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| Weight |
7-9 lbs. |
| Overview |
Egyptian Maus are similar to Abyssinians in temperament: playful, busy, and sociable. Early Maus were reportedly wild and unpredictable, but thanks to generations of selective breeding, they are now loyal, even-tempered cats. |
| Appearance |
The Egyptian Mau is a medium-size cat with well-developed muscles, a rounded wedge-shaped head, and erect, medium to large ears. The almond-shaped eyes are light green.
The Mau's spotted coat, which is of medium length, is its most distinctive feature. In fact, the Egyptian Mau is the only naturally occurring spotted breed of domestic cat. The spotted pattern is randomly distributed, and the spots, which vary greatly in size and shape, are deeply colored and contrast distinctly with the background color.
Maus come in three colors: silver with charcoal markings, bronze with dark brown to black markings, and smoke with black markings.
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| Gromming Needs |
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| Origins |
Egyptian Maus (mau is Egyptian for "cat") are descended from cats brought from Cairo to Rome in the early 1950s by the Egyptian ambassador to Italy. A Russian expatriate princess who admired the cats obtained a silver female, bred her to another of the ambassador's cats, and increased her population to three.
The princess came to New York with her Egyptian cats in 1956 and sparked the interest of American breeders. All Maus in the United States were descended from her original three cats until the early 1980s, when additional Maus were finally imported from Egypt and India, thus enlarging the gene pool.
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| Other |
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