Chausie Cats…

The Chausie is a hybrid cat, originating from the wild or ‘jungle’ cats thought to have been favoured by the Ancient Egyptians, crossed (accidentally!) with domestic cats on the banks of the Nile. The resulting cat, known as the Chausie, is like both its ancestors in appearance, size and shape, and temperament. The jungle cat was held in high regard by the Egyptians, who often had these beautiful cats mummified with them when they were buried in tombs. Thanks to the efforts of enthusiasts and breeders, the Chausie, named after Felis chaus (meaning ‘jungle cat’) was granted championship status in 2013, though it is still slightly controversial, due to the ethical arguments around hybridising domestic cats with what are essentially wild cats to create a new breed.

Luke tells us “I rescued her in August 2020 from a small cat fosterer. The fosterer told me she was a Chausie as I was surprised at how beautiful she was when I saw her in person – and yes, I was expecting a moggy. She had been fostered along with two of her sisters. We think she was the runt of the litter as she was much smaller than them and they used to try and bully her out of her food – she since hates other cats.

She’d been used as a breeding female so she had a hard start to life. They estimated that she was three years old when I adopted her and had had one litter of kittens. Given this we estimate that she is about 7 years old now. I actually think she may be a bit younger as she has grown quite a bit since I got her but that could just be her filling out after recovering from muscle wastage from living in a cage for the first few years of her life. She is still very small for a Chausie I’m told (purebred Chausies are a medium to large cat, a bit smaller than a Maine Coon and larger than a Siamese, typically weighing 5.5 kg to 7.2 kg and with a lifespan of up to 18 years).

Despite her tough start to life she is super affectionate (characteristic of the breed) and loves people! I call her my velcro cat as she is constantly attached to me if I am in the house – sometimes it can be a little overbearing!