Cat lovers everywhere are huge fans of the Bengal, which is a crossbreed between a domesticated cat and an Asian leopard cat.
California breeder Jean Mill was the first to breed a Bengal by accident when she purchased an Asian leopard cat from a pet store to keep her domestic black tom cat company. Since the cats looked so different, Jean was not expecting them to breed, but that’s exactly what they did!
The female leopard ended up giving birth to a litter of spotted and solid kittens, which brings us to where we are today!
This is Thor, a Bengal cat with lots of personality.
Thor lives in Kortenberg, Belgium with his owner, Rani Cucicov, who first saw a Bengal cat in 2013 at a cattery and immediately knew she had to have one.
“We actually came to look at another kitten,” Rani told the Huffington Post. “But then the breeder said she had another one that was available, and then she came with Thor in her hands. We immediately fell in love with his beautiful ‘orange-brown’ colors.”
Thor started getting lots of attention as soon as Rani brought him home.
“That’s because Bengals are not so very common like normal house cats,” Rani explained. “In our neighborhood, everyone that saw Thor for the first time was surprised because they never saw anything like him.”
This prompted Rani to make an Instagram for Thor, and he immediately became a viral star! He’s gotten so popular that some have even accused Rani of making a fake account and not actually owning him.
“The funniest thing I read was that people were saying that Thor wasn’t real and that we just Photoshopped a cat and added a tiger’s body,” she recalled.
“He Loves To Chase Flies! That Comes In Handy For Us Because We Don’t Need A Flycatcher In The House,” Rani said. “Also, His Favorite Food Is Shrimps. Whenever He Sees Or Smells Shrimps, He Becomes Crazy And Screams Through The Whole House To Get His Shrimps.”
Sadly, not all Bengals are lucky enough to have the life Thor does. Since Bengals are a crossbreed between a domesticated and wild cat, they have many “wild” traits themselves that their owners don’t know how to handle. Wild Cat Sanctuary reported that they receive over 20 calls a month from Bengal owners trying to give them up.
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