While bengal cats descend from wild cats and tend to be more agile than other domestic cats, they are not very different in size from the average domestic feline.
Overall, bengal cats are bigger than many domestic cats but are not the biggest cats by far.
Adult bengal cats are typically around 14-18 inches long and 10-15 pounds.
This makes bengals slightly above average with most domestic cats being about the same length and weighing around 9-10 pounds.
The size of bengals depends on several factors and these numbers may vary based on the sex, unique genome, filial generation, and breeding history of the bengal.
Sizes of Male vs. Female Bengal Cats
One of the determining factors for a bengal cats size is its sex.
Male domestic cats are usually larger than female domestic cats, as is the case in most species.
The difference in size between male and female bengals is not large but still accounts for 1-2 inches in length and around 3-5 pounds in weight.
Male bengal cats are larger then females and are typically 16-18 inches long and 12-15 pounds heavy while female bengals are generally 14-16 inches long and 10-12 pounds heavy.
The Impact of Breeding History on a Bengal Cat’s Size
Different bengal cats are also bred from different domestic cats, so the breed of the domestic cat that a bengal cat has descended from will impact the size that a bengal cat can grow to be.
Bengal cats are bred from the Asian leopard cat along with several other domestic cat breeds.
The Asian leopard cat is about 24-30 inches long and 8-10 pounds heavy.
The domestic breeds that bengal cats are commonly bred from are British Shorthair cats, Bombay cats, Ocicats, Egyptian mau cats, and Abyssinian cats.
Since these breeds are all different sizes and have different appearances, the domestic breed that a bengal is bred from will impact it’s look and size.
These are the sizes of the different domestic cat breeds that bengals are usually bred from:
- British Shorthair cats: 22-26 inches long, 10-15 pounds heavy
- Bombay cats: 14-18 inches long, 8-10 pounds heavy
- Ocicats: 14-18 inches long, 8-12 pounds heavy
- Egyptian mau cats: 12-16 inches long, 6-10 pounds heavy
- Abyssinian cats: 12-16 inches long, 8-12 pounds heavy
Sizes of Bengal Cats from Different Filial Generations
Lastly, the filial generation of a bengal cat plays a significant role in how big that bengal cat will grow to be.
A bengal cats filial generation is how far removed that bengal is from its wild ancestor, the Asian leopard cat.
An F1 bengal cat has one parent that’s domestic and one parent that’s a wild Asian leopard.
An F2 bengal cat has one parent that is an F1 bengal cat and one parent that is domestic, and so on.
Since Asian leopard cats are larger than most domestic cats, the more closely related a bengal cat is to the Asian leopard, the larger it generally will be.
So F1, F2, and F3 bengal cats tend to be larger than F4, F5, and F6 bengals.
The domestic breed that a bengal is bred from also plays a role, so the filial generation of a bengal cat isn’t the only important variable.
