The Egyptian Mau almost certainly traces its ancestry to the cats domesticated by Ancient Egyptians from the African wild cat, Felis lybica ocreata. 

The Egyptian Mau breed has been developed from cats of Egyptian type and origin and is regarded as a natural breed. Outcrosses with other recognised breeds have never been permitted. 

They are currently recognised by most of the major registries of the USA, Canada and continental Europe.

 The breed arrived in the United Kingdom in 1998 and were recognised as the Council Meeting on June 20^th 2001. They have been very successful at Preliminary Stage and hope to achieve promotion to Provisional Stage from June 2004.

Spotted cats of Egyptian type and origins were bred in Europe before the Second World War but by 1945 very few remained. 

In the early 1950's the breed was rescued from near extinction by a Russian princess, Nathalie Troubetskoy. She took three Maus from Italy to the USA with the help of Richard Gebhardt of CFA. There were 2 silver females, Baba and Liza and a bronze male called Jojo. The Mau was granted recognition by CFA in 1977.

The Mau is a medium-sized elegant cat of moderate foreign type and bears a great resemblance to the spotted cats depicted in Ancient Egyptian art. Maus have a variety of spotted patterns ranging from tiny round spots to large, irregular blotches! 

All shapes and distributions of spots have equal merit provided the pattern is clearly defined and the spots do not link to form stripes.

Here is a picture of CFA Grand Champion Sharbees Mihos of New Kingdom. He was imported into the UK in 1998 by Dr Melissa Bateson and was the foundation Egyptian Mau stud.

 He has sired numerous kittens and is in the pedigree of the majority of the Maus in this country. He has some very special features to pass on including his wonderful, slightly worried expression resulting from those large, gooseberry green eyes, his level brow and his nose of uniform width. He has a clear “M” on his forehead, mascara lines extending from the outer corners of each eye and the centre of his cheeks and the required broken necklet. He has  broken dorsal stripes running down his spine (permitted) and clearly defined, separate spots. 

Mihos is the sire of my Mau, Newkingdom Tamyt, pictured below with her three sisters. They are all silvers with excellent markings and, as you can clearly see, Tamyt on the left has no tarnish to mar her nose!

Maus are wonderful pets and very social. They are intelligent, quickly learning where their toys and food are kept. Tamyt is adept at opening cupboard doors and drinking water from the tap. Maus can be taught to retrieve and adore playing with their owners rather than on their own.

 They bond strongly to their owners and love to ride on shoulders. However, this can be painful as they do not wait to see if you are wearing a heavy sweater before they leap from a shelf or cupboard top!

(photograph by Alan Robinson)

Here is a picture of Tamyt as an adult. I find it difficult to get to many shows to exhibit, but she recently attended the Suffolk and Norfolk show, winning her Merit and achieving very high placings in some large side classes too. She has excellent gooseberry green eyes and, I am proud to say, is a very clean silver with no tarnish. She has had 2 litters of kittens and two of those have gone on to achieve success by breeding successfully and/or winning their Merits on the show bench. The others have gone to be pets and I have had the cards, photos and emails confirming how they well they have settled into taking over their new households, that make being a breeder so worthwhile.

The first stud I used was Newkingdom Brutus, owned and bred by Melissa Bateson. He is a smoke and has a clear spotted pattern. Smoke Maus are unique in that they have been bred and selected for the clarity of their spotting. They are not agouti cats and their coat is silky, unlike the resilience of the silvers. Here is a picture of Brutus as a kitten.

( Photograph by Alan Robinson)

Both Tamyt and Brutus were maidens but they mated successfully and she had two beautiful kittens, Spotiphar, silver and Smokey Dotcom a smoke! As a baby, Spotiphar did not play and jump around, he just wanted to be cuddled and purr! Brian and I were concerned and decided we would keep him ourselves. When it was time for the inoculations, the vet examined him thoroughly and confirmed he was perfectly normal. Spotiphar confirmed that too once he knew he was staying, by climbing every door and shelf he could find and leaping down onto anyone passing! He is very mischievous, but also extremely loving and affectionate and adores sleeping under the duvet with me.

Here is Spotiphar at 10 days and it is clear to see he has excellent markings, well-defined spotting and promises to be clear of tarnish – important points to note if one is planning to breed from or show a silver Mau.

Here is Smokey Dotcom at around 3 weeks. She has the eye shape and set, the colour is developing. She is a good smoke and has gone to Kagura Maus where she has proved a successful breeding queen.

For her second litter Tamyt went to Pauline Halstead’s International Champion Herkules von Scarrabaus, a silver imported from Europe and a good outcross. She produced four silver kittens of even quality and proved to be an excellent mother once again. 

One of the females, Beaumaris Spotarumba has gone to live with Helen Marriott-Power. She has won her qualifying Merits and will hopefully be a breeding queen.

Here is a picture of Tamyt with three of the babies, Spotarumba is at her mothers right paw!

What of the future ? Well, we are waiting for Tamyt’s next call and will return to Pauline Halstead, hoping this time to mate her with the new import from the United States, CFA Champion Emaus Opening Gambit, a handsome silver with beautiful boning, elegance, fine profile, clear silver and excellent black spotting. 

His parents are CFA Grand Champions, each from Distinguished Merit lines.

So, keep your eyes open, visit our website again, there may be exciting news soon on our Nursery page!

Do visit the Egyptian Mau Club website and find out more about these beautiful cats.