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"There are two means of refuge from the
miseries of life: music and cats."- Albert
Schweitzer
Egyptian
Mau Cat
Slide Show coming up
- the
best cats - the
best photographs - the best slide show on the 'net of this
breed of cat. This
is a discussion of the CFA
breed Standard
while referring to the best examples this
cat.
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Photo:
© Photographer and Owner
Jessica Hughes
On this page I discuss the CFA breed standard informally.
I do not
profess to cover every aspect of the standard. I just want to read the
standard and understand what makes a prize winning Egyptian Mau. The
slide show is manually operated so feel free to stop it
and read about the breed standard at the same time. I refer to the
specific cats in the slide show by name, which is noted in the captions
to the show.
On another page
I go over other aspects of this cat such as history etc. Did you know
that this Egyptian Mau cat is one of the oldest purebred cat breeds?
And it does (it is thought) orginate from Egypt.
This cat has gained in popularity over recent years. The CFA
starts by saying that the Egyptian Mau Cat should give the appearance
of being active
and
"colorful". The use of the
word "colorful" is interesting
as the most common "base color" (my words) is a soft diluted color and
often grey (see Luke,
who is almost three colors, white, grey and black). Perhaps in the
context it means that they have colorful characters.
The word active
is very accurate as this cat is very quick and therefore agile. Plus
this cat is apparently intelligent. This makes for an active cat. If
you stop the slide
show at look at Helmi's series of photographs of Lukeby
manually
jogging the photographs forward, I think that you will get the
impression of activity that is part of this cat's character. This
places demands on the human keeper.
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Blue Bayou. The cat
is "Spike" kept by Nanci Gates - Khemenu
Cattery
This
cat should have well
developed
muscles.
Being active and athletic this is to be expected.
This breed should also be well balanced physically (all the elements in
proportion aesthetically).
The
head
should be medium in length. This cat has a rather delicate
face and this is noted when the CFA say she is not "full-cheeked". You
can clearly see this in the rather fine face (compare this with say the
American
Shorthair). The profile
should
show a slight rise from the top of the nose (the bridge) to the
forehead. This can be seen very clearly if you stop the slide show at
Lotus
(at the end of
the show) or in the photograph left of "Spike" by Nanci Gates. The
muzzle
should not
be pointed (think Norwegian
Forest Cat) and not short (as
for the British
Shorthair for example).
You can see the classis "M" tabby cat coat marking on the forehead although it is somewhat masked. The Egyptian Mau cat is a tabby cat,
albeit a very fancy one. Apparently, before this cat was brought to the
USA they usually had a "scarab" shape on the forehead. I think this is
a beetle shape.
The
eyes should
be almond shaped large and alert. In the
Egyptian Mau Cat standard they are referred to as, "gooseberry green"
(see Starz
- the
third cat -
in the slide show for example). If not gooseberry green an Amber caste
is OK up to one and a half years of age. All Egyptian Maus should have
this aesthetically pleasing eye color of gooseberry green.
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Arnie (Owner - Gabriella
Kesmarki) and Lucy (Owner Khemenu Cattery)
- Nanci Gates/Khemenu
Cattery
The
body is medium long with a
"loose
skin flap" going from
the flank to knee of the hind leg. This loose skin is referred to as
allowing the Egyptian Mau Cat to run faster than other domestic cats
when combined with the longer than average body, which provides greater
flexibility and leaverage. Helmi's pictures clearly show the longer
than average body conformation. Gloria Stephens in her book, legacy of the cat, refers to it as, "the primordial flap". Primordial means: existing in or persisting from the beginning¹.
The hind legs
should be longer than the front (this, though, is normal) and the feet
dainty (where is the African Wild cat in this cat? -
wildcats
have
large feet).
The
spots on coat
can be any size or shape and will vary in size and shape. They should,
though, be distinct
(this means good contrast between the spots and the background). This
attribute is superbly demonstrated in the photographs on this page. The
spots can be seen best in the "beauty pose", when (in this instance)
Luke
faces away from
the camera, showing his back, and looks over his shoulder at the camera.
General comment:
In terms of cat fancy language, the body should be "semi-foreign".
"Foreign" means slender in cat fancy lanuage so you can see tha this
cat breed should be quite slender and refined. See a full
description of body types here: Cat Body Types.
Sources:
1. east.merriam-webster.com
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Egyptian Mau Cat to Home Page
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