The Majestic F1 and F2 Bengal Cat

By C. Esmond Gay – Lord of Burrough

12th January 1997

The Bengal cat as we know it today was created throughout the 1960’s to the 1980’s by a dedicated, enthusiastic and cat loving American lady called Jean Mill who worked alongside an eminent geneticist called Dr Centrewall. They used the beautiful wild Asian Leopard Cat and crossed it with various types of spotted domestic cats. The result of these matings was the beautiful and truly majestic ‘F1’ Bengal. The ‘F1’ Bengal is as close to the wild Asian Leopard Cat as one can get and has at least 50% wild blood (although some of ours have up to 90%). At the time of writing this article, many of the American ‘F1’s’ are wild, as some of them have not been brought up within a domestic family atmosphere. Also, some American breeders keep them in outside pens and so these ‘F1’s’ do not have a domestic environment or human companionship to relate to – people assume these 1st generation cats are untameable and therefore do not even try to handle them.

There were only four ‘F1’s’ in the whole of Great Britain when Sarah and myself started breeding in the 1990’s and we had the honour of owning three of these magnificent cats – but we had to pay heavily for that privilege… £35,000 each! Since then we have bred many of our own F1’s from our Asian Leopard Cats but that is no easy feat. ‘F1’s’ are immensely difficult to breed because only 1 in 20 hand reared Asian Leopard Cats (that mix with domestics) will mate to a domestic cat… and that low ratio drops even more if the ALC is wild or unfriendly - many are which makes the chances of hybridising even less! And with ‘F2’s’, to ensure that they are completely tame, one must insist that their ‘F1’ Mother is also tame and domesticated as the ‘F2’ kitten will watch and learn a lot from its half wild parent. An ‘F1’ female will reach breeding age at about 18 months old, but breeding from them is certainly not nearly as easy as breeding from an ‘F4’ Bengal!

‘F1’ males and ‘F2’ males are almost always infertile and so an ‘F3’ or ‘F4’ male (or later) must be used with an ‘F1’ female. Unfortunately many of these males do not like the ‘wild’ smell of the ‘F1’ female and will therefore either fight with her or simply refuse to mate with her. If one has overcome this problem and an ‘F1’ queen does become pregnant, then it is still NOT ‘plain sailing’ from there! Once pregnant, the ‘F1’ female must be watched quietly and carefully and segregated from any other cats in the household. This ensures that she does not get upset which can easily happen due to her intense wild instincts of wanting to be away from other felines when she gives birth in order to secure her natural instinct to ensure the safety of her ‘F2’ kittens.

One must understand that ‘F1’s’ are completely different to the more domestic generations of the Bengal cat. They have ‘wild’ instincts rather than ‘domestic’ instincts and breeding from them is very difficult indeed. Nature dictates that wild cats should only have one litter per year whereas the domestic cat will come into season when her kittens are about nine weeks old. Once tame and hand reared the ‘F1’ Bengal really DOES make a superb pet or breeder - IF they have been born and raised in a completely family orientated household that loves them as one would love ones own children! Whilst keeping our first 3 ‘F1’s’ (and all the others we bred and reared in later years), Sarah and I have proven that they do not revert back to the wild and turn nasty if they are cared for, given attention and adored as one should cherish such a special creature.

When hand reared, ‘F1’s’ are immensely loyal and tremendously dedicated to particular families. They are very much ‘one family’ cats and sometimes attach themselves to one particular person within that family – normally the male F1 will become attached to the female human of the house, and the female ‘F1’s’ will have the closest bond to the male human. This frequently happens with pure wild cat species as we’ve found the same close “male cat to female human” and vice versa relationship with our Ocelots, Serval’s and ALC’s.

It is a myth that “all ‘F1’s’ are temperamental” because our first ‘F1’s’ “Occie”, “Leopardette” and “Baby Gem” are tremendously loving, very dedicated and loyal to both me and Sarah – as are all the ‘F1’s’ that we subsequently bred from our 2 hybridizing ALC’s. ‘Occie’ our first male ‘F1’, took to Sarah as soon as we had brought him many years ago and whenever he is with her he behaves like an adoring little puppy! Sarah can do absolutely anything with him and only has to call his name and he will come running to her and follow her around desperately trying to jump up at her so that he can lick her face and suckle her fingers!

