This seems to be a fairly new development to extend the range of coat types for this popular wildcat hybrid. They are a monochromatic Bengal. There are 50 shades of grey, the breeders say. They appear to be quite rare and they come in a spectrum of slight variations from charcoal in silver, snow, brown et cetera. They have a dark, thick dorsal stripe called a “cape”. They say that the charcoal pattern is produced by the combination of a domestic cat non-agouti variant and Asian Leopard cat agouti variant (UC Davis Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Genetics Laboratory).
ASSOCIATED: Wildcat Hybrid Cats
The pattern is unusual with a darker face. The markings are darker and more extended than is typically seen on the Bengal cat. The mode of inheritance is not fully understood. The experts say that the APb variant appears to not be fully dominant over the a variant.
And don’t even get me started on the “Munchkin” cats. OMG! Breeding a cat with 2 inch legs is criminal!
How pretty but I worry when humans mess with mother nature, sometimes it hurts the health of the animal. Look at the AKC German Shepherd, they made the back legs so low the poor dogs now have hip problems. I Hobby bred chihuahua’s with my mom for 40 years and we worked hard to breed the bad issues out but then AKC got greedy and allowed puppy mills with hundreds of chihuahua’s born with missing limbs and messed up knees and seizers etc. We had the same female line for 40 years. While most were not show quality they were healthy family pets. I stopped breeding 15 years ago because of AKC and puppy mills, now I rescue those dumped in shelters and on Craigs list from puppy mills and backyard breeders. Mom’s and my dogs were family, they lived in the house and slept with us every night the way every dogs deserves to be treated and loved. Mom and I had waiting lists for people wanting one of our puppies because we had healthy dogs and a good reputation. But reputation meant nothing to AKC all they care about is making money from registration and mandatory DNA testing of males. And purebred cats are being treated the same way.