Talk About Egyptian Maus 

Scratches his tree, not the couch

Benji, my Mau, is now 5. I've had him since he was 3 months old. He doesn't like being picked up, but will sleep cuddled next to you.

He loves playing and makes an ideal apartment cat, I was advised to get a large cat tree before he arrived and he went straight to it; he has never scratched furniture or carpets. They are always around you and like attention. Benji loves being brushed and a pleasure to have; I love him to bits.

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A cat who rings the bell to go out

Our Skittle is probably not a purebred, which is likely why she was found, with her siblings, behind an office building. She was so hungry, she was eating canned food before she was due to be weaned. We got her at about 3 weeks old. I bottle-fed her for a few weeks and she was quite vocal when hungry!

We are a three-adult home and she has made her own relationship with each of us. She will stand up against the male in the house with her paws stretched out as wide as they can get, as if she were hugging him. With his wife, she demands that she share any lunchmeat and lays between her and her computer keyboard for hours. She often follows me from room to room as if guarding me and lies next to me on my blanket.

Our Skittle is the most intelligent cat I've met to date, and I've had about 10 cats over the years. She watched TV as a kitten. She figured out how to get us to let her out on HER schedule. We used to ring the bell that hung on the front door each morning, to let the cats know they could go outside. She watched that for a while, then began ringing the bell for us to let her out. Only problem is, she'll decide she wants out at say, two in the morning and, since we have coyotes nearby, we don't let them be outside after dark.

She also puts her face up for air kisses. She has such clear and intelligent eyes, even though hers are amber instead of gooseberry green. Her fur is E-Mau, including the flap of extra skin.

When she was a kitten, we called her the Million Miles an Hour Cat! Her one foible is that she likes to have her back watched while she eats, probably due to her early days of hunger. She's fine if the cats are all eating, but when she comes by for a snack, she wants a guard. And she will stop midsnack to come rub against you in thanks, then go back to eat some more. She already was a bit feral and originally spurned petting. She still dislikes grooming; you get a few swipes in with comb or brush, then she's had enough..

I know the suggestion was to have them as a single cat, but when we brought in a kitten, she shaped up and stopped being such a 'wildebeest.' She took the kitten under her wing, so to speak, and began acting more mature. Also, she can be very stubborn. I've had to herd her out of a room before and she growls and grumbles the whole way. She is truly a guard cat, if a stranger shows up, she growls at them until she's sure they don't mean us any harm. In my experience, an E-Mau is a very loyal pet and will give you lots of love and laughs.