The Australian Mist (formerly known as Spotted Mist) is a

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

cat The cat (''Felis catus''), also referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the ...

developed in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. It is a cross between the

Abyssinian cat The Abyssinian is a breed of cat with a distinctive "ticked" tabby coat, in which individual hairs are banded with different colours. They are also known simply as Abys. The first members of the breed to be exhibited in England were brought t ...

, the

Burmese cat The Burmese cat (, , or , or , meaning copper colour) is a cat breed, breed of domestic cat, originating in Myanmar, Burma, believed to have its roots near the Myanmar–Thailand border, Thai–Burma border and developed in the United Sta ...

, and the Australian

Tabby cat A tabby cat, or simply tabby, is any domestic cat (''Felis catus'') with a Cat_coat_genetics#Tabbies , coat pattern distinguished by an M-shaped marking on its forehead, stripes by its eyes and across its cheeks, along its back, around its leg ...

. The Australian Mist has a distinct and unique coat pattern hence the name.

History

This breed was developed in

in 1977 by Dr. Truda Straede with a gene-pool of approximately 30 foundation cats. Dr. Straede submitted a plan to the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales Cat Club (RASCC) for a breed with blue, brown, chocolate, and lilac colourings by using Burmese; and for a spotted tabby pattern by using the ticking gene of Abyssinian to go with a spotted tabby coat. The first generation of the breed was accepted into the RASCC experimental category in May 1980 and in April of 1986 the fourth generation was accepted as the 'Spotted Mist'. In June 1997 the marbled variety of the breed was accepted by the RASCC and Waratah State Cat Alliance. Due to the newly accepted marbled variety it was decided by the Co-ordinating Cat Council of Australia and the Australian Cat Fancy to rename the breed — in a unanimous decision the name 'Australian Mist' was chosen.

Breed recognition

On 1 January 1999 the breed received championship status with the New Zealand Cat Fancy. The breed was accepted for championship status by the

World Cat Federation The World Cat Federation (WCF) is an international association of cat clubs. It was founded in 1988 in the city of Rio de Janeiro, and continues to have a strong presence in Latin America, Western Europe, and in countries of the former USSR. It ...

in August 2004. The first Australian Mists were imported into the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 2007. The breed was given preliminary recognition by the

Governing Council of the Cat Fancy The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) is a cat registry, established in 1910 and the largest organisation that registers pedigree cats in the United Kingdom. It was formed from a small number of cat clubs which were registering cats a ...

in October 2011. It was accepted at championship status in

The International Cat Association The International Cat Association (TICA) is considered the world's largest genetic cat registry. Originally a North American organization, it now has a worldwide presence. The organization has a genetic registry for pedigreed and household pet ca ...

on 1 May 2014. It gained championship status with the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in February 2017. The breed is not yet recognised by the

Fédération Internationale Féline The (FIFé) (International Feline Federation) is a federation of Cat registry, cat registries. There are currently forty-two member organizations in forty countries. Membership spans Europe, South America, and Asia. FIFé is one of the nine me ...

Appearance

The Australian Mist is a medium-sized short-haired cat, with a round and medium-sized head, a broad nose, and large green eyes. Eye colour can range from chartreuse to aquamarine. Ears are moderately large with a rounded tip to them. The coat is short to medium in length and feels smooth and silky.

Coat

Coat patterns

The coat pattern has three aspects: the ground colour, which is paler than the pattern; the pattern; and the appearance of wearing a misted veil, caused by random ticking in solid colour areas. The legs and tail are ringed or barred, and the face and neck also have lines of colour. There are two types of coat patterns in the Australian Mist: the original spotted coat which has distinctive spots that are symmetrical and the marbled coat which has swirled patches and streaks on the coat. Both varieties should have the tabby M-shaped marking on the forehead and a ringed tail with a dark tip.

Coat colours

Australian Mists have a paler coat on the under-parts of the body which give it the distinctive mist appearance. Colour may not fully develop until the adult is at least two years old. Australian Mists do not have a solid colour as the agouti ground gives them their distinctive look but the base colours in the cat include blue, brown, caramel, chocolate, cinnamon (gold), fawn (peach), and lilac.

Distribution

Due to the novel status of the breed outside Australia most Australian Mist catteries are located in Australia; however, there are a few in the UK and USA. Breeding cats have also been sent to Norway.

Health

Conditions commonly screened for in breeding Australian Mist cats include

pyruvate kinase deficiency Pyruvate kinase deficiency is an inherited metabolic disorder of the enzyme pyruvate kinase which affects the survival of red blood cells. Both autosomal dominant and recessive inheritance have been observed with the disorder; classically, and mo ...

, feline hypokalaemic polymyopathy, neonatal isoerythrolysis, and

progressive retinal atrophy Progressive retinal atrophy (PRA) is a group of genetic diseases seen in certain breeds of dogs and, more rarely, cats. Similar to retinitis pigmentosa in humans, it is characterized by the bilateral degeneration of the retina, causing progressi ...

Gallery

File:Brown_and_gold_spotted_wikipedia.jpg, A brown and a gold spotted Australian Mist kitten File:Chocolate marbled wikipedia.jpg, A chocolate marbled Australian Mist File:Mature gold spot male wikipedia.jpg, A mature gold spotted male Australian Mist Lilac and Chocolate marbled mother and adult daughter in the UK

Lilac and Chocolate marbled mother and adult daughter in the UK

References

External links

Australian Mist Nintu Cattery (Dr Truda Straede's personal website)Australian Mist from Breed Founder's Nintu Cattery

Australian Mists International. TICA Australian Mist breeder alliance. Info, advice, kitten/stud/breeder list

Australian Mists in TICA (The International Cat Association)Australian Mist Cat Society

Cat Breeds with Pictures Directory: Australian MistUK - The Governing Council of the Cat Fancy
Abyssinian Experimental domestic {{Cat nav Cat breeds Cat breeds originating in Australia