ABOUT US

LUCKYKATZ KATTERY
Doris Williams
Lincoln, Arkansas
479-846-4837

    I love cats but I am fascinated by Bengals with their unique personalities and distinct wild looks.  I do not "own" my Bengals, they "own" me.    My goal is to breed my  Bengals according to TICA standards with personality and conformation, and huge rosetted spots, tiny ears, extreme glitter,  whited tummies and the rufus coloring. 

    The Bristol line of Bengals will play prominently in my breeding program.  Please read the following history of the Bristol line below:

THE BRISTOL/BENGALS
By Gene Ducote

            .....In 1991, Solveig Pflueger, TICA's geneticist, happened to hear about some cats that were discovered at a private residence in Texas.  On investigation, she found that these cats were registered with TICA as "Bristol Cats".  This was a breed that predated the Bengals, and which everyone thought had died out because of infertility problems.  Von Pilcher, an early and wvery reputable Bengal breeder, took a trip to see these Bristols and try to learn of their history/  The  most interesting cat he saw was an old fellow, Cajun, who was supposedly the sire of this colony of Bristol cats.  The cats in this cattery were not very fertile, producing only an average of 2 litters per year out of a total of about 10 cats.

             Cajun not only had rosettes very similar to that of the new world spotted cats, like the ocelot and margay, but he had a very white ground color on his chest and belly, very small and rounded ears, and a voice very similar to that of an ocelot.  His pattern, color, head structure, and voice were definitely of  non-domestic origin.  The other cats in the colony were not as striking as Cajun, but their behavior was like that of other hybrid cats.  Also, some of them also exhibited the peculiar black smoky charcoal color known to occasionally appear in F1 and F2 Bengals, but not in pure domestics.

             So while the documented history of the Bristol cats is unproven, based on what Von saw, he felt very sure that these cats were certainly hybrid cats of some kind.  Cajun and hte other cats demonstrated features known only to exist in three species of new world spotted cats:  the ocelot, the margay, and the oncilla.

             Dr. Pfleuger saw the potential for use of the Bristols in the development of the Bengal breed, as these cats had many of the desirable qualities that we valued, with their large bones, rosetted coats and the desirable head structure.  She made further inquiries, and found photos of a wild cat that was believed to have been used in crossings with domestics, to produce the Bristols.  The photos showed an ocelot=-looking feral cat, breeding a domestic shorthair cat.

             Ms. Pflueger got two females from this colony of Bristols (the others were too old to be useful in a breeding program), and placed one with me (Gogees Bengals) and one with Karen Austin (Belltown Bengals) of Connecticut.  My female never produced any offspring, but the one with Karen, Belltown Sugarfoot, did produce several liters.  She sent one of the kittens to me, and I incorporated that line into my Bengal breeding program.  I found that the Bengals carrying Bristol blood, tended to have substantial bone, small ears, and a great potential for producing rosettes......

        For more information about the Bengal Breed, visit Gene's (Gogee's) website by clicking on the link below: