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Lots of purrs Sarah & Horatio

also, read up on the breed standard & familiarise yourself with what a good example of a bengal should be.
have a good browse of the photos on breeders' websites & get a feel for the difference between the titled cats & those that aren't. after a while you will start to recognise the good traits, especially if you use the breed standard as a check-list to teach yourself.
the standard varies slightly between TICA & GCCF so familiarise yourself with both

be prepared to travel & pay for the right cat. if you really want to get into showing it is worthwhile taking the time & doing the research so that you can get quality. rushing into it or just going for one because it was nearby, may end up in disappointment. then again, you may strike lucky & have a fantastic breeder nearby with a suitable kitten, it's not worth the gamble without the research. you don't want to spend out on continuos show entries to be disappointed each time.
of course, there is no guarantee of wins as you never know who you will be up against, but you at least want a fair chance that your kitten has the possibility of doing well.

Really recommend going to cat shows, either GCCF or TICA which then enables you to see the difference between the cats placed and those that aren't i.e what the judge can see, and then you can see what you do and don't like about each of the cats (judge them for yourself).

A well socialised cat is key to showing. They have to be used to sitting in a pen for several hours, which you can practise at home. Let friends and family handle them so they get used to lots of people and various smells.

Showing can get very competitive, so just remember that you always take home the best cat at the end of the day! Most of all it is an enjoyable experience as well as a chance to do some serious shopping for the cats

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Dawn & Danielle
--Fairislebanks Bengals & Forgebanks Snowshoes--

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Lots of purrs Sarah & Horatio

Horatio, you will find the breed standards at the following links:-

for GCCF www.bengalcatclub.co.uk Click on navigation button "breed records". Scroll down page.

for TICA www.bengalcat.org.uk Click on navigation button "TICA breed standard for bengals"

Thanks for those Sue, just the sort of information I was after. I am sure I am going to have loads of questions and just reading them all now. Here's the first question :

What are "light horizontal furnishings" on the ears The mind boggles

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Lots of purrs Sarah & Horatio

Ah so the hairs that kind of grow from the inner edge of the ear I get you. So you should be able to see clear skin on the inside of their ear and not a lot of hair. Thanks

Are there any traits to look out for that can look good in a kitten but invariably change as they get older, or does that depend on the specific breeding of the kitten ?

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Lots of purrs Sarah & Horatio