by Sheffelf
(Huntington, IN)
Blue Maynard
Blue Maynard is, in my opinion, from internet research, an Egyptian Mau; he has all the characteristics and he is just plain beautiful.
I believe I saw a test kit somewhere for cats DNA. Does anyone know of this? I'm going to do research on this but I wanted to show him. Thanks for your responses.
Sheffelf
Hi... Thanks for asking. The Egyptian Mau is a spotted cat. It is said to be the only naturally occurring spotted cat. It is also said to be a domesticated African wildcat. The African wildcat has spots but not clearly defined. The feral Egyptian Maus in Egypt have spots that are in a line looking a little like mackerel tabby stripes.
The cat fancy has enhanced the appearance by selective breeding and purebred Egyptian Maus have clear, bright, contrasty spots on the body as evidenced by Helmi Flicks wonderful photographs. The legs and chest area have stripes.
Your very attractive cat, Blue Maynard, appears, from the photograph, to have stripes on the body (but please see the updated section below). My initial thought is that your cat is a silver mackerel tabby random bred cat.
This is the most likely answer as to the type of cat he is. The vast majority of people who keep purebred cats have certificates to prove it. Without certs it could be argued that even a genuine purebred cat is not a purebred as there has to be evidence beyond appearance.
Currently, as far as I am aware, it is not possible to test for a cat breed through an analysis of the cat's DNA.
However, DNA testing can be carried out to check for certain genes that are markers for specific diseases. These tests are designed to tell cat breeders whether their cat carries an inherited predisposition to a certain disease and if so to take that cat out of the breeding programme.
I hope this answers your question and I am sorry if it disappoints you.
Update:
I have just noticed the other photos you uploaded. Here is one:
The stripes and some spots are clearer in this photo. I still think my assessment is correct. This page: cat coats tabby, shows a lot of mackerel tabby cats. Your cat also has a body shape that is a little too cobby for an Egyptian Mau that is more "foreign" (slender) in shape.
Although, when I see this picture (which I have just discovered that you uploaded too):
and this one:
I can see how close on appearance Blue Maynard is to an Egyptian Mau. Stripes become spots. There is quite a fine line between the two. The face too is Mau like.
Well, without papers and a no chance of a DNA test your cat will have to remain a random bred cat it seems to me although he might have Egyptian Mau genes in him. He might be more than a look-a-like, is what I mean.
You might like to read: What breed is my cat?
Is my cat an Egyptian Mao? Genetic Testing? to Egyptian Mau cat
I have gotten two kittens that the people who own the mother were just trying to get rid of and could not even give me a date of birth for them, as the mother brought them to the doorstep two days before I got them, they were by all appearances feral as they would hiss whenever someone tried to touch them,the female alaya has marbling on her side and one spot looks like Jaguar pattern, Loki the male has striped legs and less marbling then his sister.i am putting up pictures BC now I can’t tell if thier tabbies, Bengals or Egyptian mau’s, they are very wild cat rooted and when I first got them I was actually worried that they might be actual bobcats or lynx as I live in Arizona and it could happen. After reading about the breeds and seeing pictures I think they may be Egyptian mau’s I ruled out Bengals because I think thier ears are too pointy, I always thought they had an Egyptian look to them even before I found out what an Egyptian Mau was, which was this morning,i even had told my wife BC I learned that all cats had roots in Egypt. lemme know what u think they are greyish but now as thier getting older some brown is coming out very similar to what I saw in Bengal pictures but they all look so similar it’s hard to tell, I think the tabbies look furrier as kittens but the mau’s and Bengals have very long Feminine type appearance.
Hi George, thank you for commenting. I don’t think these are purebred cats. I don’t think that they are pedigree cats. I think that you are describing random bred, feral cats with tabby patterns. And you are right. The Egyptian Mau in Egypt has the same ancestors as the tabby cats in America. The point I’m trying to make is that there may well be some Egyptian Mau in these cats but they will be described as random bred tabby cats in my opinion. Egyptian Mau and Bengal cat are selectively bred by breeders. They have a pedigree which means that their parents, grandparents and great grandparents are all of the same breed. The cats you describe, we don’t know who their parents are and they are likely to be random bred cats. Thanks once again the commenting George.