"Show standard" is very subjective and unless a cat has obvious faults ie tail faults or lockets, or is cow hocked or has some obvious conformational fault, or is in poor condition ie too thin or too fat, or looks ill (bad coat, lethargic, bad teeth, etc), then all may do well at a show. The show is a beauty contest (first and foremost) so the cat that takes the judge's eye is often more important than whether it ticks all the boxes. The Bengal standard is very loose, so often cats with big ears, whippy tails, poorly marked coats etc. may do well despite all, if the competition is poor or if they have no truly bad faults or their opposition is found to have more faults, or if they have one stunning feature that makes all the other faults pale into insignificance. So a cat with an exceptionally good head or fantastic ears or a show stopping pattern may get off with being a bit short in the body, or the ears are pointy, or the tail could be a little fatter, of the muzzle is too narrow.
Of course a great looking cat is also about balance. The cat looks amazing - it may be difficult to pinpoint any truly great features, but the package as a whole just works.
The perfect cat hasn't been found yet and because there are so many differing ideas of what the Bengal should look like amongst breeders and judges, then Champion cats are not peas in a pod in the Bengal. They are often highly variable.
Of course shows are highly political too, so Mrs InfluentialCatteryWhoShowsAllTheTime often stands a much better chance of having the top cat than Mrs UnknownCatteryWhoHasJustTurnedUpToday, no matter what the real quality of the cats are. 1794542_688924537812912_1025405509_n.jpg
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