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Chausie
Referring to the photographs above the middle two are of Willowind Mafi Mushkla, Mafi for short, from the Willowind cattery (link to cattery at base of page) If you want to see a quick slide show covering the main issues click here. Allow a little time for the show to load. It's Google driven. Note please:- You'll need current versions of internet browser software to see this and be a Google member (if you're not and you want to be you need to be invited). Ask me through the forum page and I'll invite you. IntroductionThe Chausie is a hybridization of the Jungle Cat and the domestic cat (usually Abyssinian). The Jungle Cat resembles a small Lynx and is also called the "Swamp Lynx".
She is a medium-small wild cat living in places such as Egypt, Asia, India and Sri Lanka. She lives off small animals such has rodents and frogs much like the Serval.The name "Chausie" comes from the latin name for the Jungle Cat, "Felis Chaus". The thumbnail picture on the left is of a Chausie that lived with the Flicks. He is also in the photograph below jumping. His name is "Wildkatz Bwana Bushwah" ("Bushwah" for short). The objective of the breeding program is to produce a combination of the wild look of the Jungle Cat with the friendly domesticated behavior of the domestic cat. All wild/domestic cat hybrid breeding programs have this as an objective. Other examples of this kind of hybrid are the Savannah and the Bengal. CharacterWhen you breed from a wild cat you bring to the new breed some of the wild cat's attributes. These are invariably: athleticism, intelligence, a high level of activity (mostly in the evening), assertiveness and dog-like behavior (playing fetch and being trainable - train your cat when she is young).For example, they are spectacular jumpers. He can jump up to 6 feet vertically. This skill comes from the Jungle Cat who can jump 8 feet vertically to catch flying birds. It's a bit like a human jumping over a small house. Who says humans are superior to cats? The picture below is of the Flicks' F1 Chausie, Wildkatz Bwana Bushwah. Helmi says this about the photograph. "Ken is 6'4" tall and our Chausie kitten was leaping from a standstill and was four months old at the time. We exhibited him at cat shows in the category of Household Pet in both TICA and CFA since Chausies were not allowed to be shown as a breed in those days. Bushwah attained the title of Supreme Grand Master in TICA"
Being active this cat requires human input in the form of plenty of play time. Like all cats they are OK with children provided some form of supervision is in place and that the child understands how to deal with a domestic cat. It is important for breeders that the cat shows no sign of challenge in recognition that this "wild element" of her character has been bred out. Color & Body type
The coat colors are the same as for the Jungle Cat, brown (black), ticked tabby and black silver tipped (grizzled) tabby. The breed standard accepts solid black. Melanistic means the increase in black or nearly black pigmentation because of the presence of melanin. It is the opposite to albino. Melanin is a chemical in animals (including humans) and determines human skin color for example.The stripes that are on the kitten's coat are lost as she becomes an adult except for the legs, face and end of tail. The coat is ticked (this link takes you to an article about Bengal cat coat and explains what ticked means). Bengal breeders are fond of what they call glitter (meaning a coat that glitters). This breed's version of glitter is "grizzle" (the silver tipped coat variety). Read more about the appearance. Cats of this breed are large and muscular, not cobby (stocky), with a tail slightly shorter than normal (after the Jungle Cat). Comments on Size and Appearance from Tammy Isaacs, a Chausie breederThe cat on the cover of the Cat fancy magazine is Keetah, from the Willowind Cattery and who is featured on this page.
Tammy Isaacs of the Willowind Cattery (see link below), who has been a breeder for 5 years says that she has only seen one cat of this breed over 20 lbs. There are 20+ lb cats but they are rare she says. So catteries claiming 30 lb cats may be exaggerating. Tammy makes the point that very few breeders are still breeding F1s which are larger. She says that the average weight of a Chausie is 12-18 lbs, which is still a large cat. On the subject of the coat Tammy says this: "The grizzled tabbies used to be called silver-tips until...it was changed to grizzled tabby. It is unique to chausies and comes from the jungle cat. It is actually an extension of the agouti gene which results in a patterned black cat with "silver" ticking. The silver bands on the hairs are caused by an absence of pigment. It is such a cool effect. Some have lots of grizzling & others have just a little. Our standard calls for the grizzleds to have the same ticked pattern as the brown ticked tabbies".
BreedersWillowind CatteryWillowind is a small, TICA registered cattery located on the southern Gulf Coast of Texas. Sources:
Chausie to Home page
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