I came into work this morning, had a couple hours of work to do, it was good. They also asked me if I was interested in an upcoming project that they wanted to do in Zope next month. Yay! That means I’ll have steady work for a while next month.
I emailed a number of cat breeders yesterday, Maine Coons, Bengals, Norwegian Forest Cats, Egyptian Maus. This afternoon I got a few emails back, one of which was from the Egyptian Mau breeder in southern New Jersey. I was very excited to recieve this email, and even more excited to learn that the price of them was well within my given range AND the breeder had a couple kittens the color I wanted ready for adoption in March!
Egyptian Mau, Smoked Color – Image borrowed from http://www.aime.us/AIME_us.htm
Apparently the Silver are the most popular, but I was going for darker and less typical, and this color is beautiful, precisely what I wanted! A description of the coloration:
SMOKE: pale silver ground color across head, shoulders, legs, tail, and underside, with all hairs to be tipped in black. All markings jet black with a white to pale silver undercoat, with sufficient contrast against ground color for pattern to be plainly visible. Nose, lips, and eyes outlined in jet black. Upper throat area, chin, and around nostrils lightest in color. Nose leather: black. Paw pads: black with black between the toes and extending beyond the paws of the hind legs. Whiskers: black.
So cutey!
I was reading through some FAQ and here are some things about them:
- The Mau is a very gregarious and interactive cat that likes to be with people and other animals and join in with everything that is going on.
- A Mau will follow you around the house, ride on your shoulders and sit on your lap (usually on top of the book you are trying to read).
- Maus tend to bond very strongly to their owners and some Maus can be shy of strangers.
- The Maus are very athletic and will perform stunning leaps.
- They are moderately active but not as hyperactive as the Abyssinian; they are often referred to as the “gentle cousin” of the Aby.
- Maus are very protective of their toys carrying them around and growling at anyone who threatens to remove them.
- Maus are extremely intelligent and will learn to open cupboards and draws, especially the ones where food and toys are kept.
- Many Maus will play fetch (for what seems like hours) without any special training.
- Maus certainly do not have the loud voices of the oriental breeds such as the Siamese, however some are quite talkative. They will often chirp and chortle rather than mew.
- Although the Mau was accepted for championship status by CFA in 1977 it is still a very rare breed. CFA recorded a total of 566 Egyptian Mau kittens born in 1996 worldwide, compared with over 6,000 Siamese and over 95,000 Persians!
- The Egyptian Mau is a 100% domestic cat. It could be argued that maus are in fact the oldest breed of domestic cat since there are records of mau-like cats from thousands of years B.C.
This sounds like an appropriately active cat for my tastes.
They are medium sized cats, so not big like the Bengals or Maine Coons, but a medium size cat will fit nicely in our house.
So Michael and I are going to discuss this all more this evening, hopefully arrange a trip to the cattery sometime in the near future (maybe this weekend?) before we decide to put a deposit on one of these kittens. I’m very excited! Even if we don’t end up getting one from this litter (I’m quite picky) I definately know that I want this kind of cat.
More pictures!
Egyptian Mau, Smoked Color – Image b
orrowed from http://www.aime.us/AIME_us.htm
Kitten Egyptian Mau, Smoked Color – Image borrowed from http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/2239/
Kitten Egyptian Maus sleeping, Smoked Color Image borrowed from http://www.aime.us/AIME_us.htm
It’s thursday, only one more week until we close on our house %) That rocks.
I guess I’ll come into work tomorrow, not really sure I’ll have work to do, but I’ll keep myself occupied. *wanders off*