Hello,
Just a quick question please. My friend is getting a Bengal from a breeder. The male is full blooded and all that. I have always wanted a Bengal being an avid cat lover. We were closed considering breeding the Bengal to my little female typical DSH. My question is, will the Bengal gene be dominate? Or is it just a toss of the dice as to whether or not we will get any Bengal coloring or attitude?

You are kidding, right? You will not end up with a bengal. It will be a bengal cross and there is no way of knowing which bengal traits the offspring might have. And then, what if you have more than one kitten? The others cannot be sold as bengals as they literally have no value without registration papers. If you want a bengal, then purchase a bengal. Your friend is getting an intact male bengal? With breeding rights or with the registration papers being withheld until the male is neutered? You are really stepping on rocky ground here. If you really want a bengal, buy a bengal! And if you have a female that has not been spayed, you should really have her spayed. Unless she is a breeding queen, there is no reason she should not be fixed. It's much better for her health-wise as well.

Hopefully, other members will weigh in.

Completely agree with all Sherry has said.
Can't imagine the breeder of your friends male being very impressed either.

This is just SOOO wrong for so many different reasons, it's difficult to even know where to start...

_________________
The little monsters 3

I realize this is an old post but I figured the poster probably wanted to breed their cat because they didn't have the money to spend on a pure bengal. So I am leaving this post in case others see it with the same idea.

Obviously breeding like this only adds to the cat population and even if a person finds homes for every kitten... That's one less home for another homeless pet. This means lives are lost as shelter cats are out to sleep.

My recommendation would be to adopt a bengal. There are plenty of Bengal mixes and purebred Bengals in shelters. I know because I adopted a purebred from a shelter. There are even kittens. Yes you have to look longer but with patience you can find the right cat. I have found their adoption cost is usually the same as every other cat or only a little higher.

You could give a needy cat a home... Not add to the population and have a real Bengal.

I would like to think all breeders would spay and neuter their bengal kittens before they went to a new home to prevent additional litters. They usually withhold the registration paperwork and some owners don't care. Or will breed the cat and then provide the paperwork to the breeder.

There is an overpopulation of cats and things cannot get better until people spay and neuter their cats. Oh yes, kittens are truly adorable. But they grow into breeding adults. We have several stray cats in our neighborhood. Thankfully, they are now all fixed, but more will arrive at some point. People move and leave their pets, people drop off cats on the main road. It's a horrible problem. Thankfully, there are rescues out there, but not enough. I support one who has 200 cats, mainly elderly and FIV positive cats as well as cats with medical conditions. People just drop cats off at her front door hoping she will take them in and she does because she doesn't have the heart to turn them away. Shelters are always full. I absolutely love cats but have never had more than two at a time -- not because I wouldn't want a few dozen, but because I have a husband who doesn't like cats much, period!

This is how I ended up with a wonderful Bengal mix cat - we speculate that someone's Bengal got loose in the neighborhood.

Thomas was gorgeous and had a wonderful personality with lots of Bengal traits, but we faced discrimination in other Bengal forums. I was thrown out of a Facebook forum just for posting a photo of him. Bengal mixes/crosses are considered mistakes and the purebred breeders are very angry about these mistakes.

There is also the size differential here - if your DSH is small, and the Bengal is large, she may not be able to handle the live birth.

There are bengal rescues out there and many times shelters have bengals, so you can find a purebred bengal and not pay a high price. One cannot expect a bengal mix to behave exactly like a bengal or look like a bengal. Try breeding a bengal with a black and white DSH and see what you get. Obviously, one must use a tabby to retain the tabby look! But, still, the whole idea is crazy just to get one kitten and then have to find homes for any others. But, I'm guessing the breeding will happen regardless of what we might say.