‘Baby Gem’ and ‘Leopardette’, the first two female ‘F1’s’ that we purchased, soon attached themselves to me, which is something that I’d always desperately wanted. ‘Leopardette’ will follow me everywhere and as soon as I sit down she will jump onto my knee, start to knit and then frantically suck her paw, possibly remembering the times when she used to suck on the nipple of the hand rearing bottle when we hand reared her. She is an adoring pet and like our other ‘F1’s’, she is incredibly intelligent due to her heightened natural instincts that she inherited from her wild Leopard Cat Father.

‘Baby Gem’ is the most beautiful of our first three ‘F1’s’ and she also has a wonderful personality. Once again she attached herself to me and will come as soon as her name is called. Her favourite pastime is to jump up at me and then once I kneel on the floor to play with her, she will run around and around me with her tail stiff and vertical in the air and as I passionately stroke her, she will then go to the soles of my shoes and have a good scratch on them!! After this ‘wild cat playtime’ all three ‘F1’ Bengal’s will then come and sleep happily on either Sarah or my knee and will purr contentedly as we stroke their plush velvet pelts!

All of our ‘F1’s’ are very docile and are not capable of harming even a fly! They adore human company far more than that of other felines and even though they probably do not realise that they are all Brothers and Sisters, the ‘F1’s’ really do stick together and try to keep away from our more domesticated Bengal cats. It is probably their ‘wild cat smell’ that makes them bond together. I am proud and deeply honoured that I own the most majestic ‘F1’s’ in the whole of Great Britain and probably the tamest ones in the world. If they do not like you then they will not come to you and if you harm them in anyway, then they will remember that for life! They will never harm anyone even if a child were to be rough with them and if this occurs, then all of our ‘F1’s’ will retreat to a safe hiding place and wait for the ‘roughians’ to leave. Indeed, my daughter Kitten Gay will always plays with our adult F1’s, she has helped to hand rear baby F1’s and they follow this little child around as if they were puppies!

But one must always treat ‘F1’s’ with the greatest of respect not only due to their beauty, but also because of their unique personalities. I therefore only recommend that ‘F1’s’ should be kept by dedicated individuals who can spend a lot of time with them and will give them all of the love and attention that they so desperately need. When we sold a few of the male F1’s that we bred ourselves, the interview process with the prospective new owner was always long and exhaustive. And if we don’t feel that the prospective new owner would look after and nurture the F1 kitten as we want, then we would refuse to sell them the baby. In my experience it is imperative that once re-homed at 13 weeks old, the F1 is NEVER re-homed again (after he’s reached 6 months old) – he must stay with that home forever due to the close bond that’s created with the first owners whilst he’s a kitten. This is another reason why our interview process for prospective new owners of our F1 babies, is so vigorous. These cats have delicate natures due to the shyness of their father the Asian Leopard Cat and thus, they must always be respected and loved as one would ones own child.

Even though they are fine with children, they would not appreciate having their tails pulled or the rough handling that children will sometimes give. However, our ‘F1’s’ reaction of retreating to a safe hide-a-way after such rough handling rather than ‘attacking’ (as is mistakenly believed), goes to prove that a dedicated, loving, caring and SENSIBLE home will ensure that many ‘F1’s’ are not as ‘temperamental’ as some individuals like to believe – although it appears that its ONLY rival breeders who DON’T have ‘F1’s’ that tend to make such ridiculous comments. I'm quite sure that their opinions would change if they had any experience with these types of cats.

The ‘F1’ is far more reserved in giving the love that they bestow upon their human companions and as stated previously, they will only normally take to one family, but that family will be loved by that ‘F1’ for life! When breeding from them, once an ‘F1’ is pregnant, the owner should respect their privacy and understand that their strong natural instincts require them to be kept on their own in a quiet and secluded place. The birth process is the most difficult task to undertake for both them and their human owners and it is at this time that the little ‘F2’ kittens are likely to die. In my experience the ‘F1’s’ find it difficult to give birth and I have heard that many ‘F2’ kittens will die from being suffocated because the ‘sack’ is not properly opened thus not allowing them to breathe.

The other fear is that the ‘F1’ female may eat the babies if she feels threatened or nervous. One must remember that even though this sounds terribly cruel, it is their natural instincts that make them do this as it is their way of keeping their babies away from predators. Even though there are no predators of ‘F2’ kittens within a domestic environment, their natural instinct dictates that a nervous, frightened or disturbed ‘F1’ could kill their babies in an attempt to keep them from the outside dangers – or to protect herself. Therefore, they should only be bred by experienced and dedicated breeders who can give them all of the time and devotion that they require. This is one of the reasons that we NEVER re-homed any female ‘F1’s’ that we bred – we kept them all as breeders (only infertile males were sold). And as all our F1 females were so tame, it did make the birthing process far easier.

It is widely known that wild cats will only give birth once a year and their litters are small containing just one or two cubs. These traits have been inherited by the ‘F1’ Bengal and one can only expect one or two ‘F2’ kittens to be born. Although our F1’s were always prolific breeders and Leopardette twice had 5 ‘F2’s’ per litter – quite astonishing! Our average litter of ‘F2’s’ was 3-4 per litter – way above the international average. Together with the risks that they face at birth ‘F2’s’ are very rare and tremendously difficult to breed (at the time of writing this article). The Americans are sometimes more successful than continental European breeders because their ‘F1’s’ are left completely alone as some of them have completely wild personalities. However, by doing this, the ‘F2’ kittens also remain very wild (unless they are hand reared) having learnt these instincts from their parents.

As I said, our situation is different because we worked so hard to ensure that our ‘F1’s’ remain tame and loving. Hand rearing the baby ‘F2s’ by taking them away from Mum at around 4 weeks old is the best way to bring them up IF the ‘F1’ mothers are wild, and this is widely practised by American breeders. We sometimes hand rear our ‘F2’ babies if we feel that their personalities will benefit from it, but normally we don’t have to as our ‘F1’s’ seem to like human company at this special time in their life.

I will never forget dear Jean Mill’s words of advice during an experimental ‘F1’ mating that Sarah and I decided to undertake in the early days. ‘...If the ‘F1’ Mother is temperamental and doesn’t want humans near her babies then you must take the babies away from her when they are exactly 4 weeks old…’ Mrs Mill said. ‘... If you don’t do this then their Mother will tell her ‘F2’ kittens all sorts of horrible and wicked things about humans and will tell them to behave badly and not to trust their human parents...’ Personally, I thought that this was a very lovely way of advising me of what to do over such a serious matter. I proudly replied that our ‘F1’s’ didn’t mind Sarah and I around them during the upbringing of their ‘F2’ babies.

If the ‘F2’ kittens survive the birth process, then we feel that it is safe to handle the ‘F2’ kittens almost immediately – BUT that’s only because the tameness of our F1’s is quite exceptional and so most other ‘F1’ breeders can’t do this. Our ‘F1’ queens are brilliant over such handling and Leopardette and several other females actually welcome and enjoy this intense human companionship. I always ensure that I am there during the birth process and my ‘F1’s’ seem to welcome the help that I give e.g. helping ease the kittens out and breaking the sacks. But Sarah can’t be their as the female F1’s bond only to me.

Throughout their kitten hood both Sarah and myself handle the ‘F2’ babies as much as possible and we even had several separate litters that were born inside our bed and remained there with us sleeping next to them until their Mother brought them out at 4 weeks old. Yes, it was messy, but our cats are our lives and as they come first we allow them to do whatever they want even if this inconveniences us. I found it an honour to realise that Leopardette and others wanted to give birth and rear their kittens inside our own bed as they were so desperate to be near to me - it proves that Leopardette and most of our other F1’s girls love and trust me and knows that they are safe.

