Egyptian Mau

The prototype of the Egyptian Mau - an ancient breed that passed the natural selection; whose appearance has not undergone significant changes for more than 3,000 years - this is precisely the age of the artworks in which it is depicted.

In ancient Egypt, a cat is a sacred animal, the personification of the moon goddess, fertility, love and the hearth of Bastet (or Bast). The temples throughout Egypt were dedicated to the goddess, and therefore the cat; the cat was first carried out of a burning house; as a sign of mourning for a dead cat, the grieving master shaved his eyebrows; the cat, as the embodiment of the deity, mummified .

In the city of Beni Hassan, archaeologists have found a cat's graveyard with 180 thousand mummies of cats. The mummies were in gold and silver sarcophagus inlaid with precious stones. It is these and other cats revered in ancient Egypt .

The modern history of the Egyptian Mau began 100 years ago, when breeders from Italy , Switzerland and France began searching and recreating this breed. However, the Second World War dealt a terrible blow to the breed, destroying almost all the livestock. By the mid-1940s, the breed had virtually ceased to exist. The revival “from the ashes” is due to the efforts of the Russian princess Natalia Trubetskoy, who lived in Italy in those years. Princess Trubetskaya recorded them and their offspring in the Italian Association, a branch of FIFe and showed the cats at the exhibition in 1953. When she immigrated to the USA in 1956, she took with her several Mau born in her nursery. Lisa, Baba - silver cats and Jojo - a bronze cat became the basis of her cattery "Fatima".

In 1958, Trubetskaya officially registered a cattery and 10 cats of Egyptian Mau. Three colors - silver, bronze and smoke were recognized for participation in exhibitions. Black Mau were born in her nursery, but they did not participate in exhibitions, but were used in the nursery for breeding. Then, already in the 1960s, Spanish, Czech and Hungarian specialists started breeding the breed.

It must be admitted that the main merit in breeding the Egyptian Mau breed belongs to American felinologists. They developed a breeding program for this breed based on outbreed rebounds in combination with intensive selection.

The core of the breeding population consisted of several cats of the desired type and color, exported from North Africa. The origin of these cats is unknown. To their descendants were selected several individuals of the desired type, Eastern or American, but not of African descent. It was a mixture of the American Shorthair breed. Subsequently, another group of cats of independent origin was removed from North Africa to expand the breeding population.

In each generation, those individuals whose type and color corresponded to the restored appearance of cats of ancient Egypt were consistently selected. This work was successful primarily due to intensive selection, and also because it was the ancestral, “wild” type of animals that was chosen as desirable, as a result of which outbreeding worked for breeders. All descendants of the Fatima kennel are called the “Traditional Original Line”.

In 1980, Jean Mill imported a Tori cat (from the city of Delhi ) and several cats of aboriginal origin from India . They had a warm bronze color with very good contrast. The cat of Delhi had a unique shiny coat, excellent contrast and the shape of spots, good health, which he passed on to his descendants. In addition, he made an invaluable contribution to the formation of the Bengal breed. TICA recognized this line in the early 80s, shortly after the CFA. The descendants of this line are known under the name "Indian line".

A few years later, Katie Rowan (Rocat cattery) brought another 13 cats from Egypt. In the early 90's, J. Len Davidson (Grandtrill cattery) brought four more cats from Egypt: Giza, Wafaya, Hosny, Alexandria of bronze color. These cats and cats were recognized by felinological organizations, and their descendants are known as the "Egyptian line." This line of Egyptian Mau is the most numerous.
The latest Fondcombe's Sahourê cat was brought to France from Cairo in 1999 by Marie-Christine Hallepee.
All brought cats were taken directly from the streets of Cairo and Delhi. Their origin is unknown, but they made an invaluable contribution to the development of the breed, expanding its gene pool. Now Egyptian Mau are a closed breed.

In Europe, Egyptian Mau was brought in 1988 to three nurseries that were located in Switzerland, Italy and the Netherlands. Today in Europe there are few Egyptian Mau nurseries. Almost all of them are related. The reason lies in the high price of manufacturers and the difficulty of buying from the United States. American breeders are very reluctant to share their breeding animals.

The Egyptian Mau was recognized by the CFA in 1977, soon went to the TICA Championship, and in 1992 - FIFe. Each cat of this breed must have confirmation of its origin in the breeding book.

Currently, the nursery "Fatima" does not exist. But the descendants of this nursery live in many nurseries in America and Europe .

This Egyptian Mau must have a pattern in the form of the letter "M" above the eyes and "W" at the level of the ears towards the back of the head - the so-called "scarab". Also, “make-up” must be present - two lines that emphasize the eyes and pass under the eyes and along the cheekbones. Color - smoky with a dark pattern, bronze with a chestnut color pattern, silver with an ash color pattern, light bronze with a copper color pattern. The most common silver color with an ashen pattern. The eyes are almond-shaped, large, mobile, the color of an immature gooseberry (green).

