CAMBRIDGE — Deborah Feltham spends her working hours in the pressure cooker of a hospital intensive care unit; 12 hours a day of saving lives. At the end of a shift, however, her only stressor is giving her Bengal cats enough attention. And these kitties are hard to ignore.

"They're noisy," said the Thornhill breeder, one of several who will be attending the 40th annual Golden Triangle Cat Fanciers Cat Show on May 28 in Cambridge. This is the first year the Bengal is being recognized as an official breed by the Cat Fanciers Association, an umbrella organization that sets the rules.

For breeders such as Feltham, it's about time these chatty, water-loving cats can compete. Everything about them is unique, including their origins.

The name Bengal is from the Latin name for the breed's foundation stock, "prionailurus bengalensis" or "Asian leopard cat." In the 1970s, a university study looked at whether the wild leopard cat had a natural immunity to deadly feline leukemia and if it could be passed on when crossed with a domestic cat. Researchers where able to follow the genetics of the immune system in the offspring, but once it was determined that there was no leukemia-resistant gene, the study was halted. All the furry little hybrids were then placed in homes as pets.

Breeders took the spotted beauties to the next level, refining the Bengal as a breed. In the cat world, in order for a breed to be considered pure, there must be several generations before it's considered anything other than a hybrid. The Bengal has finally reached that status as a recognized breed and a show-quality kitten will average $3,000 to $4,000 or $1,200 for pet quality.

The ultimate goal for breeders was to maintain the lovely leopard cat's spots while dampening their wild nature with domestic cat genes. The Bengal has the best of both, said Feltham, though they can also be challenging for owners, particularly their propensity to get into mischief.

"They're curious," she said, noting the Bengals have a peculiar fondness for recycling bins where, unless tightly sealed, the cats will find a way in and lick out any bits from the empty cat food tins.

"If you show them something once, they'll remember it," she said. "On the upside they're very trainable. You can train them to walk on a leash. They're very devoted to their owners but they're not a lap cat."

Feltham entered the world of cat breeding after seeing an Abyssinian at a cat show about 20 years ago and falling in love. Her first sighting of a Bengal had the same effect.

"I went a long distance to get the Bengal," she said. "Oklahoma." More recently she traded an Abyssinian for another Bengal, this time from Belgium.

Her concern was to locate breeders who have a line of Bengals free of a heart condition known as cardiomyopathy as well as the anemia problem, pyruvate kinase deficiency. As a nurse, she knows the seriousness of these diseases.

Bengals come in two basic fur patterns; spotted or swirly marble, and their extra-soft coats have a gleam or "glitter" with colour bands on their heads and feet referred to as necklaces and bracelets.

Despite the rather princess-y descriptions, these cats are muscular and highly athletic, quite large at 4.5-6.9 kilograms (10-15 pounds) for males and 3.6-5.4 kg (8-12 lbs.) for females.

Feltham's friend and fellow Bengal owner Heather Garvie is constantly amused by her cat's antics.

"They love to play with your hair," she said. "We call it a hairdressing gene."

Garvie has a young male — a cat who was not thrilled when he was brought into the Record studio for his photo shoot, and mostly laid flat, green eyes partially closed as if he was in a smoky bar.

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"I love their personality," she said. "I've heard them called 'calculating.' You see their minds turning."