Of course breeding an ‘F1’ baby is more difficult but in a very different way. The difficult part of breeding ‘F1’ kittens is getting the ALC to actually hybridise. BUT if one can do that (as we have done twice), then the actual birthing process for ‘F1’ kittens is relatively easy compared to the ‘F2’ birth because the ‘F1’ babies have an SBT mother with very few “wild instincts” compared to an ‘F1’ mother with wilder instincts who gives birth to ‘F2’ kittens.

But whether they are ‘F1’ or ‘F2’ Bengal kittens, they both grow up to become incredibly beautiful cats - but they have to go through the ‘fuzzy’ stage first. From about 5 days old up until they are about 3 weeks old, the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ kittens look absolutely magnificent. Their jet black spots are very well defined and the contrast between their markings and background colour is truly astounding! One can see their ‘golden glitter’ even at this young age and it looks as if gold dust has been sprinkled all over them! Their beautiful round little faces look completely different to the ‘F4’s’ and are almost exactly like the beautiful wild faces of their ‘F1’ or ALC parents. They have large nose leathers, puffed cheek pads and deep and broad chins with beautiful round eyes and tiny rounded ears that make them look almost exactly like their beautiful wild Grandparents. They really are breathtakingly beautiful to behold and their stunning and well-defined markings clearly resemble the cats of the wild!

Because the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ kittens are so much closer to the wild than ‘F4’ kittens, they retain far more of the wonderful wild characteristics that the wild Asian Leopard cat bestowed upon the Bengal cat. The ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ will go through the ‘fuzzy coat’ far worse than ‘F4’s’ as they are closer to the wild and unfortunately this makes it difficult for novices to see their amazing beauty after they are 3 weeks old. The ‘fuzzies’ is another word for the ‘camouflage’ coat that nature gave to the wild cats in order to disguise the young cubs markings thus leaving them less prone to being detected by predators whilst hiding in the undergrowth.

As they grow up their ‘fuzzy’ coat disappears transforming them into the most beautiful and the most breathtaking of all of the Bengal’s. ‘F1’s’ are perfect pets for dedicated cat lovers who want to have something as close to the wild as possible – seekers of feline perfection. And ‘F2’s’ are a delight to have as pets because they are very intelligent, highly inquisitive and are wonderfully playful! They are quite unique within the Bengal world because they are actually less delicate (in nature) than the beautiful ‘F1’s’, more willing to love strangers than their adult ‘F1’ parents are, but at the same time they have far more wild characteristics than the ‘F4’ Bengal. And both the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ will ‘yowl’ rather than ‘meow’ and they will frantically ‘hunt’ their toys rather than idly play with them. They ‘prowl’ rather than walk and ‘trot’ and ‘gallop’ rather than run!

Both the ‘F1’ and the ‘F2’ Bengal are superb athletes and can jump incredible distances, sometimes as much as 9 foot horizontally from one platform to another and also they can jump 7 foot vertically up into the air without any running start! They adore leaping around and will desperately try to ‘gallop’ around the room without touching the floor! Occie’s favourite game is to jump from the kitchen dresser up to the top of the kitchen door, and then will leap across the room onto one of our cat palaces in the dining room. He will then jump 7 foot onto our other cat palace and from there he can leap onto the dining room table, normally taking a few expensive ornaments with him! He will finally poise himself and get ready to jump 7 foot vertically up onto the fish tank in the living room where he will sleep for a while before doing the whole ‘around the house’ circuit again! And our other ‘F1’s’ (and ‘F2’s’) follow his circuit in hot pursuit!

Well brought up and well handled ‘F1’ and ‘F2’s’ are very confident and self-assured and will happily make friends with other cats, kittens and dogs around ones home. They make the most majestic, the most unique and the most wonderful pets that I have ever known in my life. ‘F1’ and ‘F2’s’ are the only cats that I know that posses both the beautiful and intriguing wild characteristics of their parents and Grandparents, yet at the same time they are as docile, as friendly and as trustworthy as the normal ‘F4’ Bengal’s! Some breeders will say that this is a foolhardy thing for me to say, but having bred this unique generation of Bengal’s for many years now, this is my experience and my opinion of these charming felines! Anyway, I am the only British breeder ever to have produced F1’s and F2’s and therefore I am the only UK breeder who can accurately comment on their rearing and subsequent personalities!

