Oni: Bengal or Savannah?

[Brigitte Cowell]

Chris, probably about 90-95% of Savannahs have "some" Bengal heritage. For some reason, it seems that Servals would prefer the Bengal girls to plain domestic shorthairs when grown up with their harem, so I hear. And a lot of the early Savannah breeders were already Bengal breeders when they discovered Savannahs so used their BG studs as outcrosses... mainly before we realized that this was detrimental to developing a type distinct from the Bengal. You can still see a strong Bengal influence in some catteries' cats.

As we progressed as a breed, we moved away from using Bengal so much...at least those breeders aiming for our breed standard did.

 

[Chris Elliott]

Not too worried. I don't think they will be procreating anytime soon.

Although, I do think Oni could improve the Bengal breed...

 

[NikkiA]

Absolutely! And we are lucky to have them--thanks to SV Rescue!

Love them both. And Jax, our DMH mongrel.

Can't wait until we're sleeping with three cats! I'm often sleeping part of the night with Ziggy, until Oni starts crying for me, then switching bedrooms...if this lasts much longer I'm going to be in real trouble with Carolyn!

We have 3 cats in our bed most nights. D wakes me up most mornings between 3 and 3:15 for a snuggle, and Jarvis most mornings at 5, but the cuteness makes it totally worth it

 

[Chris Elliott]

:jealous:

 

[John Popp]

Oni has a lot of the same look you will see in Select Exotics SVs. Stunning cats but plenty of Bengal heritage. Quite a few of them are owned by forum members, ie rascal dads rascal and mayhem. Beautiful boys and certainly show off how bengals were used in their foundation cats.

 

[SV Dad]

Yeah, I agree JP, mostly, but those spots are far more rosetted than what SE was producing 5 years ago.
Chris, I'd say a Savannah, with a lot of Bengal somewhere up the ancestry tree.

 

[John Popp]

Yeah for sure RD, something was going on further down the line judging from the f7 filial designation of Oni. Wouldn't be surprised if there was only single digit percentages of bengal or savannah, which doesn't detract from what a beautiful girl she is, just a wonderful spotted tabby with savannah and bengal heritage.

BTW, I have always had an affinity to the Savannahs with bengal outcrosses. I think they are beautiful cats just stray a bit from the breed standards.

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

I completely agree that the Bengal-Savannah crosses can be gorgeous cats, just not necessarily good Savannahs. My first Savannah was an F2 but 75% Bengal and he was such a handsome boy... I've always felt there was room in between the Bengal and Savannah breeds for a distinct breed combining the two looks...

 

[DChap]

My Tojo is an F4 and even though on his pedigree papers it shows Egyptian Mau a lot closer to his birth mother and father there is Bengal some generations back and he is very 'Bengally' looking. Must be strong genes. Love him to death no matter though. He is the most loving and mischievous cat I've ever had

 

[Patti]

Egyptian Mau is actually one of the breeds used to create the Bengal, so when you see Bengal you're probably seeing a bit of EM in the cat as well