ABOUT THE BREED

The Egyptian Mau is a fascinating cat, not only because of its past history, but because of its engaging personality and striking appearance. These gorgeous creatures are truly one of God’s most spectacular creations! The Egyptian Mau has the distinction of being the only NATURAL spotted breed of domestic cat. All of the other spotted cats have been crossbred by man. The Egyptian Mau (Mau is the Egyptian word for cat) has been clearly identified in the artwork of the ancient Egyptians. Spotted cats were often depicted in ancient Egyptian wall paintings dating back over 3,000 years and many believe these to be the true ancestors of the Egyptian Mau. The ancient Egyptians held these cats in great esteem and respect. They were worshipped as deities, cherished as pets, then mummified and mourned upon their death.

The Egyptian Mau as a breed descends from two cats rescued after WWII in Italy. An exiled Russian Princess received a Mau from the Egyptian Consulate and this cat became the foundation of the breed. Egyptian Mau's descends from the cats worshiped by the ancient Egyptians.

Maus are extremely intelligent animals and place great importance on their human and cat families. They are very loving and loyal creatures. They are great companions! Their actions can be compared to that of dogs, in some cases. Maus are often amenable to training to a harness and lead. They are moderately active and often express their happiness by chortling in a soft melodious voice (they love to hear your voice and talk back to you!). They often wiggle their tails while kneading their forepaws. The Mau has an elegant body that is randomly spotted, banded legs and tail with engaging, deep green gooseberry eyes. They sometimes have a "worried" expression. They are always a big hit at cat shows! These athletic cats are considered the fastest breed of domestic cat. Maus have been clocked running over 30 mph.

The most common Mau colours are: silver, bronze, smoke, black and blue. Many people consider silver the most striking colour of all. 

How many Maus have you seen?

Cat breeding typically reduces genetic diversity over time. Breeders attempt to produce cats that fit the breed standard. Breeding to a standard increases predictability but reduces genetic diversity, because the standard emphasizes a narrower range of variation than is present throughout the breed.

A standard that specifies a narrow range of acceptability reduces genetic variation as breeders strive to produce cats that fall within the parameters outlined. The narrower the range, the more cats that won't meet the criteria and will likely be dropped from the gene pool.

To conserve genetic variation while the population grows, we need to use a greater percentage of the population for breeding, especially males. If only a few males are used, the genetic diversity will be greatly reduced regardless of the number of females to which they are bred. For this reason 'Cwmdarran cats' place NO RESTRICTIONS on any Egyptian Mau placed on the active register.

A sound cat who is somewhat lacking in appearance but represents a rare bloodline should be more desirable than a champion cat whose genes are already well-represented in the population, sadly this is not the case. 

It is important that cats descended from new founders or rare founders be used for breeding so that their genes are not lost from the gene pool.

Much easier to conserve what we already have!