About Bengal	About Pantherettes	Om Bengal
I asked Mike Bloodgood, the founder of the Pantherette breed,  some questions about the Pantherette breed because of the confusion there seems to be among some Bengal breeders when they call their black (melanistic) Bengals Pantherettes. This is his replay		Jeg spurte Mike Bloodgood, grunnleggeren av Pantherette rasen, noen spørsmål om Pantherette siden det virker til å være en viss misforståelse blant enkelte Bengal oppdrettere når de kaller deres svarte (melanistiske) bengaler for Pantherette. Dette er hans svar

 

Hi Anita,

 

Melanistic and Black are color descriptions of non-agouti cats in many breeds like Bengals, they are not BREED descriptions. Pantherette is a recognized BREED in development and is a protected Trademark Name that the founders OWN. Black Bengals are NOT Pantherettes nor can they EVER be Pantherettes. In order to create a new breed an unallowable out-cross must be made. A BREED cannot be developed by simply calling it another NAME.

 

It is actually illegal for anyone to use the Pantherette Trademark name for any cat breed including Bengals, regardless what color they are. The Pantherette breed is still being developed and NONE have been sold to the public. The founders have done many test out-crosses using Black Bengals on Black Maine Coons, Black Desert Lynx, with mixed results. We are currently breeding Black Bengals to a Smoke Mojave Desert Cats and are really impressed with their possibilities and are hopeful we have found the right out-cross now.

 

Creating a breed correctly, takes years of dedication, sacrifice, investment, and research. We are not only trying to replicate the large muscular Panther into a large house cat, but we want it to be clean of any inherited genetic faults and weaknesses.

 

For anyone to simply call a Black (melanistic) Bengal a Pantherette is illegal and wrong. People who do this, are either trying to capitalize on the Pantherette's popularity or are showing their ignorance on what is and what is not a BREED.

 

There are some here in the USA that have done the same and some have even said that we are calling our Bengals Pantherettes. But these people are simply wrong and we have a history of documentation and witnesses to prove it!

 

We actually found a Bengal breeder who put up a webpage in the Netherlands who copied our text word for word from our Pantherette website and put their names in place of our names proclaiming to be the founders of the Pantherette breed and had one Black Bengal male they called a Pantherete. It even named and described our cats and reasons why we started the breed. We contacted the authorities and cat sites to remove their links and they did. It is amazing what people will claim if they think they can make money or capitalized on someone else's ideas.

 

Calling a Bengal a Pantherette is like calling an American Shorthair a Bengal, they were used in their development of the breeds, but are not the BREED.

 

The people who are working in the development of the Pantherette are not in any hurry to market them. When they are ready for the public, it will be obvious to EVERYONE that they are NOT Black Bengals registered as something else, but a unique BREED of cat called  Pantherette! 

 

Sincerely,

Mike Bloodgood >^..^<
President, BOD, Ethics Committee, and Founding-Lifetime Member of
The International Bengal Breeders' Association  TIBBA
The International Savannah Breeders' Association TISBA
International Progressive Cat Breeders' Alliance IPCBA
Filial Bengal Cat Consultants, & Feline Conservation Federation FCF .
Registered Cattery with International Progressive Cat Breeders' Alliance 'IPCBA, The International Cat Association (TICA), and the American Cat Fanciers Association 'ACFA".
Owners of Bamboo Cattery   Specializing in hand raised well socialized early generation domestic Bengals out of our many Asian Leopard Cats, also Melanistic and Silver Bengals.