Egyptian Mau Cats

Sandrease

Buying a cat - first of all, not to put you off, but is there something specific about the Egyptian Mau breed that you are attracted to? Because you could pick up an unusual silver tabby at any of the pounds - you might even get an Egyptian Mau cross. If you want a cat for characteristics, but not necessarily to show them or breed them, consider a rescue or a crossbreed. You don't have to, but just for the sake of the cat that would otherwise go to death row at the pound, you'd be doing something good.

Now, moving on to buying a kitten - breeders advertising kittens own one or more female cats. They may or may not also own a stud, which is a breeding male cat. Stud toms can be high maintenance though, because they caterwaul a lot, calling for a female, and they spray everywhere, so it's not uncommon to find a breeder who has females only and just hires out a stud when they need one.

A cat's gestation period is around 63 days, hence you'll get advance ads in the paper. I wouldn't buy a kitten until I'd seen its mother, seen it with its mother, seen where its being raised and visited the breeder to get a feel for the kitten's start in life.

There will be two kinds of pure bred kittens - show standard and pet standard. Show standard are also breeding standard. To me, I would give a breeder kudos if they offered to sell me a pet standard kitten and insisted I have it neutered. It shows concern for both the individual cat, and the breed they support.

Depending on the breed you're buying, there will usually be a price difference between a pet standard and show standard kitten. That price difference is sometimes more pronounced in 'patterned' cats like Egyptian Maus or Bengals because it's very obvious from the start whether they have good markings or dramatic markings.

All kittens should be vaccinated against the diseases they may get if they have outdoor access. Check with your Eygptian Mau breeder what vaccination they give. The kittens will have three sets of vaccinations and will then require an annual booster. You should get a vaccination card that has the labels from the vax bottles stuck onto it, with the date the vax was given.

Registration - kittens should be microchipped, and that microchip number is registered with the microchip database and the local council, so that if the cat is ever lost and recovered, they can scan for a chip and up come your details, so they know to return it to you.

If you aren't going to show or breed your cat, I would strongly recommend you have it neutered. It will be a happier and healthier cat.

In terms of choosing a kitten, your kitten should be energetic and interested, affectionate and not too free with its claws. You'll find if you approach a litter from five weeks onwards, they bimble towards you - it'll become clear who's the extrovert and who's shy. In terms of health, your kitten should have clear eyes with no discharge. Ask the breeder if they have had any problems and assess their surroundings - they should be in clean, dry surrounds, with access to fresh food and clean water.

In terms of adoption age, kittens can be weaned from five weeks onwards, but it's best if they stay with their mom and each other for longer than that. Eight weeks is a good target, personally I prefer closer to 10 weeks. You can have them neutered early and, if you can find a vet who's done the procedure on young kittens before, 10-12 weeks is as good a time as any. They recover more quickly than if they're older.

Have you had a cat before?

Dont worry, the breeder wil not give a kitten out to ahome she is unsure of. You will be questioned without even realising it most of the time! LIk emost who breed or rescue you can almost tell straight away wether it will be a good home or not.
I think the usual is around 8 wks to visit kittens, after they have had the first jab. But as Carol and see what she advises.
Like Hadook,
I visited Birmingham when one of my boys was only a few weeks old, flew over and back in a day.
WIth the lad from Kilkenny we had met his breeder at a show and went down just to see some of her other cats, saw 3 little babiies that had been born the week before and as it turned out one of them ended up being mine!
I think the breeeder likes to see your interaction with her cats, i think you can tell alot by that.
And you dont be afraid to ask as many questions as you want no ,matter how silly you think they might sound!

Ismishcats, there is one definite flaw in your argument.

Your point about genetic diversity and careful breed management assumes that all cat breeders are reputable.

Just like dog breeders, many are not. Many breed for 'pet kittens', meaning they don't care much about the cat's background, genetic pool and so on, have no intention of showing or rebreeding the offspring, but because they just want someone who'll pay a couple of hundred quid for a kitten that looks a certain way.

I do agree with you on the hybrid vigour front - I don't believe it carries the weight it's thought to carry - especially since feral colonies will often inbreed. Additionally there are a myriad of conditions that a kitten can come depending whether or not its feral mother contracted something like cat flu while pregnant. You can't regulate for those when adopting a stray kitten from a rescue.

I also agree with your correction of my lumping show and breed standard into the one lot - you're dead right, there are neuter classes for showing. The point I was unsuccessfully trying to make was that a breeder who is trying to achieve the characteristics of a cat for show or breeding will try harder and be more interested in breed standard than one who just wants a litter to sell solely for the purpose of making money.

People also take cats on for a breed characteristic that they then realise they can't cope with - bengals and associated 'exotic' cats are a good example.

I have two bengal crosses (one of whom is currently judging the leaping distance from the top of his cat tree onto the slowly revolving ceiling fan, and the other of whom has just finished shredding a kitchen roll into confetti behind the couch), one blue burmese cross and two general moggies (who definitely learn behaviour from the other three, but wouldn't have been as 'bold' in their own behaviour had they never met the three intrepid adventurers).

The burmese cross I have is a perfect example of back yard breeding - his original owner bought himself two burmese female cats because he figured if he bred them he could make a thousand bucks a year at least selling the litters - one blue, one brown. He paid a good bit of money for the two intact females, who were beautiful cats. However, he was then seriously unimpressed with the stud fees that reputable breeders were quoting him, and also more unimpressed that in some cases they would not allow their stud cover his females when they realised what he was up to. He was going to get a stud himself but couldn't cope with the territory marking and peeing everywhere.

Subsequently, he allowed his two burmese females to have the run of the outdoors, where they produced at least four or five litters apiece over two and a half years, almost all of which kittens he drowned. He was finally reported to the authorities, and the cats were taken away from him. The blue burmese was immediately rehomed because she was in a terrible mental state. Her four kittens, who she had rejected, were fostered onto the brown burmese, whose litter the owner had drowned. The brown burmese and the four kittens came to me when the kittens were four weeks old.

They have all since been rehomed, but I kept the kitten whose temperament I couldn't calm - apparently more deeply affected by his start in life, he still hisses aggressively at people he doesn't know (doesn't run, stands his ground and hisses).

The upshot of all of this is simple: if you want a cat for look, instead of temperament, show, specific characteristics (which can never be guaranteed anyway), then I still think you'd do well to include the rescue centre in the places you're looking. You probably won't find an absolute match to a pure bred in moggy form, but you may find something with the colours you like. You may even find a pure bred needing a home - though its temperament might be questionable.

Anyway - the upshot is that buying a pure bred cat isn't "wrong" and I'm not trying to imply that - but buying a pure bred isn't a guarantee either, unless you've exhaustively researched the breed, the breeder, the kitten's parentage, and so on... And the sad part is many people won't do that, because they just want the look of "the grey cat".

On a happier note, I'll leave you with a couple of pictures. This is a blue burmese:



...and this is my blue burmese X: