VOLUME 3, ISSUE 3

As I walked into the Barnes & Noble near Pier 39, there is stood. It was as if it was calling my name. The Encyclopedia of the Cat stood proudly on the shelf waiting for me to purchase it.  Sadly I did not have money to shop with today, but lucky for me my significant other did. So I made a deal with him. He agreed to give me the money to buy the book, and in return I had to figure out which breed, or mix of breeds that our male cat is. I agreed to this deal with much excitement and began thumbing through the pages as soon as I had it in my hands for purchase.

First I flipped through all of the pages looking at the pictures of all the different cats. When I arrived at the page for Tabbies I knew I would find cats that looked similar to Wilburr, (our male cat), but I knew that he was more than just Tabby.  As I continued to thumb through the pages I eventually ran into pictures of other cats that looked almost identical to Wilburr. The cats on the pages were Egyptian Mau's. So I decided to read about the Egyptian Mau to see just how closely Wilburr resembles this breed of cat.

In the time of the early Egyptians, Mau's were considered wild, unpredictable cats that were vicious towards other cats. That is until they formed long-lasting bonding relationships with the Egyptians and began the process of becoming domesticated. While today's Mau is still aggressive towards other cats, it is more of a playful type of aggression than a vicious type of aggression. I know this because Wilburr is extremely aggressive with my female cat, Purrlz, but it's all in good fun. The Egyptian Mau's coat looks very similar to the Tabby's, (as does Wilburr's), but their distinct personalities will quickly set them apart. Mau's have a ten

dency to be very soft-spoken cats. They often use a sort of chirp to communicate. When I first heard this chirp coming from my cats' mouth I wondered why it was that he did that. Purrlz had never made a sound like that before.  The tabbies on the other hand, are generally very loud when they speak, which Wilburr also can be if he feels that he's being ignored. This is one of the reasons I think my cat is part Tabby and part Egyptian Mau. 

Another trait of the Egyptian Mau is that they are very uneasy with strangers, while the Tabby is extremely friendly to everyone. Wilburr, like a Tabby, is the first to greet everyone that walks in the door, but if the door is opened and he does not know the person walking in to our home, he will be very uneasy around the new person. Wilburr is friendly to everyone that he's become familiar with; however, just like a typical Mau, he is very possessive over one particular person. He's managed to stake his claims on my significant other, Bruce. The only person Wilburr will purr for is Bruce, and Bruce's lap is the only one Wilburr will actually sit in. Even though I'm the "food and water" lady, Wilburr has already chosen his person and will not sit in my lap for very long at all. 

One of the distinguishing features on the Mau's fur coat is that they will usually have a very distinct "M" in between their eyes. When I checked, Wilburr indeed has this beautiful mark. Egyptian Mau's are also known for being very muscular cats. Bruce and I have always said that Wilburr's real "buff". He's a large cat, with broad kitty cat shoulders, and weighs quite a bit, but it's mostly muscle. There are many other distinguishing features that I had read about in regards to the Egyptian Mau (and the Tabby), that I would love to discuss, but unfortunately you would end up reading a short story if I went on. If you would like to learn more about the features of the Mau, or their history with the Egyptians, (which is rather fascinating), feel free to ask me.