The first third of on the head of a small forest dwelling wildcat is the most important third of all.  The front third of the head distinguishes this group of cats from all other wildcats on the planet. 

On the left side of the collage above, there are three different species of small wildcats and on the right, the are three different species of larger cats.  The cats on the left all hunt small prey: mice, birds, lizards.  The cats on the right all hunt larger prey.  The lion on top loves zebra and buffalo. The leopard in the middle feasts on gazelle and wildebeast, and the clouded leopard on the bottom enjoys deer, monkey, and pigs. Mother Nature is a beautiful creator, and she has designed the jaw of each cat to be the perfect size for a kill bite on the neck of that cat’s favorite prey.  Look at the cat’s on the right side of the collage – the larger their prey is, the longer their muzzle is to accommodate a wider bite on a larger neck.

The small cats of the jungles don’t need muzzle length.  If they had a longer muzzle, they would be less efficient killers of their prey species; thus, they would eventually die out.  In addition, they are hunting in trees and brush and need to spot their prey beneath the tangled mess of branches and bushes, so their eyes must be low to see beneath everything.  In contrast, a lion, for example, hunts on the grasslands and needs to hide beneath the tall grasses yet be able to look over those grasses without being seen.  The lion needs its eyes up high.  This low placement of the eyes on the small forest-dwelling wildcats gives their faces a unique, wild look as it is different from all other wildcats.

All of this background on prey size and muzzle length leads us to the front third of the Asian Leopard cat’s head.  In profile view, notice the eyes are on the front third of the skull.  If breeders want to emulate the look of the small wildcats, they must select for Bengals who have their eyes on the front third of the skull as well.

Kitten skulls, however, are hard to evaluate.  They change a lot as they grow.  Determining if the eyes are appropriately set can sometimes be more easily done from the front view.

On the left side of the collage of kittens, there are small wildcat kittens – two Asian leopard cats  and one margay.  On the right side of the collage is a lion, leopard, and clouded leopard.  Notice how low the eyes are on the faces of all the small wildcat kittens.  From the front view, more than half the skull is above the eyes.  In the larger cats with longer muzzles, the eyes are much higher on the face.  

To select for Bengal kittens who will end up having their eyes on the front third of the skull, you need to look for eyes that are very low on the face.  Often, the muzzle of a Bengal kitten will elongate down as the kitten grows.  This means they eyes will end up higher on an adult Bengal than they appear on small kittens. 

Read More. . . 
Rule of Thirds – The Front Third
Rule of Thirds – The Middle Third 
Rules of Thirds – The Back Third 

Bengal Nose Set 
Bengal Nose Size 
Bengal Nose Shape 

The Bengal Body 
Selecting the Ideal Body in Bengal Kittens 

Bengal Tail Set

These Blogs are written by Robyn Paterson, with much of the content coming from the mind of Jon Paterson.  We intend to help other Bengal breeders notice and select for features that are distinct to small forest-dwelling wildcats to better the breed together. They are best viewed on a desktop.

These Blogs are written by Robyn Paterson, with much of the content coming from the mind of Jon Paterson.  We intend to help other Bengal breeders notice and select features distinct to small forest-dwelling wildcats to better breed together. They are best viewed on a desktop.  To access all the Blog articles, please click here.

As a Bengal breeder when I am trying to understand a feature on my Bengals, I look to the small forest dwelling wildcats as a futuristic, or extreme, model of what to strive for.  It isn’t likely that the Bengal cat will ever achieve a nose like that of the small forest dwelling wildcats, but understanding their nose gives me direction.  In addition, I find it very helpful to contrast features with ground dwelling cats of the Felis genus as the Felis cats are the root of all domestic cat breeds.  In the collage above, the cats on the top are all Felis cats, both African and European wildcats, and the cats on the bottom are all forest dwelling wildcats; in this collage, they are all Asian Leopard cats.

