In general the Bengal cat is considered to be larger than average for domestic cats. This must be due to selective breeding because as you may know this is a wild cat hybrid but the wild cat species used for its breeding is quite a small animal. In Southeast Asia the Asian leopard cat weighs around 5.5 pounds and only in Russia does this small wild cat species way up to about 9.9 kg (22 pounds).
As far as I’m aware, the founders of this cat breed did not specifically breed from the Russian variety of the Asian leopard cat. Therefore I conclude that selective breeding has made this breed a bit larger and heavier than average.
Females weigh 4.5-5.5 kg (10-12 pounds) and males as much as 10 kg (22 pounds).
There is also another factor which may dictate somewhat the weight of this popular cat breed. Normally Bengal cats are fifth filial cats which means that they are five generations from the wild. However, if a person adopts a first filial which is technically half wild and half domestic cat then the influence of the weight of the wild cat father plays a part in the subsequent weight of the offspring: the Bengal cat. These are rare cats however.
It seems that breeders of this cat want to develop an athletic looking domestic cat symbolic of all wild cat species. There was this almost altruistic desire by breeders to remind owners of the plight of the wild cat species and the general failure of conservation. The Bengal cat should be powerful, wild looking and exotic to remind cat owners of the beautiful wild cats living in the wild. As a result, this cat has a powerful muscular body with high hindquarters, large feet and a beautiful coat with deep contrast and rosette spots although there is a variety of coat types.
The terminology to describe the cat’s personality hints at its wild cat ancestor: intelligent, agile, alert, active, athletic, curious, busy, determined, outgoing, confident and independent. Expect therefore that this cat to be athletic, agile and intelligent; three factors which tell us that the breed is a little bit more demanding than average by which I mean in an ideal world the cat demands more input from his owner in order to make sure that the environment is enriched satisfactorily.
