This is a page on the Chausie cat breed. It is written for children and people who like to read straightforward English and see the best cat pictures.
The Chausie is wild cat hybrid and a breed of cat. Chausie breeders put a domestic cat and a small wild cat together in a cage to make sure that they mate and have kittens. It can be tricky getting a small wild cat to mate with a domestic cat. For cat breeders, “wild cat hybrid” always means cats that are part wild cat and part domestic cat.
The father is a jungle cat and the mother is usually the popular Abyssinian. When they mate the kitten is called a “first generation” Chausie. The experts call these kittens “F1 kittens” or first filial. “Filial” means the child of parents. When an F1 Chausie father mates with a domestic cat the kittens are called F2 – second generation – kittens and so on.
Interesting point: the jungle cat sometimes mates with domestic cats in the wild.
How do you say “Chausie”?
You say the name by saying “Chowzie”
Latin or Scientific name for Jungle cat and Abyssinian
The Latin or scientific name for the jungle cat is felis chaus. The Abyssinian does not have a Latin name all to itself. It uses the Latin name for the domestic cat which is felis silvestris catus. Latin is an ancient Italian language that scientists like to use.
History
The first Chausie was created in America in the 1960s. At that time Americans were very interested in living with small wild cats. They still are. The Chausie behaves like a domestic cat but looks wilder than a domestic cat. It is a nice way to live with a wild looking domestic cat.
Character
The first filial Chausie is active and intelligent. The person who lives with him or her needs to make sure their cat is able to act naturally. A person who lives with a Chausie should spend more time with their cat than other owners usually do to make sure their Chausie is happy. They require more attention than regular domestic cats.
For a Chausie to be a nice cat and one that is easy to get along with, it is important that when he is a young kitten he mixes with other cats and other animals as well as people so that he gets used to them. If this does not happen, when he grows up, he may be too wild and difficult to live with.
The Chausie is a bold, brave cat with a strong character.
How the Chausie looks
The Chausie looks like the Abyssinian cat. It is larger though. They can weigh 25 pounds. The coat is a tabby coat. Sometimes you will see black Chausies and cats with a black coat and silver tips to the strands of fur. This is a “grizzled” coat. You can see one in the picture just above.
Jumping
The Chausie is a massive jumper. This is because there is wild cat in him. The picture on this page shows an F1 Chausie, that lived with Ken and Helmi Flick, jumping straight up very high.
They are healthy and a handful. Big time. The F1, I mean. Ken and Helmi Flick kept one and found the F1 Chausie hard work. There is a lot of wild cat in the F1. You have to be a serious cat caretaker with time on your hands to look after an F1 Chausie, it seems to me.
Oh my gosh – that is a six foot jump by the looks of it. What a beautiful ‘breed’ of cat. A striking muzzle and a wild look. I do hope they are a healthy breed.