Is my cat an Egyptian mau?

[Mhyammout]

I only recently discovered the breed. Our Daenerys is 3 years old, can’t be more than 12ish pounds, very vocal (and always has been), and shares what traits that I think are fairly close / identical to what I’m seeing online as Egyptian Mau. One other note is that she plays fetch and has since she was a kitten. She’s very agile as well and jumps surprising high (even for a cat) - it was actually a bit of a shock to us when we first brought her home. One other note (tried my best to illustrate this in the pics) is that she is very small for your typical tabby cat at 3 years of age … quite literally anyone that comes over and has or had cats is shocked to hear she’s not a kitten.
Thoughts?

 

[Alldara]

Unless you are in a place where Egyptian Maus are very common street cats than not likely.

It is VERY unlikely that an expensive breed like an Egyptian Mau would have intact babies wandering about. Those expensive breeds are usually highly guarded in most places. They don't escape to mate with backyard cats if they aren't yet in the hands of "backyard breeders" or "breeding mills". So their genetics aren't mixed with the general population of local cats. Sometimes you can have a certain breed of cat end up at the shelter, but the shelter is usually aware of the breeding and marks the cat as such.

Further complicating the situation is how 'young' most cat breeds are. Breeds happen when humans breed animals with certain traits in hopes of replicating those traits. So even when cats have certain traits it's hard to know if they have them because they are a mix, or because they carry traits that were used to build that breed.

Spotting is a tabby type coat that appears in any breed that has tabby genes; not a great way to tell breed. Cat coat: tabby and genetics — The Little Carnivore

In short, your cat is a Domestic Short hair. Genetic testing is the closest way to tell, but still won't answer if your cat IS a mixed breed or has traits that they used to make that breed...but whatever you title your cat after genetic testing is up to you!

 

[StefanZ]

With cats breeds is alike with nobilities. Its not about looks nor behavior and other traits. Its about parentage and the proper documents and paperworks.
If a King / Queen, or at least, a Grand duke / duchess has named your parents as nobility, and you are their legal child with proper paperwork, you ARE a Sir / Dame you too, even if your looks arent as perfect as your parents. This parentage is usually many generations backwards as long as they are purebred and registered with a proper registry / association.

While a commoner, er, domestic moggie, may be as nice looking, noble behaving, etc etc - is still a commoner, er, domestic moggie....

But its a nice pastime to speculate if one cat is a look alike to some established breed!


Ps. But it goes sometimes the other way around. WE wished to have a cat whom would be happy with inside only life. So we decided on a purebred. But we wished also to have a cat whom looked normally, as a nice beautiful moggie. And so we choosed the Russian Blue... And are happy with this decision. Our contemporary pair are grandgrandkidsx4 to their Ancestors... Whom both were working studs.