by Jessica Rayne
(Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)
Is it possible that there’s a breed of cat crossed between a Maine Coon and a Bengal?!? I find both breeds gorgeous! What I mean by a breed of cat crossed between a Maine-coon and a Bengal, is a Maine-coon with fur the normal length for its breed, tufted ears, bushy tail and so on, except with a spotted pelt similar to that of a leopard.
And eyes varying in colour from greens and blues to ambers, yellows and browns.
If anyone knows that this breed or a similar breed exists, please leave a note!
Thankyou!
~J.R.
Hi Jessica… Thanks for popping by and asking. The answer is YES and it has been done – see Renegade and Pantherette below. But they are not registered with any cat association. They are informal ‘cat breeds’. In fact there are no pictures of this hybrid that I can find in Google search. It seems that it is more theoretical than actual and what is the point? You lose the charm and appearance of each breed.
Jack, a visitor, living in Alaska says his daughter has a feral Maine Coon Bengal mix called Indie.
The associations allow any coat colour and pattern for a Maine Coon so a spotted one is acceptable on the face of it. Why aren’t there any? Or are there? There are some but they are experimental and rare.
The only Maine Coon crosses or long haired Bengals or plain long haired spotted cats that I know of that have happened under controlled conditions (deliberately) or not as feral cats are:
American Forest Cat Shorthair: shorthaired Maine Coon type.
Bengal variants: long haired Bengal, unspecified as to how achieved.
Leopold: snow leopard look alike so it long haired and spotted. Or medium long haired. Black rosettes and long body on a silver background.
Maine Coon Rex: standard Maine Coon except for rexed cat (cross with Cornish or German rex?).
Pantherette: Various ways to create this rare breed one being a black Bengal cat crossed with a Maine Coon. Objective: Blank panther look alike so the goal is shorthair, but long hair gene is recessive and therefore pops up.
Renegade: Bengal to Maine Coon cross. Experimental. Produces non typey Bengal cats.
Siacoon: Siamese x Maine Coon cross.
Iv been told my cat is Bengal cross maincoon hes is 3months
He is handsome. Rare too. But do you have some firm evidence that he is a hybrid as described? 😊.
A month ago I watched my 4 year old Bengal Maine Coon cross take almost an hour to die in agony of congestive heart failure because it was a Sunday evening and no vet would come. We’d been treating him for 3 months after he collapsed one day, despite looking very healthy and athletic. The scans showed his heart and liver were far too small as he’d been cramped in the womb so they didn’t grow as they should. It was a death sentence. The vet warned us that he’d got blood clots in his brain which could come free at any time. Eventually one did, and paralysed his front legs 3 hours before he died. He kept trying to stand up and couldn’t. He was crying in agony and we doped him with cocodamol to ease his pain. Then he died with bloody bubbles coming out of his nose and his heart banging so his whole body was racking.
So no, I don’t agree with crossbreeds and nor did the heart consultant who carried out his scans – she said it was a bad mix and never went well.
We couldn’t help our beloved boy. Don’t inflict a death sentence by cross breeding. Heartbroken doesn’t begin to cover this.
L’incrocio tra il Bengal ed il Maine Coon è possibile. La razza, chiamata Renegade, è in fase sperimentale.
Una settimana fà è nata la mia cucciolata Renegade!
Se conoscete qualcuno che ha fatto accoppiare Bengal x Maine Coon, scrivetemi. Voglio impegnarmi per superare la fase sperimentale e far sì che la razza sia accertata.
Cordiali saluti!