Egyptian Mau

The Egyptian Mau is a fascinating cat, not only because of its past history, but because of its delightful personality and striking appearance. The Mau is a svelte cat, medium sized and well muscled. It is neither cobby nor foreign. Their face is neither rounded nor wedge shaped and the nose is the same width from tip to brow. The unusually large green eyes are accentuated by very distinctive „mascara lines“. Maybe they were the cause for mascara lines used by Egyptian women at ancient times. The Egyptian Mau has the distinction of being the only natural spotted breed of domestic cat, by some considered as artwork of old Egyptians. The Egyptian Mau is always spotted and comes in three colors: bronze, silver and smoke. Bronze color has dark brown to seal spots on a dark to lighter bronze background. Silver color has black spots on a pure silver white background, with smoke color having black spots on a smoke background. Coat color can take up to 15 months to fully develop. The spots on an Egyptian Mau are not just on the coat; a shaved Mau has spots on its skin. The Ocicat is very similar in appearance to the Egyptian Mau, but was the product of selective breeding which led to its spots. Another similar looking breed is the Bengal cat, but this breed tends to be considerably larger. Egyptian Maus are the fastest breed of domestic cat, capable of running at 36 mph. The next fastest breed is the American Shorthair which has a top speed of 31 mph. For comparison, giraffes also run at 36 mph. Maus are powerful cats for their size, alert and active. Males are usually somewhat larger than females. The startling speed is thanked to the longer hind legs and loose flap of skin on the lower abdomen, similar to the cheetah, which allows a longer stride while running, again contributing to its great speed. Maus often possess very musical voices. They are known to chirp, chortle and emit other distinctly unusual vocalizations when stimulated. Another behavior, quite common in happy Maus, has been described as "wiggle-tail." They like company. Extremely intelligent cats, Egyptian Maus place a great importance on their human family and are noted for their fiercely loyal and passionate devotion to their owners

ORIGIN: They are ancient domesticated breed, maybe the oldest one. Egyptian Maus are thought by many to be one of the progenitor breeds of the modern domestic cat. They have anatomical, metabolic and behavioral differences from other cat breeds which could be considered as evidence of antiquity or at least uniqueness from other cat breeds. They were introduced in the USA for the first time in 1950s by Russian émigré, Nathalie Troubetskoy. She attained silver-spotted queen in Cairo, Egypt. She took the queen with her to Italy and mated hr with local smoke-spotted tom. Two bronze-spotted kittens, Gepa and Ludol were taken to USA in 1953. Every single pedigreed Mau in USA and Britain can trace their origin to those two kittens.

STANDARD:

Accepted colors: Silver, Bronze, Smoke

Other links: CFA TICA ACFA CCA WCF SFDH FBRL

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