One sweet characteristic that I have found is that the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ kittens have copied their wild Parent and Grandparents and will ‘gorge’ themselves when they are fed until their little stomachs resemble huge barrels! I find this to be a very sweet trait and is very endearing and I can only relate it back to the wild because this is what the wild cubs would do when their parents had killed their prey in the jungles or on the plains within their natural habitats - their natural wild instinct once again tells these little cubs that this ‘...could be their last meal until their wild parents kill again...’ and so they will gorge and gorge themselves until they are so fat that they find it a struggle to walk!! This is exactly what our ALC’s, Serval’s and Ocelot’s do!! As the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ kittens grow older, they start to realise that their food is not going to be ‘...taken away by a scavenger...’ and so their desire to gorge themselves until their stomachs are so fat that they look as if they will explode, does wain - given time!!

The ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ have far more of adoration for water than the ‘F4’s’. They insist upon jumping in baths with their owners and will happily swim in ponds and in fish tanks! They love to drink from running taps and will even dunk their food into their water bowls just like their wild ancestors do in running streams just before devouring it! The first three ‘F1’s’ that we brought in the 1990’s will often remain hidden whilst strangers are in the house and can be very cautious of both cats and people that they are unfamiliar with (but the ‘F1’s’ that we bred ourselves are far more assertive and confident). And because of the way that we rear them, our own well brought up ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ babies will happily go for walks on a harness and lead and will travel in ones car without any cat carrier - they will just sit on ones knee or look out of the window at the exciting things that await them in the outside world when their ever loving owners take them for their next walk! The ‘F4’ does retain some wild characteristics, but really have been bred to just be ‘special’ domestic cats. They have lost some of their wild characteristics but one will still see the beautiful wild ‘air’ that nature has bestowed upon all generations of the Bengal and one will also see that ‘F4s’ are different to other household cats - yet even more different to that are the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ Bengals.

Our ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ babies are totally unique because they have a combination of all of these characteristics. They have the beautiful and intense wild mannerisms of the ALC yet they will readily go to strangers and will follow almost anybody around as long as that person shows them love! They are wonderfully friendly to absolutely anyone and I do not hesitate to say that they are as friendly, if not friendlier than normal domestic cats! However, even though one has a cat that is immensely loving as well as having wonderful wild characteristics, one also has a cat that looks almost exactly like the beautiful ALC.

I have already talked about the ‘F1’s’ beautiful wild appearance – but they are for true wild cat lovers. The ‘F2’ is an incredible compromise between the ‘F1’ that remains dedicated to only one family and the ‘F4’ who behaves very much like a normal domestic pedigree cat. The ‘F2’ has everything that one can desire within a feline if one wants a cat that is truly different, but the fact that they are so difficult to breed and so tremendously rare does make them very expensive and very much in demand …if they are bred inside a domestic family environment and are smothered with human love from day one!! Although they are no where near as expensive as F1 kittens! Our F1’s often sell for prices between £10,000 to £100,000 (90% wild blood Sarez Zeus) whereas the F2’s sell for prices between £7,000 to £25,000 – cheaper than the F1, but still expensive!

We are deeply honoured and proud to own and breed our own ‘F1’ Bengal’s and we are just as proud to be able to breed ‘F2’ kittens from our many ‘F1’ females including the incredibly unique Golden Marble ‘F2’s’ and even Snow Marble and Snow Leopard’s. We are very protective over our ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ kittens as we put so much effort into raising them to be beautiful and wonderfully domesticated cats with wild mannerisms and wild looks, so we could not bear to think of them going to unsuitable homes!

