Since bluekat asked me what breed I am considering and I am trying to find out everything I possibly can on them, I am considering the Egyptian Mau. Why? Here are my reasons so far:
Length of coat: Hubby insists on no long-hairs! (I really love Somalis and Birmans.)
Colors: I want a breed that has just a few colors so I can really concentrate on making those PERFECT.
Spots: My family and I all LOVE the exotic look of the spotted cats. My favorite cats looks-wise in the short-hair catagory are the maus, ocis, bengals and abys.
Eye color: I LOVE those green eyes!!! My sweet Guin has gorgeous green eyes.
Disposition: I am wanting to find a fairly highly-active cat, while not being destructive. Not too vocal, but not quiet either. I love the abys, the siamese and other oriental breeds for their loving devotion and their high-activity level, but I read the abys tend to have small, all-male litters I've and the oriental breeds are SO vocal! I wish I knew more about the mau's disposition from someone that has experience with them.
Size: Not too big.
Health: From my research, the maus seem to be healthy cats with a long life-expectancy and not any serious health issues associated with their breed.
Average Litter Size: I read they have an average litter size of 6 kittens. That seems just right for me. Not too few, since I won't be keeping too many breeding females (probably no more than 3). Also not too large litters to have to worry about too many kittens to hand-feed and find homes for either (Orientals being heard of having as many as 14!). I wanted an average of 4-6 per litter.
Rare: I wanted a breed that wasn't really common. Something a bit rare. The only problem I am running into on this is that information on the maus is very limited and I cannot find any books written specifically for this breed.
CFA: I also wanted a breed that is accepted by the CFA and to be able to show them in the CFA cat shows.
I've been reading every website I can get my hands on about these cats. Does anyone here have any experience with them or any recommendations on how I can learn more about them? Thank you!
Length of coat: Hubby insists on no long-hairs! (I really love Somalis and Birmans.)
Colors: I want a breed that has just a few colors so I can really concentrate on making those PERFECT.
Spots: My family and I all LOVE the exotic look of the spotted cats. My favorite cats looks-wise in the short-hair catagory are the maus, ocis, bengals and abys.
Eye color: I LOVE those green eyes!!! My sweet Guin has gorgeous green eyes.
Disposition: I am wanting to find a fairly highly-active cat, while not being destructive. Not too vocal, but not quiet either. I love the abys, the siamese and other oriental breeds for their loving devotion and their high-activity level, but I read the abys tend to have small, all-male litters I've and the oriental breeds are SO vocal! I wish I knew more about the mau's disposition from someone that has experience with them.
Size: Not too big.
Health: From my research, the maus seem to be healthy cats with a long life-expectancy and not any serious health issues associated with their breed.
Average Litter Size: I read they have an average litter size of 6 kittens. That seems just right for me. Not too few, since I won't be keeping too many breeding females (probably no more than 3). Also not too large litters to have to worry about too many kittens to hand-feed and find homes for either (Orientals being heard of having as many as 14!). I wanted an average of 4-6 per litter.
Rare: I wanted a breed that wasn't really common. Something a bit rare. The only problem I am running into on this is that information on the maus is very limited and I cannot find any books written specifically for this breed.
CFA: I also wanted a breed that is accepted by the CFA and to be able to show them in the CFA cat shows.
I've been reading every website I can get my hands on about these cats. Does anyone here have any experience with them or any recommendations on how I can learn more about them? Thank you!