Spotted Bengal Patters
These Are The Most Common Spotted Patterns
Several colors are recognized by Bengal cat organizations such as brown, seal lynx point, mink, sepia and silver. The brown spotted tabby has dark spots on a lighter brown background. The brown includes variations of gray, tawny, sorrel, golden, mahogany, and rufus or a bright orange. Like the ALC the spots may be solid or rosetted. The term donut rosettes is used for spots that are a different color then the background of the coat, and are almost completely outlined with an even darker third color.
Other Variations
Rosettes may be round or in the shape of an arrowhead. The term arrowhead is used when the shape of the spot is in a triangle with the tip of the triangle or "arrowhead" pointing towards the back of the cats body. The arrowhead pattern refers to the shape of the spot and can be either in the form of a rosette or a solid spot. A solid spot would only contain a single color spot on a lighter background, whereas a rosette displays a third color mixed into the pattern. This is a striking pattern due to its horizontal flow; creating the illusion that the cat is in motion even when it is standing perfectly still. The term paw-print pattern is used when one side of the rosette is open and the other side is outlined with tiny spots. This rosette appears to be in the shape of a paw-print with the center or pad being a darker color than the background, and the toes being an even darker third color. This pattern creates the illusion of paw-prints walking across the background of the coat. Clouded leopard rosettes are large rosettes that are oddly shaped and look a lot like puzzle pieces that have broken apart. These rosettes have very little "acreage" or space between them. the resulting appearence is an almost snake skin like look, covering the coat. Cluster rosettes are spots that are outlined with clusters of darker colored spots. The term pancake rosettes may be used for donut rosettes if they are particurlarly huge and round. They typically have a lot of "acreage", or space between the spots, and the outline is often very thin. Chaining rosettes are donut rosettes that are lined up touching eachother forming a chain of rosettes. These rosettes run parallel to the cats spine in a horizontal fassion.
