Bengal Cat Health Testing: DNA Results, HCM & Genetic Screening Explained

Cardiac disease

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

HCM

HCM causes the walls of the heart muscle to thicken over time, making it harder for the heart to function properly. It’s the most common heart disease in cats and often shows no outward signs until it’s well advanced. It can affect any breed, including Bengals.

There is no DNA test for HCM in the Bengal cat breed. The only way to screen for it is through an echocardiogram performed by a specialist cardiologist, repeated regularly throughout a cat’s breeding life.

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Blood disorder

Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency

PK-Def

PK-Def is a genetic condition affecting red blood cells, causing them to break down prematurely. This leads to chronic anaemia and can significantly affect a cat’s quality of life. Like PRA-b, it’s autosomal recessive — kittens are only at risk if both parents carry the gene variant.

Detectable via DNA test. Requires both parents to be tested and confirmed clear.

Hereditary eye disease

Progressive Retinal Atrophy

PRA-b · Bengal specific

PRA-b is a Bengal-specific inherited condition that causes the retina to gradually break down, leading to progressive vision loss and potentially blindness. It’s autosomal recessive — a kitten must inherit the gene variant from both parents to be affected. If both parents test clear, their kittens cannot develop the condition.

Detectable via DNA test. Requires both parents to be tested and confirmed clear.

Reading DNA health test results

Responsible Bengal breeders health-test their cats through accredited genetic laboratories (such as UC Davis in California) and share those results openly. If you’re evaluating a breeder, understanding what those results actually mean is invaluable.

What N/N, N/K and K/K mean

Each cat inherits two copies of every gene — one from its mother, one from its father. The slash in the result simply separates what each parent contributed. The letters tell you whether a copy of a particular gene is present:

Result	Meaning	Status
N/N	Neither parent passed on this gene. The cat carries zero copies.	Clear
N/K	One parent passed on the gene. The cat is a carrier but is unaffected.	Carrier
K/K	Both parents passed on the gene. The cat carries two copies.	Two copies

Whether a K/K result is a concern depends entirely on which gene is being tested. For genetic diseases, K/K means the cat is affected — we never want to breed a K/K for diseases. For desirable traits (like the longhair “cashmere” gene, M4), K/K is a positive result, confirming a longhair kitten.

Common disease codes to look for

The disease names you’ll see on health certificates all require two copies (K/K) to be active. This means a N/N or N/K cat will never suffer from the disease itself, even if it carries one copy. The key diseases tested in Bengals include:

PK-Def

Pyruvate Kinase Deficiency — a red blood cell disorder. N/N or N/K is acceptable.

PRA-b

Progressive Retinal Atrophy — causes vision loss. N/N or N/K is acceptable.

PKD1

Polycystic Kidney Disease — affects kidney function. N/N is the preferred result.

At Ashmiyah, all breeding cats are DNA tested as we want to ensure we have the best breed knowledge prior to each mating/kittenlitter we plan. We never breed two N/K carriers together, which eliminates any risk of producing an affected (K/K) kitten for these diseases.

The longhair gene — a practical example of how this works

Not every gene we test for is a disease. The longhair gene is a good example of DNA testing working in a completely different direction — here, a double copy is exactly what breeders who desire to breed the Longhaired Bengal cats want to see.

Researchers have identified four separate mutations that produce long coats in domestic cats, all sitting within the same gene.

Three of these mutations tend to appear in specific breeds:

• M1 in Ragdolls
• M2 in Norwegian Forest Cats
• M3 in Maine Coons and Ragdolls
• M4 is the universal longhair mutation found across all long-haired breeds and crossbreds, including the Cashmere Bengal.

Using the same N/K framework you’ve just read:

• N/N: short-coated, carries no longhair variant, cannot produce longhaired kittens regardless of the mate.
• N/M4: short-coated but a carrier; will pass the M4 variant to approximately half their offspring. Can produce either coat length depending on the other parent’s genetics
• M4/M4: longhaired; passes M4 to every offspring. When bred to another longhaired cat, all kittens will be longhaired

A cat can also carry two different longhair mutations, for example M1/M4 or M3/M4. These cats are longhaired and will pass a longhair variant to all offspring, but not necessarily the same one each time.

For Bengals specifically, M4 is the relevant mutation. A Cashmere Bengal, the longhaired variety, carries M4/M4. A short-coated Bengal carrying N/M4 can still produce Cashmere kittens when paired with another carrier or a Cashmere cat. This is why DNA testing matters even for traits that aren’t health concerns, knowing what your cat carries helps predict what a pairing might produce.