Chausies: From Ancient Egypt, A 21st Century Breed Like No Other.

The Chausie, pronounced "chow-see," is a fully domestic breed that strongly resembles the Jungle Cat, Felis chaus. The Chausie, is a medium to large size feline that is tall and long-bodied, with a rectangular torso, deep chest, and flat sides. The head is relatively long, with a full muzzle and deep chin. This gives the Chausie a cougarish look. At the same time, the ears are erect and large; they are both tall and wide, placed far enough apart to just corner the top of the head. The ears sometimes have tufts on the tips. The Chausie comes in three color-pattern combinations: brown ticked tabby, solid black, and black grizzled tabby.

The grizzled tabby pattern came originally from Felis chaus and is unique to the Chausie breed. No other domestic breed of cat occurs in that pattern. Imagine a tabby with a very dark background to its black markings. It's so dark you almost can't see the markings because they are all nearly the same shade of black. Then imagine a sprinkling of white bands scattered randomly across the coat. It's a bit like the Milky Way on the coat of a black cat, but with hints of tabby pattern visible here and there. The tips of the hairs are black. The white occurs only as bands in the middle of the black hairs. That's the grizzled pattern.

The Chausie is even more striking in motion. The Jungle Cat, which the Chausie closely resembles, is built for hunting, running, and jumping. The Chausie is all slinkiness and loose-limbed, lanky grace.

Common personality traits in the breed are their activity level, they are thieves, they are loyal and bond tightly to their person - they can learn to open doors and cupboards and love to get into things – they are thought of as the "supervisor" as they want to be in the middle of whatever is going on, they are curious and intelligent. They need stimulation and interaction....they are not a breed that does well by themselves if a person is gone all day.