Bahraini Dilmun Cat

Is this a Bahraini Dilmun Cat? This is probably a Bahrain feral, semi-feral or domestic cat but in comparing the description of this experimental cat breed with this cat there are distinct similarities.....read on please. Photo by greens n cornbread who says that the cats and dogs of Bahrain are best seen in the morning. This is probably for two reasons, one it is cooler at that time in a very hot country and secondly cats are crepuscular (go out at dawn and dusk to hunt). The photo is published under a creative commons license - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License.

The Bahraini Dilmun Cat is a natural cat of Bahrain. This means that the cat evolved naturally, which further implies that the cat was and probably still is a feral cat and a household pet as well as an experimental cat breed being developed by the Cat Club of Bahrain.

All cat breeds ultimately come from feral cats, which in turn come from the wildcat. The classic semi-feral cat turned fantastic domestic purebred cat is the barn cat, the Maine Coon cat. My suggestion is that this cat breed is another example albeit more recent. The Arabian Mau is another feral cat that is currently being turned into a purebred cat.

The Bahraini Dilmun Cat is semi-foreign is terms of shape (meaning more slender than say an American Shorthair or British Shorthair). The cat in the picture fits the bill (unless someone wants to correct me for which I'll be grateful and not in any way upset).

Next, this experimental cat breed has soft fur, long legs and a narrow tail. The head is wedge shaped (all regular cats have wedge shaped heads, the Persian cat head is rounded). The coat is a spotted tabby as a result the legs and tail are banded. The eyes are green or gold. The nose has a "dusky blush" and this is apparent I believe in both the pictures illustrating this post.

The Egyptian Mau, another naturally spotted cat, is both a brilliant purebred cat in America and a persecuted feral cat in Egypt and looks very similar in feral cat conformation to this cat breed. As a purebred cat the pattern (the spots) are made to stand out more through greater contrast with the background. This is achieved by selective breeding. In a natural form the spotted pattern is veiled by lower contrast in part because the background is darker and in part because the spots are lighter and ticked (see tabby cat coats).

Well, as I said the written description fits the cats illustrated, very well in my opinion. Here is another Bahraini cat, not a Dilmun cat as far as I know but one that nonetheless, at least to a substantial degree, fits the bill.


Great picture - mother protecting her young - photo of a cat in Bahrain by Hussain Isa. This cat has similar tabby spots and that dusky nose again.

One last thing, what does the word "Dilmun" mean? It is an ancient name describing an area that is around and beyond the island of Bahrain.

Bahraini Dilmun Cat to Egyptian Mau cat

Photos: published under a creative commons license.

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