerdon's Cat,
Elliot's Cat, Sumatra Cat, Java Cat, Chinese Cat, and
recently the Iriomote cat (declared a new species in
1967) has been DNA tested and shown to be a
subspecies of Leopard Cat. Prionailurus Bengalensis
can weigh anywhere between 7-22lbs, with the heavier
versions of the species being found further north in its
range (Russia and Northern China). In the northern
portions of its range the Leopard Cat is silvery gray and
can have a longer coat, whereas in the south it is more
brownish, or yellow (Heptner et al., 1992; Pocock, 1939;
Dabroruka, 1971; Roberts, 1977).
The Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) has several characteristic
traits that Bengal breeders attempt to preserve as we
domesticate the leopard by mixing in the genes of
various other domestic cats. Among these traits are the
following, in order from tip to tail: prominent whisker
pads, a prominent chin, a profile that runs from the nose
to the top of the head without a dip, large eyes
surrounded by white oceli, small rounded ears set to the
sides, a general head shape that is wedge shaped, and
longer than it is wide, a long thick body with thick limbs
and relatively broad footpads with black toes, the
beautiful leopard pattern (which, in the leopard, may or
may not be rosetted but is always horizontally to
diagonally aligned and relatively free of barring), very
thick, soft, "pelt-like" fur and a short stout tail with a
black tip.
In the process of creating the bengal breed some other
traits which have been deemed desireable, but not
necessarily representative of the general ALC
population have been selectively bred for, and other
traits foreign to the ALC have also been introduced to
the breed. Among those traits are the following: clear
coating, glitter, rosetting, and the marbled bengal
pattern.
CLEAR COATING
Clear coating is a relative non-expression of agouti
ticking. Ticking is an alternation of the coloration on
individual hairs in the cat's coat. Ticking can dull the
coat of a cat or decrease the overall contrast of the
cat's coat. All Bengals are tabbies, and have the agouti
gene, so they all express some degree of ticking.
Ticking is also not exclusive to domestic cats. It is a
trait in the gene pool of the ALC. Ticking can cover the
coat from the belly to the back, or be almost absent
from the center of the coat but still strongly present
along the back. Very ticked cats can still win at cat
shows, especially if they exhibit high contrast. Extreme
clear coating often comes with a less dense pelt and
silky fur consistency, which gives the cat a less wild
appearance. Many cats with a lot of ALC blood display
strong ticking, but also look much more like the ALC.
Generally if a cat looks good overall, ticking is a relative
non factor. If you are buying a pet this probably isn't
something you should worry too much about.
GLITTER
Glitter is a trait that has been introduced to the breed.
It should be noted that this gene is not associated with
clear coating. Glitter is a feature of the individual hairs
of the cat. "Glittered" hairs appear somewhat
translucent, and reflect light in a unique way. When a
"glittered" cat is held in sunlight or other intense light,
the tips of "glittered" hairs light up like the end of an
active fiber optic cable, giving the cat the appearance of
being covered in glitter. (Everyone has seen those toys
with the flashlight below a series of tiny plastic
filaments that light up on the tips when the light is
turned on.) However, the appearance of "glittered" fur is
not completely described by the light at the tips.
Glittered fur also changes the coat appearance of the
cat, making it more reflective. Perhaps a better and
more mechanistic description of "glittered" fur would be
"optic" fur. Often you can spot a "glittered" cat by
looking at the paws, legs, and other curved surfaces of
the cat. You will notice in well-lit pictures, the round
edges especially of the legs will be over exposed where
the highly reflective fur has reflected the ambient light
or the light of the flash. Glitter can be exhibited in
different degrees. The gene is supposed to be
recessive, meaning a cat has to carry two glitter genes
for it to be expressed, but I have seen it expressed in
low intensity in cats I assume are carriers.
ROSETTES
As I mentioned earlier, some Asian Leopard Cats are
rosetted and some are not. Breeders, and most people
will agree that rosettes improve the appearance of the
leopard coat. For this reason breeders have selectively
bred for rosetting in Bengals. This may be overly
confusing, but there are different kinds and multiple
sources of rosetting. There are cluster or pawprint
rosettes, which are spots surrounding an area darker
than background fur, there are arrowhead rosettes,
which look like arrowheads with the base of the
arrowhead fading into background color, and there are
donut rosettes, which are areas darker than background
coat outlined by even darker fur. Some rosettes come
from the Asian Leopard Cat, and some have been
selectively bred and enhanced by incorporating the
marble pattern.
