Aksum Abyssinians - Abyssinian cats - Atlanta, GA

ABOUT THE BREED

The Abyssinian is generally recognized as the oldest breed. Abys were companions for the Egyptian pharaohs. They were also prized for their mouse catching abilities. Grain was one of the most important Egyptian commodities and Abys were quite good at protecting it. In ancient Egypt if a person killed a cat even by accident, the penalty was death. Cats are still treated with respect and kept as companions in Cairo and other Egyptian cities, although street cats that look like Abys are now mostly found in northern India near and in Calcutta, because the wild ancestor of the Aby, the jungle cat (Felis chaus), is still found there.

Abyssinians have been bred as much for their friendly and affectionate nature as for their beauty and agility. As a breed, they are quite fearless and outgoing, coming to the door to greet strangers and going at once to investigate noises. They usually get along very well with other cats and with dogs and other animals.

Abys are always on the go! They are not lap cats although they will sit or sleep next to you when they are finished playing. Even though they are quite independent Abys always take time to say hello and purr and rub against you before going to investigate something else. They often love to play fetch and will bring you a favorite toy to throw for them over and over again. They are naturals in cat agility contests such as ICAT. They vary in nature from very active and involved to gentle and loving. They act like kittens all of their life, especially during play.

They are quiet cats, usually only trilling once in a while. Although they can and do meow like other cats when they are upset it is usually at a much lower volume. They are very people-oriented and want to be around you even when they are playing with each other. They will "help" you with whatever you happen to be doing, too! They are loyal friends who always seem to know when you need an extra snuggle or purrs.

Here are some videos of Abyssinians:

Learn about Abyssinian cats as pets - About.com Video

Ideal companion: Abyssinian - YouTube Video

Abyssinian kittens playing - YouTube Video

Adorable Aby Kittens - YouTube Video - Helmi Flick, cat photographer extraordinaire and her cat wrangler husband Ken, photograph some cute Abyssinian kittens. Before and during the photo shoot - video Photos by Helmi

Mango Madness - very cute and very Aby pictures of an adorable Abyssinian named Mango and some of his Aby friends from around the world

Note: Please respect the copyrights.

Aksum Abyssinians prizes this fearless, sweet nature and selects for it more than any other feature (after health, of course) as we choose the next generation of Abys.

Subscribe to Aksum Abyssinians FREE newsletter
Available kittens & cats, problem solving, Aby care, product reviews, etc.
Original articles - you can only get it here!
Email addresses will be kept strictly private!

ABY CARE

Regular care
Abys don't need much daily care. They shed about as much as any other cat. They enjoy being groomed, but it is not necessary to bathe or groom them every day or even every week or month. One reason for this is their resilient shorthair coat which stays neatly in place and is one of the breed standards. Like most cats, Abys cause normal allergic reactions in sensitive people.

Clip your Aby's claws front and back once every week or two. If you need help learning how, ask a groomer or your vet to teach you or do it for you. Only clip the clear part of the claw at the tip. This will reduce the scratches you receive and the damage they do to furniture. There are several more things you can do to reduce furniture damage from your Aby's claws, starting with providing several sisal rope scratching posts, at least one in each room, especially where they have scratched furniture.

Aby ears should be cleaned about once a month with a feline ear cleaning solution, preferably one with neem oil in it since this also naturally eliminates fungus and yeast infections. Hold the head still while squeezing a few drops into the ear canal. Massage the base of the ear from the outside. Let the cat shake their head, then wipe the ear clean.

Your Aby's teeth need to be examined once a year during the annual vet check and if necessary, their teeth should be cleaned. This usually costs $100-$200. You can avoid this if you clean your Aby's teeth daily with a paste from a pet store or even with regular baking soda. Like us, cats can have serious health issues if their teeth are not cleaned regularly. With good dental care, they can live two to three years longer. They can also die during dental surgery of complications from anesthesia as in any surgery, so be careful to balance these two aspects of your cat's life.

Vaccinations & Surgery
It is best to vaccinate your Aby at 16 months old after the kitten vaccinations, then once every three years with a modified live virus (MLV) vaccine, preferably Merial. Talk to your veterinarian about the best way to avoid over-vaccination and consider ELISA testing instead of vaccinating again, especially for an older cat that has had vaccines every year of their life.

If you get your kitten before they are 16 weeks old, please remember to give the last kitten vaccination when they reach 16 weeks old so the maternal antibodies won't interfere with the vaccine and the vaccination's protection will last until the 16 month old booster.

If the rabies vaccination is required, use the 1-year Merial Purevax ONLY. Abys are sensitive to vaccinations and indoor cats do not need Feline Leukemia vaccinations, which are not 100% guaranteed to work anyway.

