Family breeds Egyptian Mau cats

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005

by Kathryn J. Hudson

Staff Writer

Click here to enlarge this photo

Allison Pasek⁄The Gazette

Joshua Giles (right) coaxes one of the six-week old Egyptian Mau kittens onto his twin brother Jacob's head with a toy as the boys play Nov. 8 with the cats in their Maryland City home.

The fur is flying in Maryland City.

Shadow, a smoke-colored Egyptian Mau cat, is not happy that Star, a fellow Mau, has taken up residence at her window, causing her to hightail it to the kitchen to escape. Their owner, Debra Giles, laughs at their antics.

As the owner of the Giles Emaus Cattery, she oversees anywhere from five to 15 cats at any given time in her home and she wouldn’t have it any other way.

The former government worker for 22 years and mother of twins Jacob and Joshua, 9, said raising kittens, especially Egyptian Mau cats, have brought her a great deal of joy.

The cats, a special breed that entered the United States in the mid-1950s, are sweet, spotted and super-agile running up to 32 mph. Giles said most of the cats in the United States are descended from the original line imported by exiled Russian Princess Nathalie Troubetskoy.

Starting a career as a cat breeder was not easy for Giles. She said she and her husband, both animal lovers, were attracted to the cats because of their fascinating history, beautiful spots and sleek, athletic bodies. They also found them to have lots of charm.

‘‘They have the best personalities,” Giles said.

Her cats are also show cats, though Giles said she doesn’t usually go farther than Pennsylvania or Virginia. ‘‘It takes a lot of money to show them,” she said.

A breeding pair can cost anywhere from $3,000 to $4,000, depending on the cat’s line of birth, Giles said.

The biggest challenge to getting her business off the ground was other breeders. She had a mentor for a while, but had a bit of a falling out with her over the sharing of the cats’ bloodlines.

‘‘A lot of breeders are very cliquish,” she said. ‘‘They make it so hard to get started.” It extends to their willingness to sell cats to other breeders.

When Giles tried to purchase a female bronze-colored Egyptian Mau a few months ago to mate with her male bronze-colored cat, she found herself making lots of unreturned phone calls. She is still searching for one.

In the meantime, her cattery is far from lonely.

Visitors to the Giles Emaus Cattery are greeted by Shadow, Star, Egyptian Sky or Silver Belle—the female contingency—or by the two males Beretta or Egyptian Sunset. Or, if they are lucky and the timing is right, one of the kittens.

Simba, a silver kitten Giles is caring for until his new family picks him up, immediately purrs at the sight of an approaching hand. He gently curls up to most humans, cuddling and purring or playfully swatting at a toy.

The cats are all well socialized with Giles' family, and Molly, their mixed-breed dog.

Giles said this is important and prides herself on the affectionate nature of her felines.

While Giles has a waiting list for her ‘‘babies” as she calls them, she isn’t getting rich from her business.

She recently retired one of her breeding female cats because of two bad cases of mastitis, or an inflammation of the breast tissue, that plagued the cat. ‘‘I just couldn’t put her through it anymore,” Giles said. ‘‘A lot of breeders told me just to keep her on antibiotics.”

The average cost of a kitten from Giles Emaus Cattery is $700. The cost of feeding, veterinary bills and other expenditures can quickly eat up profits. Giles is in it for the love of the cats, she said, not for money.

When someone finally gets a cat from her cattery, it is only after a long screening process, usually beginning online at her Web site www.gilesemaus.com. Giles asks a lot of questions because what she fears most is someone taking a cat for all the wrong reasons.

She will quickly turn down anyone with plans to declaw the cats, a practice of which she does not approve. Giles also vetoes any adoption to anyone who is buying the cat for a young child because she feels the cats run the risk of being neglected and winding up in shelters.

The best reason to adopt one of her cats, or any pet, said Giles is simple: Love.

‘‘Life is so much richer to me with animals,” Giles said.

E-mail Kathryn Hudson at khudson@gazette.net.