The cat is densely built, muscular, with a well-developed skeleton, at the same time elegant, with large eyes the color of a young gooseberry, but yellow is acceptable for up to 18 months. From 7 months, the eyes should begin to fade, a green rim appears. The absence of a green rim after 7 months or a yellow eye color after 18 months is a disqualifying sign for this breed at the exhibition. The eyes are almond-shaped, set somewhat obliquely, always alive (Mau's eyes must move) are able to turn their eyes to the side without turning their heads, this genetic ability was transmitted from Mau to other species by crossing for several thousand years, now 40% of cats have moving eyes. With sparks of curiosity. The ears are rather large, wide at the base, rounded off at the ends, located at a sufficiently large distance from each other and as if alert. Sometimes there are tassels on the ears. The main feature of the Egyptian Mau - their color. The main advantage of Mau is wool. The hair should have 2-3 tiking rings. Under the chin on the breast are one or two non-converging necklace rings. On the front legs from the shoulder and the rear from the thigh there are non-interlocking transverse bands, on both front and rear legs the rings of the so-called “bracelets” should be identical as white or dark spots on the legs or on the fingers and different locations of the bracelets on the two front or two rear ones paws are not allowed in pure breed. The length of the hair is short-medium, long hair (a sign of rebirth into the Sibur mau or Siberian cat, this is due to the cold climate, in order to adapt the wool with each generation becomes longer in 80% of Siberian cats <M> shaped pattern above the eyes) is not acceptable for Egyptian Mau. The coat is shiny, thick and silky to the touch. The color of the smoke is more silky than silver.

As for color, the CFA standard imposes the following requirements on the pattern and color of Egyptian mau breed wool. A pattern resembling a scarab beetle with markings going back and separated into separate spots along the back is obligatory on the forehead. There are dark rings on the tail, the end of the tail is dark.

To participate in exhibitions are allowed mau three colors: bronze, rolling in cream with brown spots; silver with a similar color distribution, but with black spots on a light silver background; smoky - colors of charcoal with black spots.

Three variations of colors are allowed (the first three are preferable):

Silvery. Egyptian Mau of this color is the basic tone from light gray to gray, the pattern is from dark gray to black with good contrast. Ears are pinkish gray with dark tips. Throat, chin, near the nostrils, around the eyes - white. the edging of the eyes, nose, and mouth is black.

Bronze Bronze-colored cats - the main tone is dark brown on the back, turning into a lighter ivory-colored to the stomach. Drawing dark brown. Ears are pinkish brown, dark brown at the ends. The back of the nose is ocher. Throat, chin, near the nostrils, around the eyes - cream color.

Smoky. Cats of this color - the basic tone from dark gray to almost black with a silver undercoat, without ticking. All marks are black, with a contrast to the main background, always visible.

Sometimes black mau are born. Also rare, but marble Egyptian Mau are born. This color is called "wild." These kittens - black and marble - are not allowed to the show and are not used in breeding.

Also unusual feature of these cats are small, hanging under the abdomen, folds, sacks in front of the hind legs. It is believed that they are designed for greater scope of hind legs with high jumps and running.

This breed is very active and sociable, which does not tolerate loneliness. On the verge of obsession, requiring constant attention, very talkative, with a melodic voice. Constantly playing and interested in everything that the owner does. She is very affectionate and sociable, this cat requires attention and care. When she is angry, she jumps on her hind legs, and her tail trembles and often wags.

Mau is full of energy, she loves movement, games, walks, which has a beneficial effect on her figure - graceful, flexible and muscular.

Mau are champions among cats in running speed (up to 58 km / h). They have excellent eyesight, hearing and sense of smell, which makes these cats excellent hunters. Egyptian Mau love to play with all sorts of toys and flip-flops, because during these games they can fully reveal their natural hunting qualities.

Egyptian Maus are willing to contact and may even be slightly intrusive. But if a person likes to communicate with a cat, then he will easily find a common language with Mau. It is impossible to describe the whole gamut of sounds and songs by which they communicate with each other and with people. Some cats even have musical talent and willingly "sing along" with their owners. Mau always wants to be in the spotlight and watch everything that happens in the house. Therefore, they love to sit on their shoulders or on their knees.

These cats love water very much. They play with her, trying to catch their paws, they like to sit and watch how the owner takes a bath. From wild ancestors, they remained in the habit of touching water in a bowl with their paw before drinking.

Egyptian Mau - very clean cats. They are easily accustomed to the toilet and do not cause any trouble to their owners.

Mow cats are ideal mothers. Quite often, cats take on maternal responsibilities and help look after kittens. Cases when cats help a cat during childbirth are described. Then the parents take care of their offspring together, train the kittens and train them to order.

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  Egyptian Mau silver color

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  Egyptian Mau bronze color

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  Egyptian Mau bronze color with M-shaped pattern on the forehead

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  Egyptian Mau smoky color

• In ancient times, they symbolized the gods Ra and Bast .
• In the movie " Catwoman " (2004) featured the Egyptian Mau nicknamed Midnight.
• In the series “Grimm” (2011) Adalinda had an Egyptian mau

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• Cat breeds
• Cats in Ancient Egypt