Cheetoh
A cross of the Bengal and the Ocicat, bred for a spotted coat on a big frame. New enough that the standard is still settling.
Photo by Chris Rue, CC BY-SA 4.0
Overview
The Cheetoh is a Bengal crossed with an Ocicat, developed in the United States from 2001 to produce a large spotted cat with a documented domestic temperament behind the wild markings.
Because the Bengal side carries Asian leopard cat ancestry, the Cheetoh inherits the Bengal's paperwork as well as its rosettes, and hybrid cat restrictions can apply depending on jurisdiction and generation.
Temperament
Large, athletic and sociable. The Ocicat contribution is the point of the cross: it was chosen for a reliably friendly, dog like temperament to sit under Bengal looks.
Cheetohs are affectionate, confident with strangers and good with children and other pets. They are also powerful and active, and they need somewhere to put that.
Care and grooming
A weekly brush for the short spotted coat and nothing else unusual.
The Bengal ancestry brings the Bengal's testable conditions, the breed specific progressive retinal atrophy and pyruvate kinase deficiency, and both are worth asking a breeder to show results for.
Living and exercise
Climbing structure, space and daily interactive play. This is a cat that can weigh over twenty pounds and move like one half that.
The breed is very new and very rare, so the honest caveat is that there is little long term data on it, and buying one means relying on the breeder rather than on an established record.
Something here wrong or out of date?