The Spotted Bengal
There are two recognised patterns within the Tica Bengal breed standard; spotted and marbled.
The spotted pattern is the most popular and commonly bred of the two recognised patterns. This may be due to the spotted gene being dominant to the marbled gene, or it may be due to the fact that the spotted Bengal most closely resembles the Asian Leopard cat.
The spotted Bengal has large or small spots that are random or horizontally aligned. Single spots are preferred as vertical stripes and rib bars are undesirable.
The spots may be solid/closed pattern and individual or rosetted/open pattern and individual. Rosetted spots are preferred but are not set by the breed standard.
The spotted Bengal tends to have striped legs and a striped tail but some spotting is preferred.
A spotted belly is also a distinct trait of the spotted Bengal cat.
Rosetted spots have two or three distinct colours or shades. An extreme contrast between the ground colour and the spotting gives distinct pattern and sharp edges.
There are many variations of rosetted spots but the three main types of rosetted spotting are:
Doughnut: large open spots that are filled with colour and outlined with a darker colour.
Paw print: dark spots around a larger shaded spot filled with colour.
Arrowhead: triangular shaped spots that point towards the back of the body with the base of the spot fading into the background.
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