Is my Bamboo an Egyptian Mau?

A visitor, Ludi Ye, asks the question: I have this one of the most popular questions: is this a mau?

I adopted Bamboo for about half a year, she was abandoned twice. I know it might be hard to tell from the picture, but I want to give it a try because I see some mau characteristics in her. She is spotted, the background color in the belly is a lot lighter, thus the spots are more obvious. She has beautiful green eyes and eye liners and the two broken necklace. One thing i wasn’t sure was the flap maus have.

Whether she is a mau or a tabby, I love her regardless. I just have been very curious.

Ludi Ye

Egytpian Mau or Bengal Cat? Photos copyright Helmi Flick except for Bamboo.

Thanks for asking Ludi Ye. This is indeed a well asked question. This may be because the Egyptian Mau is said to come from the African wildcat. And the domesticated African wildcat is the beginning of all domestic cats. So many cats look a bit like the Egyptian Mau.

I know that you realise that you can’t name a cat breed from a picture. The cat has to be registered with a cat association in the West. However, you can find rescued purebred, pedigree cats sometimes and people do abandon purebred cats.

I believe that Bamboo is more likely to be purebred Bengal cat or a Bengal mix. I have seen purebred Bengal cats that look like Bamboo. I think her facial features and more stocky (cobby) body shape hint at a Bengal cat because Egyptian Maus are more slender (foreign in cat fancy language). Also the Bengal cat has a slightly more intense, serious and wild expression I feel, while the Mau has a more curious look that is pure domestic cat. The Egyptian is wholly domestic while the Bengal, even F5s have some wild cat (leopard cat) in them.

The pictures I have included on the page support my assessment but…and this is a big but, I am just guesstimating based on appearance. Thanks for asking.

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Comments

Is my Bamboo an Egyptian Mau? — 9 Comments

Bone on January 26, 2013 at 7:11 am said:
Our cat was abandoned and we rescued him. It wasn’t until his sun-bleached fur grew back that we discovered he was spotted on tummy and back, had stripes on extremities like your Bamboo, sported about six necklaces and a funny stomach “flap” that hung down from his abdomen. (What IS that hanging down there???) Our vet says he is a Tabby/Mau mix which makes sense as there are very few Bengals running about loose to create mixed felines with but plenty of tabbies everywhere with similar characteristics to Maus (except for skin flap). Our cat has the Mau personality to a tee and is rather like a dog in his ways. Your Bamboo kitty looks very much like ours except that ours has bronze and ginger markings on a white background. All other attributes seem really close including the gooseberry green eyes and facial markings. So I have to go with a Mau/Tabby mix for Bamboo and then say Congratulations as this is the best of all mixed-cats we ever rescued — I hope you are blessed with the same!
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- Michael on January 26, 2013 at 7:56 am said:
  Thanks Bone for your valuable input. You certainly describe the Egyptian Mau mix. Bamboo could be as you describe. They say (the wise cat experts) that the Egyptian Mau flap evolved to allow the cat to run faster (allowing more flexibility). The Egyptian Mau is said to be the fastest domestic cat. Here is a page on the famous flap:
  https://pictures-of-cats.org/egyptian-mau-belly-flap.html
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Leah on January 26, 2013 at 6:13 am said:
Lets see. ADHD, likes to drink running water, hates closed doors, well go for walks without a leash, sassy,hates to be held,growly snarly hiss @ you cause your teasing her,playplayplay,knock things off counters, follow you and fetch like a dog,protect her turf(mine attacked a guys white pitbull and drew blood off its lip)car rides?, crazy, spins like a top and hisses when trying to trim nails,etcetc. Welcome to my world! 🙂 and mine was a stray i have had her for 5 years now. takes special people, you must be alpha!
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Ludi on January 23, 2013 at 4:49 pm said:
Hah! Thanks again Michael! I never consider she being Bengal coz I thought Bengals have strips instead of spotted coat. But now that you pointed out, the Maus do have a smaller faces (to me) and a more innocent and curious look.
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- Michael on January 23, 2013 at 6:01 pm said:
  Hi Ludi, Bengals have tabby coats, which can be mackerel (stripe), classic (blotched) and spots. Bamboo has spots. Mau’s have tabby coats too. It is just about body and head shape, color and for me she has a Bengal cat shape. I think you would agree the she has a Bengal cat head. There is that intense, slightly wild look.
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  - Ludi on January 23, 2013 at 6:53 pm said:
    Now it also explains all the energy that she has.
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Marc on January 23, 2013 at 1:14 pm said:
Bamboo is really special looking. If she was a tabby she would be about the most special looking tabby. She really does look like a Bengal. She’s beautiful 🙂
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- Michael on January 23, 2013 at 1:28 pm said:
  If she is a tabby, wow. I have never seen a regular tabby look like this.
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Dan in Tempe on January 23, 2013 at 10:56 am said:
Good call. Offhand, the head and eye shapes are the key difference. I’d guess it was a mix, as well. Very lovely cat. One thing we can all be sure of; those are four amazing looking cats.
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