There are three important aspect of the nose that all work together to create the look of the forest dwelling wildcat nose – size, shape, and set.  For today, I am just going to talk about shape.

The shape of a forest dwelling wildcat’s nose is very distinct from the Felis cats, so this is a great aspect to emulate in the Bengal cat.  To being with, look at the upper edge of the nose of the Asian leopard cats in the bottom row of the collage above.  The small forest dwelling wildcats have a slight heart shape to the top line of the nose.  It does not go straight across like the Felis cats.  

The most important distinction is shape, however, is the lower part of the nose.  While the Felis cats tend to have a straight lower section of the nose that is equal in width or tapers to a point and the bottom edge of the noes.  The Asian Leopard cat, in contrast, has a bottom flair.  The bottom section of their nose flairs out again to offer a larger fleshy surface around the bottom of the nostril.  As a nocturnal hunter, the small forest dwelling cats must utilize their sense of smell to find their prey, and the large fleshy, moist surface helps them use their nose to lead the to a meal.

When looking at your Bengal’s nose, look for two key features of shape –  the top line has a heart shape and the bottom has a flair to the flesh around the nostril.
 

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.

The Bengal Standard doesn’t say anything about where the nose should be set, but a study of small forest dwelling wildcats leads to only one answer –   the nose should set low in between the whisker pads – not above them.  In the collage above, there is a Scottish Wildcat on the left and an Asian Leopard cat on the right.  Notice the whisker pads are below the nose of the Scottish Wildcat.  The nose sits on top of them.  In contrast, the nose of the Asian Leopard cat is set in between the whisker pads – they are positioned to the side of the nose.

One thing to look for in looking for a low set nose is the amount of whisker pad that connects between the bottom of the nose and the lip.  The more space you have here, the higher the nose set is.  Look for noses that have very little connection of the whisker pads beneath them.  

In the collage to the left, you can see how much space there is between the nose and the lip on the Maine Coon on the left and how there is next to no space between the nose and the lip on the Bengal on the right.

Nose set is one of those little details that polishes off the look of the Bengal giving it the essence of a wildcat.  A high set nose can really ruin the “wild” look of a Bengal face – even if it is correct in shape and size.

When it comes to nose set there is only one thing you need to remember – look for a nose that is set LOW between the whisker pads.

Below are Bengals with nice low set noses.

 

The middle third of the Rule of Thirds is likely the most difficult section to write about because in the middle third, it is more about what you do NOT want to appear there than what you do want to appear there.  Notice in the picture of the ALC, the eyes are in the first third and the ears are in the last third.  That is exactly as it should be, but it doesn’t leave any obvious facial feature for the middle third.

The Bengal standard states the the head should be longer than it is wide.  I often see people misinterpreting head length with muzzle length.  Only one third of the length of the head should be in the muzzle.  The other two thirds should all be behind the eyes – with one third being from the eye to the ears.

On this middle third, otherwise known as the forehead, you want to try to keep an even sweep to the skull from the nose bridge up over the head and into the back skull.  If you look around at Bengal cat adults, you will often see a change of direction above the eyes as the forehead flattens out.  This is something to avoid when trying to achieve the skull shape of the ALC.  Some Bengals go the the extreme of having a dent in the skull here.  It looks as if someone has taken their thumb and pushed the skull in above the eyes.  This is not desirable.

In order to achieve a nice forehead with proper length (one-third of the skull) and a smooth continuous flow from beneath the eyes back up over the head, one has to start training their eyes on what to look for in little kittens.  If you pick a kitten head that looks like we want it to look as an adult head, you will not achieve enough curvature and length in the middle third section of the head once the kitten matures into an adult.

Instead, look for kitten who has a lot of forehead. Look for kittens whose forehead goes UP from a distance above the eyes and ears.  Kittens who have exaggerated foreheads will develop into adult cats who have the correct, continuous roll over from the nose bridge all the way through to the back skull.  They will not develop a change of direction or the dreaded thumbprint indent on the forehead.