Don't declaw your Aby, or any cat, for that matter. It's cruel and leaves them defenseless. Just look at what happened to Mushu, who is in constant pain now and has been abandoned to live his life as a homeless Aby in a shelter. Don't ever let your Aby outside as their curious and friendly nature will lead them inevitably to tragedy.

Tell your veterinarian before any surgery that Abys have been known to be sensitive to anesthetic and pre-anesthetic and to watch carefully for any reactions to these. There are usually antidotes they can give if there is a reaction. Gas can be used instead in most cases, spay or neuter for example. Regarding spay/neuter, your cat does NOT need to have a litter of kittens first! Please be a responsible pet owner and spay/neuter your kitten. Please don't contribute to the homeless pet population! There are many places nationwide that will spay/neuter your cat for a reduced cost. For example, here in Atlanta CatSnip and others charge $60 for a spay and $40 for a neuter.

Nutrition
We use and recommend feeding only fresh meat (raw or cooked lightly) and/or canned food without grains, but with vitamins and minerals, especially Vitamin A and taurine. Cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they require a high percent of meat protein in their diet to receive complete nutrition. We prefer Felidae, Evo by Innova Chicken & Turkey (it should NOT say "95%" on the can), and Evanger's Organic Turkey & Butternut Squash canned food. Our favorite dry foods are Taste of the Wild and Nature's Variety Instinct Rabbit Meal Formula which we buy at Pet Fancy in Roswell, Georgia and Red Bandanna and North Fulton Feed & Seed.

The preferred percentage of protein, fat and carbohydrates is similar to what the cat has eaten in the wild for thousands of years: mice. Mice have about 55% protein, 30% fat, and 2% carbohydrates in their bodies (dry weight analysis, after water is removed, since there can be varying amounts of water). Therefore we recommend looking at the ingredients list and buying dry cat food that has at least 40% protein, 20% fat, and less than 10% carbohydrates. For canned food, it should say at least 10% protein, 4% fat and less than 2% carbs. Exact percentages for canned food can be calculated using dry weight analysis. Here is some more information on the best, most nutritious diet for your cat.

A good probiotic mixed in their food every day like Only Natural Pet Probiotic or GNC Super Probiotic Complex (my current favorite) or GNC Ultra Probiotic Complex 25 Packets helps an Aby's immune system stay healthy (most of the immune system cells are in the intestine). It also helps treat IBD/IBS (Irritable Bowel) and is great for helping to repopulate the intestines with good bacteria after antibiotics. This is the same probiotics that we humans need and is also in live culture yogurt.

Since they were originally desert animals, like most cats Abyssinians naturally don't drink much water. The majority of their water comes from food. However, to encourage them to drink more, especially when they are fed mostly dry food, always keep a clean bowl of fresh water available for your cat. Metal or ceramic bowls are easier to keep clean than plastic ones. A constantly recycled water supply in a fountain is even better because it encourages your cat to drink because they are attracted to running water, and it also filters the water. You will still have to clean it regularly, however. We use a bleach solution when cleaning food and water bowls by hand, and regularly put them through the dishwasher.

The best natural cat litter we've found is World's Best Cat Litter, Extra Strength. Sprinkle baking soda liberally on the bottom of the litterbox, then pour 3-4" deep of the litter, then sprinkle some Earth Friendly Products Kitty Litter Treatment or more baking soda on top. If you want to save some money, Purina Layena corn chicken feed is very similar to World's Best Cat Litter and is $11-$15 per 50 lb bag from your local feed store. Use the baking soda the same way with the generic version.

Read the book "Your Cat: Simple New Secrets to a Longer, Stronger Life" by Elizabeth M. Hodgkins, D.V.M., Esq. It explains the basics of feline nutrition, which is VERY different from human or canine nutrition. Dr. Hodgkins also has a website describing how to feed your cat for a longer life.

Here is the ASPCA's simple guide to a poison safe home.

Here is the current pet food recall list by the FDA.

ABY COLORS

The four main Abyssinian colors recognized by TICA and other cat registration organizations are: ruddy (rich dark brown also known as usual or tawny), blue (the dilute of ruddy, a slate blue-gray), cinnamon (rich deep cinnamon-red also called sorrel or red), and fawn (the dilute of cinnamon, a pale tan).

Abyssinian Color Comparisons
Actual photos from each different color of Aby

New and unusual colors recently approved for Championship titles and points in TICA and GCCF are: chocolate (rich dark reddish-brown, called brown in genetic dna testing) and lilac (the dilute of chocolate, a pale cream with very light blue-gray or lavender shading). The silver versions of the six colors above are also recently approved by TICA for titles and points, for a total of 12 approved colors.

SEX-LINKED RED BREEDING PROGRAM

Aksum Abyssinians is following in Alexy Abyssinians' footsteps with our sex-linked red breeding program. Until recently, these new colors were only available in the UK and Europe, bringing the total Aby colors to 28! The new red colors are the torbies (ruddy, blue, chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, or fawn torbie females), red males and females, and cream males and females. Be one of the first to have an Aby with a rare new color!