Prospective purchasers must be very dedicated to the Bengal cat and they must want something that is truly ‘different’ and special when compared to ‘normal’ domestic cats, so that they can bestow all of their love, dedication and attention upon their unique new ‘F1’ or ‘F2’ kitten. We will turn away 95% of people who do want to purchase our early generation kittens, but we have found that we are left with individuals who more than make up for the requirements for a good home for our ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ babies. The home must be prepared to treat the early generation kitten like a little puppy because to all intense and purposes, the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ behaves very much like a loyal and loving puppy. As previously stated, they can easily be leash and car trained – and together with all of their other unique qualities; this is incredible when one considers that our ‘F1’ babies have from 50% to 90% wild blood and over 25% to 35% wild blood in our F2’s!!

Sadly some people in the Bengal fancy want to ban the beautiful early generation including organisations as large as the GCCF and some of the Bengal Cat Clubs. Some ignorant rival breeders also want the same ban. But that is wrong! The ‘F1’s’ and ‘F2’s’ are unique Bengal cats! They are the foundation of the Bengal breed and are immensely important both as breeding cats and as pets. The true beauty of the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ is not just because of their beautiful wild looks, not just because of their unique wild characteristics, and not just because they make the ideal pets for wild cat lovers – but also because of the much needed wild blood that they bring to the breed – NEW blood. Without these foundation generations, the later generation Bengal cat would lose their unique wild look - and also, the gene pool would become so small that in-breeding would be inevitable.

And as pets, ‘F1’s’ and ‘F2’s’ are an ideal compromise because they have all the qualities of the wild cats, but they are completely dependable as pets, more friendly and loving than any type of cat that I have ever seen before and more devoted than even a little puppy!!

The ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ are a unique combination comprising of the beauty and wild characteristics of their completely wild Parents and Grandparents - yet they have wonderfully loving personalities and completely dependable natures that make them a unique and intriguing pet for those that can afford the high prices that these immensely rare cats command - if they are the very best quality. The ‘F1’ and the ‘F2’ are a dream come true for all wild cat lovers – for people who have always dreamed of owning a Serval, Ocelot or ALC but who never could because of the licences and required enclosures – the early generation really is the ‘perfect’ pedigree cat… the perfect Bengal Cat.

The people to whom we have sold such unique cats have all said that their ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ babies have ‘....enriched their lives...’, have ‘...given them something intriguing and truly special...’ and have ‘...truly made their lives complete...’. Admittedly, at such high prices some kittens do go to very rich and very famous individuals, but I love the fact that such people have the capacity of buying absolutely anything that they want, yet treasure their ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ babies above all their wealth! To hear these many friends tell us how our early generation kittens have ‘enriched’ their lives as well as changing their already prosperous and prominent lifestyles, really is something for me to be proud of. Sarah and I have become incredibly close to everyone who has our ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ babies and we are so proud that these highly dedicated and enthusiastic people have ‘...had their lives changed...’ due to the very careful breeding and rearing that goes into producing such unique and adoring kittens!!

Sarah and I now own almost all of the Asian Leopard cats within Great Britain (that are in private hands) and we currently have many adorable hand reared Asian Leopard Cat cubs and adults. These dear babies are brought up with all of the love and devotion that any decent parent would bestow upon their human child and we believe that with our devoted attention, these extremely loving babies will remain very friendly and loving - and therefore truly unique!! They love nothing better than to cuddle up to Sarah and myself on our laps within their magnificent enclosures.

Rules are very strict about keeping ‘wild animals’, and our adult ALC’s are kept in luxurious enclosures outside. But due to the young ages of our cubs, within our various wild animal licences we are allowed to bring these babies into our home on occasions and during those times our latest little cubs happily leap around the house playing with our Bengal’s!! Sarah and I make the most of all the time we have with the baby ALC’s whilst they’re in our home but even when they do have to go outside, we set aside many hours of “love time” for our adult and baby ALC’s to ensure they stay tame and friendly.

Two of our beautiful ALC’s have hybridised – “Sarez Little L” and “Sarez Apollo” produced the very first ‘F1’ kittens ever to be born in the UK. This was an incredible breakthrough for Bengal breeding throughout the world due to the valuable new wild blood that we have brought into the breed. Only a handful of breeders in the WORLD have managed to hybridise from ONE ALC - and only one other breeder in the world has managed to hybridise from 2 ALC’s – and that was Jean Mill, the founder of the Bengal breed. So this was an astounding achievement for us and we are deeply proud that amongst all the odds we created 2 totally brand new lines of Bengal that were unrelated to any other cat in the fancy.