In the collage to the left, you can see three side by side comparisons of the three different Bengal cats as infant kittens and as adults.  Look carefully at the space between the eyes and ears. Notice how, in kittens, the forehead height  is extreme.

Next, look  below at the pictures of the ALC kitten head and the domestic kitten head.  Notice how much more forehead the ALC kitten has above its eyes than the domestic kitten.  In picking out Bengal kittens, look for more forehead.

Working on the middle third of the Bengal skull means keeping the features of the face out of this third of the skull.  You’ve got to keep the eyes in the first third and the ears in the last third which leaves the middle third bare – exactly as it should be.  Next, you’ve got to watch the foreheads of baby kittens. Do not pick the kitten who has a correct adult head as an infant. Pick the kitten with extreme height in the forehead, so that as the kitten grows and develops, it doesn’t develop a change of direction at the brow line, or, worse, the thumb print indent.
 

The problems with using either oval or almond as the shape for the Bengal eye is that it does not allow for an openness that is needed on a nocturnal eye.  It seems the one thing all Bengal standards agree upon is that the Bengal should have the look of a nocturnal cat.  One of the traits that clearly distinguish a nocturnal cat from diurnal or crepuscular cats is its eyes, so we ought to spend some time getting this description correct.  

While oval and almond aren’t right, round isn’t exactly accurate either.  Of the three, it is likely the closest, but it would be the easy way out when formulating a standard – the description of the very best.  The Bengal has this interesting straight edge to the upper inner eyelid.  In addition, the widest point of the eye should have a slight bias toward the outer edge of the eye.  It is this slight bias that makes the eye look wild, not staring or domestic round. If you look down at the collage of four different tree-dwelling, nocturnal wildcat species, you’ll notice that while their top eyelid shape varies, they all have the lower eyelid that deepens towards the outside of the eye, not directly in the center like a round eye.  When we are looking for ways to distinguish the Bengal from all other breeds and using the nocturnal wildcat for inspiration, it is important to note these slight distinctions in the standard.

I reached out to a friend who is a judge and asked how one would describe the shape of the eye that I would like to see on the Bengal, and she pointed me to the American Curl standard for some ideas.  Bingo, I think they hit it – almost.  

The American Curl describes their eye shape as “Walnut in shape; oval on the top and round on the bottom.  For the Bengal, I would add “with the deepest point slightly biased to the outer edge.”  It seems that using a description that already exists and tweaking it to fit the Bengal would provide the most clarity for judges.

Another aspect that is often included in the description of an eye shape is the proportion of the eye to head size.  Look at the collage of four different tree-dwelling wildcats who are nocturnal hunters. Top left, Leopard cat; top right Marbled cat; bottom left, Margay; bottom right, Oncilla.  On all cats, the eyes are a dominating feature on the face as they should be on a Bengal as well.  So when describing the size, the Bengal eye should be moderately large in proportion to the head.  The allowance already made for jowls on male cats accommodates the difference in proportion between a male and female Bengal cat eye to head size proportion.

Standards need to account for the set of the eyes as well and this is where Bengal standards everywhere have an opportunity to clarify for breeders what a nocturnal set looks like.  It is obvious by looking at the wildcat collage that the eyes of nocturnal cats are set to the outside edges of the face with approximately one eye width between them.  Defining the width by the size of the eye would help Bengal breeders keep everything in the proper proportion.  There seems to be a common understanding that Bengal eyes should be wide apart, but the proportion of width to eye size is off on many Bengals with the width being too wide and the eyes being too small.  Clarifying the proportions could be an asset to kitten selection.  This would also allow for the eye description to help guide the head width to be in accordance to other areas of the standard – particularly where it calls for the head to be longer than it is wide and slightly small in proportion to the body.  It would be nice to start to see the different pieces of the standard working together instead of contradicting one another.
 