THE MARBLED BENGAL
The "marble" pattern was introduced early on in bengal
breeding when domestic american shorthair cats with
the classic or marbled tabby pattern were bred with
Asian Leopard Cats and high wild percentage bengals
(or Foundation Cats). The marbled tabby pattern is a
recessive pattern gene, and requires two marbled tabby
genes to be expressed. So to have a marbled kitten,
either both parents have to be marbled or both parents
have to at least carry a recessive marbled tabby gene.
The marbled tabby gene tends to produce a pattern that
looks much like a bull's eye with a large round spot in
the center of the cat's body, with a cirlce around it.
However when mixed with the leopard's horizontally
aligned spot pattern, marbled tabby bengals tend to look
much more exotic. The goal in marbled patterns is to
get as far away from the bull's eye shape as possible.
Marbled bengals can have solid patterning or rosetting.
Rosetted marbles are often referred to as "tri-colored"
meaning simply that the inside of their patterning is a
different color than either the main marking coloration
or the background coloring.
BENGAL TEMPERMENT
Because bengals are derived from the Asian Leopard
Cat, they are behaviorally somewhat different than
regular domestic cats. However, because bengals have
more domestic blood than leopard blood, their behavior
varies quite a bit based on which domestic cats were
used in their breeding as well, and also from one
individual to another. The fact that the Asian Leopard
Cat is highly variable, combined with the broad range of
domestic cats used in their breeding, and the
individuality of all living things makes it VERY difficult to
make behavioral generalizations about this breed. I
would even argue that the amount and type of human
contact kittens have growing up makes a HUGE
difference in their temperment and behavior.
However, there are some traits fairly unique to bengals.
Bengals and other hybrid breeds tend to be very
intelligent, especially foundation cats. Some bengals
can be trained to fetch, go on walks, or use the toilet as
a litterbox. One of mine observed people using the toilet
after following them into the bathroom, and started
emulating their behavior by jumping into the tub next to
the toilet and urinating directly into the tub drain.
Bengals, and especially bengal kittens tend to be
relatively active and athletic cats. I have one that can
jump from the floor up onto a six foot high ledge
flat-footed. Bengals love play time. As a breed, bengals
probably prefer being petted to being held, but I have
also had bengals who would jump up onto my hip and
climb into my arms when they wanted attention.
Bengals tend to like playing in water. Not all bengals
like water, but I have one bengal that jumps in the
shower, and will actually complain at the door if I don't
let him in when I take a shower. Bengals get fairly
attached and mine run to the door when they hear me
coming home. Bengals are often called "dog cats",
because their behavior is closer to that of dogs than
other cats. They are incredibly curious and boisterous
animals. They tend to follow their owners around the
house. I take my cats to Petsmart and Home Depot, and
they stand up in the front of the cart to see where we
are going. If you think you are not a cat person, give a
bengal a chance to change your mind. Bengals make
excellent and unforgettable pets. Nobody will ever
come to your home without saying something about your
little leopard.
FIRE MOUNTAIN BENGALS
Because Bengals are hybrid animals, it is important that
they are exposed to human contact and human
environments in the early stages of life. A bengal will
only be as good as its upbringing (See our Commitment
to Excellence Below). All of my kittens are brought up
with daily human contact. My kittens are well cared for
and safe guarded. I take great care to keep my animals
healthy, and they receive all of the preventative
medicine necessary to keep them in top condition. If
you are able, you are welcome to visit the cats here in
their environment to see what they are like. You are
also welcome to visit my References page and contact
my past customers.
cattery specializing in high quality silver, golden, and
brown bengals of both spotted and marbled rosetted
patterns. In this short document I will attempt to answer
many questions you might have about what Bengals are,
where they come from, what constitutes a "good"
Bengal, why you should choose them as a pet over any
other animal, and why you should buy your Bengal from
Fire Mountain.
Bengals are a domesticated hybrid breed derived from
the Asian Leopard Cat (Prionailurus Bengalensis), a
relatively small hunting leopard indigenous to many
parts of Asia from India to Korea. Notice that the Asian
Leopard Cat is in a genus seperate from the domestic
cat (Felis Silvestris), making Bengal Cats an
intergeneric hybrid. I have often seen the ALC genus
mistakenly listed as Felis. The species name of
Bengalensis comes from the Bay of Bengal where the
type specimen for the species was captured after
swimming over to a boat in the bay! (Pocock, 1939)
Needless to say the ALC is at home in the water, and
also has webbed toes.
