Egyptian Mau Kittens: Adopt or Buy in Australia?

Should you adopt or buy an Egyptian Mau?

It depends on whether the papers matter. If you want a registered Egyptian Mau with known parents and DNA results, a council-registered breeder is the only route, and with this breed you should expect to make enquiries and wait; the CFA, a US registry, says there are not currently enough breeders to meet demand. If what you want is an active, sharp-eyed tabby, rescues list striped and spotted cats (numbers change daily), and the fee covers desexing, microchipping and vaccination.

The RSPCA Australia Knowledgebase encourages prospective owners to adopt from the RSPCA or another reputable animal welfare, rehoming or rescue organisation. If you buy from a breeder, it suggests at a minimum checking they are registered by the relevant authority in your state or territory, visiting the place where the animal was born, and meeting the parents, especially the mother.

Rescue fees read 12 November 2026 on the pages linked below. Reference only, not a quote: rescues set and change their own fees, so check with them.

Is the Egyptian Mau recognised in Australia?

Yes. The CCCA and the ACF each publish an Egyptian Mau standard, and ANCATS includes the breed in its breed profiles. Read on 12 November 2026:

Accounts of the history differ in detail. ANCATS gives 1957 and says the first Mau came from Egypt; TICA says Princess Nathalie Troubetskoy brought three Maus into the United States from Italy in 1956, and that TICA granted the breed recognition in 1979. The Cat Fanciers' Association also gives 1956 for the move to the United States, says it accepted the Egyptian Mau for registration in 1970 and for championship in 1977, and that spotted cats resembling the Mau appear in Egyptian art dating back as far as 1550 BC.

What the Australian standard asks for

• Pattern: random, distinct spots of any size or shape on the body, a forehead “M”, broken necklaces on the chest, a heavily banded tail with a dark tip, and dark “vest buttons” on the belly.
• Colours: silver, bronze and smoke only.
• Eyes: light green, “gooseberry green”; an amber cast is acceptable only in young adults up to 18 months. Blue eyes or a lack of spots rule a cat out of awards.
• Body: medium long and graceful, with a loose skin flap from flank to hind knee, and hind legs proportionately longer, giving the look of standing on tiptoe.

For how spotted patterns work in ordinary cats, see our tabby cat patterns guide.

What does an Egyptian Mau kitten cost in Australia?

We could not find a published price. No Australian cat council or club publishes an Egyptian Mau price, and Cats Victoria (GCCFV) says kitten pricing is up to individual breeders and will vary depending on the breed. In November 2026 we looked for Egyptian Mau catteries on council breeder lists and through search. The Cats Victoria, NSW CFA and GCCFSA breeder directories had no Egyptian Mau breeder listings, and the cattery websites we found were overseas. That is what we could check, not proof that no Australian breeder exists. We do not quote overseas prices or prices from listing sites or social media.

Reference figures only, not quotes. Rescues set and change their own fees, so check with them; RSPCA NSW says its animals are desexed, microchipped, vaccinated and health-checked before adoption. Fees in other states are in our guide to kittens for sale in Australia.

When you ask an Australian breeder, Cats Victoria suggests asking whether the kitten is desexed, how many vaccinations it has had, whether it is microchipped and whether there is a health guarantee.

Which health tests should an Egyptian Mau breeder show you?

The Australian Cat Federation's minimum testing list (October 2025) names the following for the Egyptian Mau:

Source: ACF DNA tests by breed (October 2025), read 12 November 2026. A test being on the list means breeders should screen for it, not that every line carries it. This is a buying checklist, not veterinary advice. The ACF also says AB blood group types should be monitored in all breeds.

UC Davis says PK deficiency causes an intermittent anaemia with a variable age of onset, with signs that can include severe lethargy, weakness, weight loss and jaundice. It is inherited as an autosomal recessive: a carrier is healthy, but two carriers bred together can produce affected kittens, so ask for both parents' results. The CFA also says urolithiasis, which causes stones in the kidneys and urinary tract, may occur in the breed, and that genetic testing is not yet available for every condition; ask whether stones have appeared in the kitten's lines.

What is an Egyptian Mau like to live with?

The Cat Fanciers' Association describes Maus as exceptionally intelligent and intensely devoted to their owners, lists the personality as athletic and active, and says they may be cautious or reserved with strangers. It recommends weekly combing to control shedding and says regular bathing is not needed unless you show your cat.

• Good fit: a home with time for daily play and climbing, and a household happy to let a cat warm up to visitors in its own time.
• Think twice: a busy, noisy home with lots of strangers, or no time for an active cat.
• Not a reason to choose one: allergies. ASCIA says all cat breeds can cause allergies; our hypoallergenic cats guide covers how to test a cat first.

Not sure what kind of cat suits you? Try the what cat breed am I quiz, and see our cost of owning a cat guide for the ongoing costs.

How do you check an Egyptian Mau breeder?

Rescue is not right for everyone. A registered breeder makes sense if you want a kitten with known parents and DNA results, or plan to show. If you go that way:

1. Registration. Ask which council the breeder belongs to: ANCATS, a member body of the Australian Cat Federation, or a member council of the CCCA. Check with that council directly.
2. Papers that say Egyptian Mau. Neither Australian standard allows an outcross, so a pedigree with another breed in it is not a Mau.
3. DNA results for both parents, including PK deficiency, with names or microchip numbers that match.
4. Heart screening and urinary history in the lines.
5. The mother, in person or on a live video call, before any deposit.
6. Age and paperwork. At least 10 weeks old (ANCATS recommends 12), vaccinated, microchipped and desexed or with desexing agreed in writing. Our kittens for sale guide has each state's rules for kitten ads.

What do Egyptian Mau scams look like?

Scamwatch says scammers set up fake websites, and fake social media and marketplace profiles, to get you to pay for popular breeds and pets that do not exist. Its advice: view the pet in person by visiting the breeder or seller, ask to see the pet on a video call with the breeder, verify the breeder is legitimate and accredited, and compare prices, because a very cheap pet is likely a scam. It also warns about being asked to pay by money order, pre-loaded card, or to several different PayIDs or accounts.

• A spotted kitten sold as a Mau without papers. Spotted tabbies turn up in ordinary litters.
• “Registered” with no council named, or a membership you cannot confirm with that council.
• A seller you can only reach by message who will not do a live video call with the kitten and its mother.
• Copied photos. Run a reverse image search on the kitten photos and search a sentence of the ad.

If you have already paid, contact your bank straight away and report it to Scamwatch.

Where to find a spotted or tabby cat to adopt

We do not have an Egyptian Mau breed page, so watch the tabby and kitten listings and set an alert. A spotted rescue cat is far more likely to be a Domestic Shorthair than a Mau, and the foster carer can tell you how active and confident it is, which matters more than the label.

Tabby cats in the big cities

• Tabby cats for adoption in Sydney
• Tabby cats for adoption in Melbourne
• Tabby cats for adoption in Brisbane
• Tabby cats for adoption in Perth
• Tabby cats for adoption in Adelaide
• Australia-wide: the tabby page, plus the Bengal and Abyssinian breed pages.

Kittens near you

Kittens in Sydney, Kittens in Melbourne, Kittens in Brisbane, Kittens in Perth, Kittens in Adelaide. Before you apply, the adoption readiness check takes a few minutes, and our guide to adopting a cat in Australia walks through the process.