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"The Bengal Cat originates from a domestic cat (Abyssinian, American Shorthair, Burmese,
or Egyptian Mau) and an Asian Leopard Cat (ALC). During the 1960's researchers such as California's Jean Sugden (now
Jean Mills) were studying cat related diseases such as leukaemia and other cancer related viruses. It was noted that
wild cat types such as the lion and tiger were immune to some of these diseases. The wild Asian Leopard Cat was bred to
the common house cat in an effort to study the immune defences of the wild cat family to these diseases.
In 1963 Jean Sugden (Mills) crossed a female ALC and a male black domestic cat, the results were a mixture of solid and
spotted kittens. One of the spotted female offspring was then mated back to the father and the resulting litter had
spotted kittens. This was the beginning of the Bengal, but didn't progress as Jean Sugden had become a widow.
In the 1970's Jean Sugden acquired 8 female ALC/Domestic offspring from the University of California. The cats were the
result of a project to investigate the ALC's natural immunity to Feline Leukaemia. It was from this moment on that the
Bengal was established and the Bengal Breed was finally registered with the TICA (The International Cat Association) in
1983, with the first to be shown in 1985 in the New Breed/Colour Class." |
