Above is a collage of a variety of small forest dwelling wildcats that live and hunt at night in the trees of jungles and forests. What dominant feature of the face stands out on all of them? That big, huge, puffy nose.
The nose of the Bengal cat will likely never proportionately reach the size of the small forest dwelling wildcats, but it should still be a standout feature on the face. The first aspect of nose size to consider is width. The outside edges of the nose should be in a straight line with the inside edges of the eyes to form two parallel lines. The nose should not narrow to form a triangle. Since the eyes on a Bengal should be set on the outside edges of the skull, when everything is placed correctly, this results in a very wide nose.
Next, notice the height of the noses of the wildcats in the collage above. In most cases the noses are as tall - if not slightly taller - than they are wide. These are some big noses. The height is often harder to get on an Bengal cat than the width, so look for height in the nose leather when selecting for noses.
Finally, the absolute must have on a Bengal nose is a puffed nose leather. Most cat breeds have flat nose leather, so the puff of a Bengal's nose leather is very distinct. The hair line should start back from the outer most surface of the nose, and the leather should wrap around the upper curve. If you look at the Ocelot in the center row, right column of the collage, it show the puffy nose leather the best. When viewing one of these wildcats in profile view, you will notice the nose leather actually puffs out beyond the chin. If you get a Bengal with correct nose set and nose leather, it will too.The three key elements to look for in finding a Bengal with the correct nose size are the width, the height, and the puff of the nose leather. You want the width of the nose to align with the eye to form parallel lines, you want the height of the nose to equal or surpass the width, and you want the puff of the nose leather to make the nose stick out off the face of the cat.
Below is a collage of great Bengal noses which demonstrate that nice size is achievable on the Bengal cat.