These sex-linked red Abyssinians are TICA registered with the normal SBT registration numbers. Their kittens, or even their littermates, can be shown in TICA for Championship titles and Regional and International points, if they are one of the colors approved for Championship. They are pure Abyssinian just like any other TICA registered Abyssinian, except for their color. These colors have been bred in Europe and the U.K. since the mid-1980's, so they are not new. They are only somewhat new and rare here in the U.S

ABYSSINIAN COLOR GENETICS - USUAL

All Abys have ticked tabby coats, which means each hair has bands of different colors starting with a lighter color at the base, in a modified tabby pattern. The ticked tabby is a result of the Agouti gene (which forms the bands of color on each hair) and a mutated form of the common tabby gene (which is often referred to as the "Abyssinian tabby"). You can still see a small portion of the original tabby pattern in the classic "M" on the forehead of all Abyssinians as well as their white chin, which is also part of the tabby pattern.

Ticked Hairs of an Abyssinian

Ruddy, chocolate and cinnamon are "black" colors and are called "black" because the hair color of the cat changes to ruddy, chocolate or cinnamon based on the position of the black color gene on the black color allele. Without the modifying factors of the ticked tabby genes and the different positioning of the black color allele, the cat would be solid black in color. Cinnamon is recessive to chocolate, and chocolate is recessive to ruddy. (Also see http://www.messybeast.com/gene-loci.htm for how this works.)

Abyssinians as a modern breed started in England. Unfortunately, the original type and two nice attributes (ear tufts and dark hocks) of the Aby have been mostly lost in Abyssinians here in the U.S. We are working to get these nice ear tufts and dark hocks back into our lines while also keeping the moderate body type with the rounded contours of the modified wedge for the head. We do not prefer the more Oriental look that some top show Abys have, with a flattened head and very low big ears. To that end, we are choosing our breeding Abys carefully as well as importing from England.

ABYSSINIAN COLOR GENETICS - SEX-LINKED RED

Tortoiseshell or tortie colored Abys have a random mix of sex-linked red and "black" which is called "torbie" because it is short for tortoiseshell tabby.

You may have seen torties and calicos in domestic cats before, and noticed they are all female. The red gene is sex-linked (meaning that it is only on the X gene of the sex-linked alleles that determine the sex, male or female, of animals such as fruit flies, mice, cats and humans). This is a different gene placement than the black color gene and therefore coexists with the black gene (the cat has both colors).

The patchy look of the tortie is caused by one of the two female X genes being "turned off" (mostly) at random during embryonic development creating inactivated X chromosomes in each cell, called Barr bodies. If the sex-linked red X is the one turned off, the color of that hair is the "black" color. If the "black" colored X is turned off, the color of the hair becomes the dominant sex-linked red.

Since males only have one X gene (they are XY) and females have two (XX), only female Abys can be torbie with the sex-linked red color and the "black" color, one on each X gene. The very rare male exceptions to this are usually sterile and have three genes (XXY) instead of the usual XY for male.

If only one of the Aby parents is a sex-linked red color, all resulting sex-linked red females will be torbies, and will have the red color mixed with the underlying color (for example, ruddy torbie or chocolate torbie). None of the females will be full red or cream, although it is possible to have red or cream males. Some of the females may be only the "black" color (ruddy, chocolate, cinnamon) without the sex-linked red color, although it is sometimes impossible to tell whether they have the red gene or not, especially with the cinnamon torbie without a genetic test or by producing kittens that have the sex-linked red color (with a non-red male as the father).

It takes a red gene from both parents (one from each of the X genes) to produce a red or cream Aby female, which is why they are VERY rare! The red gene is dominant over the "black" colors so if both parents are red, all of the kittens will be red. On all sex-linked red cats the "black" colors still exist on the black allele and are a part of that cat's genetics. However, all of the hair will be changed to the sex-linked red color by the dominant red gene. (For example, Linc is red but he is also genetically chocolate.)

The Abyssinian ticked tabby genes are not affected by the red gene so as you can see from the Color Comparison photos in the table above, a red Aby looks very much like a cinnamon Aby with the modified tabby pattern and ticking/banding on each hair. Likewise, a fawn torbie looks very close to a fawn, and a cinnamon torbie looks like a cinnamon. One of the distinguishing features that looks most promising is to look at the underneath part of the tip of the tail for bands of white for the torbies or a much whiter color than usual for the reds and creams.

It is quite challenging and interesting to work with the red sex-linked genes! They are all wonderful Abys underneath these interesting and beautiful new colors, however, and except for the color they share the same characteristics in both conformation and personality. The breeder saying is: Build it, then paint it.

CONTACT US

If you would like to share your home with a beautiful active Abyssinian, please contact us to be placed on the waiting list.