The ALC is referred to more generally as the Leopard
Cat, and is so variable in size and coloring etc. that it
was once considered several different species and
called several different names including: Jerdon's Cat,
Elliot's Cat, Sumatra Cat, Java Cat, Chinese Cat, and
recently the Iriomote cat (declared a new species in
1967) has been DNA tested and shown to be a
subspecies of Leopard Cat. Prionailurus Bengalensis
can weigh anywhere between 7-22lbs, with the heavier
versions of the species being found further north in its
range (Russia and Northern China). In the northern
portions of its range the Leopard Cat is silvery gray and
can have a longer coat, whereas in the south it is more
brownish, or yellow (Heptner et al., 1992; Pocock, 1939;
Dabroruka, 1971; Roberts, 1977).
The Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) has several characteristic
traits that Bengal breeders attempt to preserve as we
domesticate the leopard by mixing in the genes of
various other domestic cats. Among these traits are the
following, in order from tip to tail: prominent whisker
pads, a prominent chin, a profile that runs from the nose
to the top of the head without a dip, large eyes
surrounded by white oceli, small rounded ears set to the
sides, a general head shape that is wedge shaped, and
longer than it is wide, a long thick body with thick limbs
and relatively broad footpads with black toes, the
beautiful leopard pattern (which, in the leopard, may or
may not be rosetted but is always horizontally to
diagonally aligned and relatively free of barring), very
thick, soft, "pelt-like" fur and a short stout tail with a
black tip.
In the process of creating the bengal breed some other
traits which have been deemed desireable, but not
necessarily representative of the general ALC
population have been selectively bred for, and other
traits foreign to the ALC have also been introduced to
the breed. Among those traits are the following: clear
coating, glitter, rosetting, and the marbled bengal
pattern.
CLEAR COATING
Clear coating is a relative non-expression of agouti
ticking. Ticking is an alternation of the coloration on
individual hairs in the cat's coat. Ticking can dull the
coat of a cat or decrease the overall contrast of the
cat's coat. All Bengals are tabbies, and have the agouti
gene, so they all express some degree of ticking.
Ticking is also not exclusive to domestic cats. It is a
trait in the gene pool of the ALC. Ticking can cover the
coat from the belly to the back, or be almost absent
from the center of the coat but still strongly present
along the back. Very ticked cats can still win at cat
shows, especially if they exhibit high contrast. Extreme
clear coating often comes with a less dense pelt and
silky fur consistency, which gives the cat a less wild
appearance. Many cats with a lot of ALC blood display
strong ticking, but also look much more like the ALC.
Generally if a cat looks good overall, ticking is a relative
non factor. If you are buying a pet this probably isn't
something you should worry too much about.
GLITTER
Glitter is a trait that has been introduced to the breed.
It should be noted that this gene is not associated with
clear coating. Glitter is a feature of the individual hairs
of the cat. "Glittered" hairs appear somewhat
translucent, and reflect light in a unique way. When a
"glittered" cat is held in sunlight or other intense light,
the tips of "glittered" hairs light up like the end of an
active fiber optic cable, giving the cat the appearance of
being covered in glitter. (Everyone has seen those toys
with the flashlight below a series of tiny plastic
filaments that light up on the tips when the light is
turned on.) However, the appearance of "glittered" fur is
not completely described by the light at the tips.
Glittered fur also changes the coat appearance of the
cat, making it more reflective. Perhaps a better and
more mechanistic description of "glittered" fur would be
"optic" fur. Often you can spot a "glittered" cat by
looking at the paws, legs, and other curved surfaces of
the cat. You will notice in well-lit pictures, the round
edges especially of the legs will be over exposed where
the highly reflective fur has reflected the ambient light
or the light of the flash. Glitter can be exhibited in
different degrees. The gene is supposed to be
recessive, meaning a cat has to carry two glitter genes
for it to be expressed, but I have seen it expressed in
low intensity in cats I assume are carriers.
