These cats resulted from mating a female Leopard Cat (Felis bengalensis) with a male domestic cat (Felis catus) in 1963 in the United States. One of the kittens were then bred back to its wild father resulting in some plain and some spotted offspring. The project was abandoned temporarily, and taken up again in the late 1970s.   

The first generation ate raw meat and would not use a litter tray, but now after several generations most can be handled with safety, and will use a litter tray and eat normal cat-food. They can suffer from severe medical problems, the most common being irritable bowel disease, causing projectile diarrhea.

The Bengal Cat is intelligent and agile and is fond of water, they have been known to climb into a bath of water with their owners! Its coat has large black spots in horizontal rows, and comes in variations of brown, yellow, buff, tan and golden ground colours. It is a large cat, with a typical female weighing 4.5 - 5.5 kg (10 - 12 lb) and males up to 10kg (22 lb). These cats were accepted by the TICA as a new breed in 1983 and first exhibited at cat shows in 1984 - 1985, achieving National Championship status in 1990 - 1991. They are said to be the most expensive domestic cats in the world.

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