Outstanding tabby cats can look like an Egyptian Mau

Egyptian Mau kittens. Photo: Helmi Flick published here with her express permission.

Some feral and domestic cats look like Egytian Maus. The Egyptian Mau is a purebred cat. It has a spotted tabby coat. It is a refined looking cat because it is purebred (selectively bred). However, it Egypt they are all over the streets. There are feral Egyptian Maus in Egypt and in the region. This refined purebred cat in the USA has ancestors that are feral cats and before that the African wildcat.

You will see some stunning random bred cats both feral and domestic that are similar to the Egyptian Mau because they have a similar long term history - they both come from the Africa wildcat some 5-9,000 years ago.

Apollo

For this reason it is not uncommon for people to question whether their random bred cat is an Egyptian Mau or an Egyptian Mau mix. It is almost certain that the cat is neither. It is just that they came from the same stock thousands of years ago.

The picture right is of a nice looking random bred cat with a tabby pattern. The human keeper asks, "Is Apollo an Egyptian Mau?...Hi, This is my cat, Apollo. Could he be part Mau? Thank you!"

The probable answer is that Apollo is neither an Egyptian Mau nor an Egyptian Mau mix but a really nice looking cat. One extra tell tale sign is that Apollo seems to have a mackerel tabby coat (striped) and the Mau's coat is spotted. Thanks for asking though.