ROSETTES
As I mentioned earlier, some Asian Leopard Cats are
rosetted and some are not. Breeders, and most people
will agree that rosettes improve the appearance of the
leopard coat. For this reason breeders have selectively
bred for rosetting in Bengals. This may be overly
confusing, but there are different kinds and multiple
sources of rosetting. There are cluster or pawprint
rosettes, which are spots surrounding an area darker
than background fur, there are arrowhead rosettes,
which look like arrowheads with the base of the
arrowhead fading into background color, and there are
donut rosettes, which are areas darker than background
coat outlined by even darker fur. Some rosettes come
from the Asian Leopard Cat, and some have been
selectively bred and enhanced by incorporating the
marble pattern.
THE MARBLED BENGAL
The "marble" pattern was introduced early on in bengal
breeding when domestic american shorthair cats with
the classic or marbled tabby pattern were bred with
Asian Leopard Cats and high wild percentage bengals
(or Foundation Cats). The marbled tabby pattern is a
recessive pattern gene, and requires two marbled tabby
genes to be expressed. So to have a marbled kitten,
either both parents have to be marbled or both parents
have to at least carry a recessive marbled tabby gene.
The marbled tabby gene tends to produce a pattern that
looks much like a bull's eye with a large round spot in
the center of the cat's body, with a cirlce around it.
However when mixed with the leopard's horizontally
aligned spot pattern, marbled tabby bengals tend to look
much more exotic. The goal in marbled patterns is to
get as far away from the bull's eye shape as possible.
Marbled bengals can have solid patterning or rosetting.
Rosetted marbles are often referred to as "tri-colored"
meaning simply that the inside of their patterning is a
different color than either the main marking coloration
or the background coloring.
BENGAL TEMPERMENT
Because bengals are derived from the Asian Leopard
Cat, they are behaviorally somewhat different than
regular domestic cats. However, because bengals have
more domestic blood than leopard blood, their behavior
varies quite a bit based on which domestic cats were
used in their breeding as well, and also from one
individual to another. The fact that the Asian Leopard
Cat is highly variable, combined with the broad range of
domestic cats used in their breeding, and the
individuality of all living things makes it VERY difficult to
make behavioral generalizations about this breed. I
would even argue that the amount and type of human
contact kittens have growing up makes a HUGE
difference in their temperment and behavior.
However, there are some traits fairly unique to bengals.
Bengals and other hybrid breeds tend to be very
intelligent, especially foundation cats. Some bengals
can be trained to fetch, go on walks, or use the toilet as
a litterbox. One of mine observed people using the toilet
after following them into the bathroom, and started
emulating their behavior by jumping into the tub next to
the toilet and urinating directly into the tub drain.
Bengals, and especially bengal kittens tend to be
relatively active and athletic cats. I have one that can
jump from the floor up onto a six foot high ledge
flat-footed. Bengals love play time. As a breed, bengals
probably prefer being petted to being held, but I have
also had bengals who would jump up onto my hip and
climb into my arms when they wanted attention.
Bengals tend to like playing in water. Not all bengals
like water, but I have one bengal that jumps in the
shower, and will actually complain at the door if I don't
let him in when I take a shower. Bengals get fairly
attached and mine run to the door when they hear me
coming home. Bengals are often called "dog cats",
because their behavior is closer to that of dogs than
other cats. They are incredibly curious and boisterous
animals. They tend to follow their owners around the
house. I take my cats to Petsmart and Home Depot, and
they stand up in the front of the cart to see where we
are going. If you think you are not a cat person, give a
bengal a chance to change your mind. Bengals make
excellent and unforgettable pets. Nobody will ever
come to your home without saying something about your
little leopard.
FIRE MOUNTAIN BENGALS
Because Bengals are hybrid animals, it is important that
they are exposed to human contact and human
environments in the early stages of life. A bengal will
only be as good as its upbringing (See our Commitment
to Excellence Below). All of my kittens are brought up
with daily human contact. My kittens are well cared for
and safe guarded. I take great care to keep my animals
healthy, and they receive all of the preventative
medicine necessary to keep them in top condition. If
you are able, you are welcome to visit the cats here in
their environment to see what they are like. You are
also welcome to visit my References page and contact
my past customers.
N
E
W
K
I
T
T
E
N
S
!
E
W
K
I
T
T
E
N
S
!
N
E
W
K
I
T
T
E
N
S
!
E
W
K
I
T
T
E
N
S
!
