How are Bengal kittens evaluated?

It’s hard to evaluate kittens because they change quite a bit as they grow. I’ve often placed a kitten and later get pictures of the grown cat showing an exquisite animal I would have loved to keep for breeding and showing. That said, I have years of watching kittens develop and know pretty well how they’ll develop.

“Pet quality” is a broad classification that is defined by whether they will be spayed or neutered. Within that pet quality range can be your average Bengal to a premium show quality animal. When I say show quality, I mean that a cat has a good chance of performing well in a show and conforms well to the TICA Bengal standard. Pets that don’t fall into the show quality category can be spectacular or very plain.

Kittens are evaluated for health, conformation (how the cat is built), coat quality, color and pattern, physical faults (tail kinks and such) and temperament (not necessarily in that order). Color faults (lockets and such) generally don’t detract from the beauty of a cat, but will affect a cats ability to perform in a show competition.