As a consequence of this, many completely new generations of ‘F1’s’ and ‘F2’s’ and subsequent generations have been founded by the efforts of Sarah and myself - and all these new lines have totally unique pedigrees when compared to those that are already in existence throughout the world today! Whole new lines of the Bengal cat have been born! These new F1’s alone have increased the existing Bengal gene pool to an astonishing extent and is a goal that over the years Sarah and I spent many hundreds of thousands of pounds to achieve. As we first succeeded in the year 2000, we proudly call our many new F1 babies the ‘Millennium Bengal’s’!!!

Furthermore in 2002/3 Sarah and I succeeded in mating several ‘F1’ Bengals BACK to the Leopard Cat creating Europe’s FIRST 75% wild blood ‘F1’s’. Such a feat is almost unheard of in the Bengal fancy due to the extreme difficulties involved. But we wanted to breed Bengals that had the astounding wild faces and wild coats of the Leopard and the only way to do that was to put as much wild blood into the various generations as we could – and then to lovingly hand rear the babies to ensure they remained as tame and friendly as any other cat. So as with all of our early generations these high wild blood ‘F1’s’ were 100% tame and are now breeding some of the most wild looking and tame ‘F2’s’ and ‘F3’s’ in existence.

Finally in 2003 Sarah and I bred a 75% wild blood ‘F1’ back to the Leopard Cat and created the world’s first 95% wild blood F1 – the world famous “Sarez Zeus”. Due to the love and human companionship we thrust upon this very special cat, to this day, he remains as tame as any domestic is. He was sold for £100,000 and is the world’s most expensive cat having broken Sarah and my previous Guinness World Record for the highest price achieved – we felt he was worth every penny as over the years, it cost us many hundreds of thousands of pounds to breed him. His new owner agreed.

The extreme rarity of Zeus propelled him to worldwide fame and before he was 12 weeks old he had starred in 12 TV programs and appeared in dozens of magazine and newspaper articles. He is still famous to this day as one can see if Zeus’s or my name is “googled”. He remains unique and due to the astonishing complexities of breeding such a cat, it is very unlikely that another similar cat will ever be bred again.

And that wasn’t the only press coverage we received thanks to our beloved cats. The media seemed to take a shine to our felines – they told me this was because my Bengal’s were as magnificent as any wild Leopard – they said that during interviews, I ”…oozed passion and emotion…” as I spoke about the breed and my cats. Over the years our cats, Sarah and I had the privilege of starring on circa 55 TV programs and circa 75 national newspapers and magazines articles have been written about us and our cats (including many front page cover stories). Whilst our early generation Bengal’s have advertised Armani, Cavalli and Versace clothing in scores of fashion magazines and they have even been on the catwalk! And as well as this, we have sold kittens to hundreds of stars, celebrities and royals. This was all made possible thanks to our beautiful cats – they have done so much for us – they have totally changed our lives…

However, our aim was never for fame or profit – that was just a bi-product! We wanted to give something back to these magnificent cats. The stunning wild cats brought our beloved Bengal’s into being and due to our fear about the plight of their highly endangered ancestors, we wanted to do something truly constructive within our wild cat conservation programme (The Sarez Wild Cat Conservation Programme). Therefore our other plans for our existing breeding pairs of Asian Leopard Cats (the endangered sub species only) are that some of their progeny will be given to wild life parks throughout Europe who wish to breed endangered sub species of Asian Leopard cats for conservation purposes. But the non-endangered subspecies that we have such as ‘Bengalensis Bengalensis’ will continue to hybridise for us and bring even more ALC’s into the Bengal gene pool.