Often Bengal standards will call for the eye to not be bugged, which is understandable because no one should breed for structural flaws.  However, a nocturnal eye has a lot of surface area to its lens.  The difference between it and a bugged eye is that the non-bugged eye with a copious surface area is held strongly in place by prominent boning.  We’ve mentioned above that drop in the lower eye line towards the outside edge of the eye.  Look carefully below the lowest point in the lower eyelids on the pictures of the different wildcats, you can see the strength of the bone holding the eye in place so that it isn’t bugged.  Now, look at the image of the dorsal view of two skulls.  The comparison between a domestic cat skull on the top and a Leopard cat skull beneath shows the difference in the bone structure around the eyes.  Notice the Leopard cat’s zygomatic bone sticks out further in the front and sides and is a thicker bone than it is on the domestic cat.  Even the bones holding in the top of the eyes are longer and stronger on the Leopard cat. Selecting for the bone structure of a Leopard cat on the SBT Bengal will give the nocturnal eye that is coveted by Bengal breeders without the fear of the eye having the structural weaknesses of a bugged eye.  It is this strong bone structure that holds the eyes in a forward facing position.

To have the nocturnal look, the Bengal eyes cannot be deeply set into the skull.  The nose bridge should not extend out beyond the eye lens very far.  This coincides with the need for a lot of surface area on the lens of the eye. A nocturnal eye must allow as much light to enter the eyeball as possible.  Furthermore, the bottom of the eye is set further out than it is on the majority of cats making the angle of the eye parallel to the bridge of the nose if the cat has the desired downward turned muzzle that is shown on the Leopard cat in the picture.  Even on cats who don’t have the downward turned muzzle, the eye should sit ever so slightly tilted upward.  For all of this to exist, the Bengal needs the bone structure from the Leopard cat.  If standards start to describe with clarity what a nocturnal eye looks like, breeders will have to start selecting the stronger bone structure.  All choices have a domino effect, and this will have a positive domino effect.

The lens of the Bengal eye should be visible from all sorts of angles – that is what makes the eye nocturnal. In the picture below, look at how you can see the lens of this male Leopard cat’s eye as it protrudes out from the face.  You can see the lens from behind the cat.  Notice, too, on the Bengal kitten how the lens is visible on the far-away side of the nose bridge.  Cats who hunt at night have to capture any of the minimal light they can and they have to be able to pick up light from all different angles.  If we are breeding the look of a nocturnal cat, we need to have a standard description that explains it as such.

It is time to get the description of the Bengal eye clarified by standards in order to help breeders make better selections towards the big picture goal of the Bengal breed which is to breed a domestic cat that emulates the look of a small, nocturnal, tree-dwelling wildcat.  To do so the eye shape, set, and size should be clearly stated. 

Shape: Oval on the top, round on the bottom, with the deepest point slightly biased to the outside. Set: Placed on the outside of the face with one eye width in between, surrounded by prominent boning that holds the eyes at a parallel angle to the nose bridge in profile. Size: Moderately large with a large surface area on the lens.  Strong boning keeps eyes from being bugged.

So the question remains – are Bengal breed section members of any organization interested in clarifying their standard’s eye description?

These Bengal eyes from around the world show that the ideal eye is attainable on SBT Bengals.  Pictured from left to right: Katzizi Ylvi at Katzizi Bengals in England; Fraser Valley Nova of Jewelspride at Jewelspride Bengals in Canada; Crestwood Vegas of Coppa at Coppa Bengals in the United States; Batifoleurs Moswen of Moulin Rouge at Moulin Rouge Bengals in France.

For many years, it has appeared as if the top priority of breeders is to achieve small ears. Small ears are not very wild looking when they are triangular. 