So even though we are Bengal breeders who actively use the ALC for hybridising, we will always remain just as dedicated to the protection of many other endangered species of wild cats - and within our own conservation programme we already have breeding pairs of Leopards, Ocelots, Serval’s and Geoffroys Cats and we hope to also obtain Clouded Leopards and other highly endangered cats - paying for these extremely expensive creatures using the income derived through the sale of our own Bengal kittens. We want to help to ensure that wild Asian Leopard cats and other rare species of wild cats do not become extinct in years to come as has happened to many other highly endangered species of wild feline - these determined conservation goals and ambitions for all wild cats have been brought about due to the awareness that we have gained and learnt by keeping all of the generations of ‘the majestic Bengal cat’!!!

Within this article, I have found it very difficult to describe the awe inspiring ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ Bengal’s and their wild ancestors because the unique qualities that they possess really do have to be seen to be appreciated. Its alright for Sarah and I to talk confidently about living with the early generation Bengal’s because we live so happily with so many beautiful ‘F1’ Bengal’s and breed so many ‘F2’s’. But for those who do not have the honour of living with such magnificent cats, it is difficult to comprehend just how unique and different particularly the ‘F1’s’ and ‘F2’s’ are from the normal Bengal cat and from domestic cats.

If one is thinking of purchasing an ‘F1’ or ‘F2’ Bengal, then it really is imperative to visit their ALC or ‘F1’ parents and see just how dedicated, loyal and loving they are both to Sarah and me. One will see their beauty and their wonderful characteristics, and then the rest is up to you – you have to use your wildest imagination in order to understand exactly what it is like to live with a cat that is almost exactly like the ALC or ‘F1’ Bengal, but is far more of a ‘family’ cat – a well brought up F1 or the ‘F2’ really are the ideal pet - if you want a cat that is completely different and totally unique in every way!!

I am a devoted cat lover and adore all types of felines. I love my ‘F4’s’ and all of my ‘moggies’ as if they were my own children. Therefore, whilst reading this article please do not misunderstand me and think that I only love and appreciate the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ Bengal’s because this is simply not true! I adore ALL the generations of the Bengal cat, no matter how far removed they are from the wild - but to me the ‘F1’ and the ‘F2’ will always be special because they are so different and so unique to live with as family pets. They have really captured my heart, they have enthused me and they have captivated me with their awe inspiring beauty! It has always been my dream to have cats as close to the wild as possible yet completely trustworthy running around my house rather than in enclosures as the Law insists – and the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’’ Bengal’s are that dream come true…

Sarah and I really do realise how lucky and honoured we are to own and breed the unique ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ Bengal cat as well as breeding our other beautiful generations including the ‘F4’s’ and ‘F5’s’!!

However, remembering that most of the income derived from the sale of our Bengal kittens goes towards our own conservation project, as far as Sarah and myself are concerned, our remaining goals and ambitions are still firmly embedded within our hearts – to eventually breed and help to conserve the magnificent yet highly endangered wild cats that face imminent extinction in the wild – cats that are SO closely related to the ‘F1’ and ‘F2’ Bengal...

Addition; Due to the astounding stress of all of our work for the Bengal breed and wild cat conservation Sarah and I retired in 2004. We had achieved all of our goals within the Bengal fancy and some of our dreams for wild cat conservation and so we sold our unique collection of Bengal’s and ALC’s (non-endangered sub species) to Pauline Turnock of Gayzette Bengal’s – we sincerely thank Pauline and Frank for continuing (and expanding) the breeding program that we worked so hard to create.

I personally remain in very regular contact with Pauline and Frank and intend to do so for decades to come. We are EXTREMELY close and every other day emails or phone calls flow between us. I continue to offer them my full support and advice on all topics of the Bengal and also wild cats. I closely follow Pauline and Franks expanded breeding programs and their many successes and achievements - but without intruding.

Behind the scenes and behind the public eye, I will always be there for them… and the stunning cats that I once so proudly owned.

And by being here for them, means I never really lose my beloved cats…

I am also actively helping and encouraging them to hybridise from another non-endangered species of wild cat of which they now own a number - but only time will tell if that program is successful – to date the creation of this new breed of pedigree is SO complex that it has only been achieved in very small numbers within the USA.

But such is their expertise with cats and with my support behind the scenes, if anyone outside of America can accomplish it, then its Pauline and Frank! So watch this space…