Take a look at the half-sisters snuggled up in the cat bed. The cat on the left has small ears, but they are narrow and triangular. The cat on the right has much larger ears overall, but they are, in fact, a step closer to the wild look than the small ears on the left. The ears on the right are wide-based and more rounded at the top. While the ears are much larger on the cat on the right, they are actually a step closer to the wild look based on their shape. In most cases, however, breeders would say the cat on the left has better ears simply because the size is diminutive. If the cat on the right had more forward tilt to hear ears, they would “look” smaller. Forward tilt can actually hide several different weaknesses in the ear – including both size and shape. For those breeders who really feel they struggle with ears, trying to get forward tilt would make the time it takes to correct everything a more bearable process as the ears will “look” better than they actually are. 

In addition to the forward tilt having an impact on the appearance of the size of the ear, where the ears sit on the head has an impact as well. The kitten collaged with the drawing has a fantastic shape, but the ears are too high on the head. If you move the ears down or add more top skulls, the same ears would “look” smaller. Now imagine not only moving the set down a tiny bit but also adding forward tilt; the ears would appear to be diminutive, even though their actual size would not change. 

With the ears being a consistent struggle for breeders, it can be super exciting when you progress forward or see fantastic progress in other catteries. Recently a few cats with over-groomed ears have been doing the social media circuit and receiving a lot of praise. Micheal Turner permitted me to share pictures of his cat with one overgroomed ear. The mother of this cat overgroomed one ear at birth and left the other alone. Over-grooming can leave one with fantastic-looking ears when done on both sides, but when it is done on one side, it makes it much easier to identify.

When kittens are born, less than half of the ear flap is physically detached from the head. This is why newborn ears always look tiny. At this stage, there is very little active blood flow in the ear flap. Damage done to the ear flap at this time can easily go unnoticed due to lack of bleeding. 

Between two and six weeks, the ear flaps fully open which is why ears often grow disproportionately during this time. If the ear is over-groomed early on, the unfused tip of the ear is removed. As the ear flap opens and grows, this stretches the area where the tip was removed which causes the ear to become rounded; in essence, as the ear gets larger, the scar tissue stretches and smooths down as either side of the growing ear is pulling it. This scar tissue is slightly less elastic and flexible than normal ear tissue. This means that any notches or uneven edges caused by the mother gradually smooth out as the scar tissue becomes tighter. Because of scar tissue, the point of removal does not have the fine hair edge you see on the natural rim of the ear. In addition, you will see an unnatural hairline surrounding this over-groomed ear.

Sometimes we see cats where this has happened, and our automatic assumption is that the breeder trimmed the ears because the shape looks so perfect. It is more likely that the mother overgroomed. This cat with one over-groomed ear and one natural ear demonstrates how this round shape results from the scar tissue being stretched as the ear grows; it is not because a breeder trimmed them to perfection equally on both sides.

It would be beneficial if those posting kittens and cats with over-groomed ears would add a disclaimer to their pictures stating they know the ear was over-groomed. Sometimes, the cat being published is a stunning cat worthy of compliments. Yet, the lack of clarity regarding the condition of the ears holds some back from complimenting the cat because they don’t want to be seen as supporting this unnatural ear. When these pictures do not have a disclaimer, it causes confusion for new breeders who may not understand that the ears are not natural. How sad it would be for a new breeder to buy a breeding cat with over-groomed ears while under the impression that the cat would produce those ears. The only realistic hope of that happening would lie in purchasing a female who inherits the overgrooming behavior of the mother. It is not an authentic way to improve ears. 

As breeders, sometimes we have to ask ourselves – what is the goal? Small? Or accurate? The Bengal will naturally go through phases in which the best ears do not appear small to get to the accurate ear. These cats will struggle in the show hall as the show hall, at the moment of publication, favors size over the shape and set. Most Bengal standards describe the size of the ears first. By having the size in the first place position in the description, it sends the message to judges that size is the most important aspect of the ear. Bengal breeders may consider discussing with their breed committees and breed chairs whether reorganizing the ear description could assist in the show hall, encouraging breeders to focus more on the shape and set and less on size. We need to get to the point where judges mention the shape of ears, such as these on Lots Of Spots Rayne Dancer; more often than not, they mention size.