As we celebrate our One Year Blogoversary, we’re also celebrating the terrific tabby cat and the Pawesome Cats family who are all tabbies.
The History of the Tabby Cat
The birth of the domestic tabby cat is believed to have started thousands of years ago when Egyptian striped cats were smuggled to Greece and Rome. As the Roman Empire grew into Europe they took the Egyptian cats with them as pest control. Of course, their cats came into contact with European wild cats, and the kittens of these two types were born as tabbies.
Different Types of Tabby Cat
Did you know there are four main types of tabby cat?
- Mackerel Tabby – A mackerel tabby cat has vertical, usually non-broken, stripes that come out from the stripe that runs down the middle of the cat’s back like a fishbone, hence the name mackerel.
- Classic Tabby – Also known as ‘blotched’ or ‘marbled’ tabbies, a classic tabby coat has circular swirls, usually with a ‘bullseye’ design on the cat’s sides.
- Spotted Tabby – Spotted tabbies have similar markings to either the mackerel tabby or the classic tabby, but instead of having strong lines on their coast they have spots.
- Ticked Tabby – Ticked tabby cats will have the tabby markings on their faces, but at first glance you might not spot any tabby markings on their bodies. That’s because ticked tabbies usually have agouti hairs, which have variable colours along the length of the hair. But look closely, and you’ll probably be able to see the tell-tale stripes or swirls.
Image: Sebastian Tauchmann via Flickr
The Mystery of the Tabby “M”
One thing that all tabby cats have in common is a marking on their foreheads that looks like the letter M. Charlie and Max think the “M” on their foreheads stands for ‘magnificent’. Of course, there are a number of legends about the reason for the M; which one do you prefer?
Image: Tilly Mint via Flickr
- Mau – In Ancient Egypt cats were called by the name Mau, probably because of the sound they made, so could it be that the M stands for Mau?
- Mary – Another legend tells of the baby Jesus being warmed by a tabby cat in the manger, because the other animals there were too big to snuggle up to him. As a sign of her gratitude, Mary gave her initial as the mark on the cat’s forehead.
- Mohammed – Keeping with the religious theme, there are a number of well-known stories about the Prophet Mohammed’s love of cats. For instance, his cat Muezza was once said to be sleeping on the sleeve of his robe, and rather than disturb his cat when he had to go to prayer, Mohammed cut off the sleeve. Many believe that that M on a tabby’s head stands for Mohammed, protector of cats.
- Mother – A more recent story of how tabby cats came to have an M on their forehead comes from writer and animal welfare advocate Jim Willis, in his story ‘Beloved of Bast’. The story tells of a cat named Mother who is visited by Bast, beloved cat of sun goddess Ra, who decrees that all tabby cats should have the letter M on their forehead to commemorate Mother’s kindness.
Do you have a tabby cat in your life? Which legend do you think best explains the origin of the “M” on their foreheads?
Very interesting! I will be looking at Tabby Cats differently now! Thanks for sharing!!! 🙂
-Spencer the Goldendoodle
spencerthegoldendoodle.com
First off, HAPPY ONE YEAR BLOGIVERSARY!! I can’t believe it’s only been one year for your wonderful blog, you’ve made great strides in just a year. What an interesting post! I like that you have a religious theme going on, it shows just how incredibly important cats were to our ancestors! Great photos on today’s post, what a beautiful kitty.
Love & Biscuits,
Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them
Interesting! Happy BLOGOVERSARY. Congrats for completing a wonderful journey of one year. love reading your posts and looking forward for more stuffs in the years to come.
Happy One Year Blogoversary!! Thanks for the information on Tabby’s – very interesting.
Mom is a TABBY lover ALLLL the way! Happy, Happy ONE YEAR blogoversary!
Hearty conCATulations on your blogoversary! We are so glad you are here, and so proud to be your friends.
We love tabbies. Moosey is a tabby. He has the M on his head, but only a few patches of tabby markings on his body. 🙂
ConCATS on your one-year blogoversary!!! Very cool. We enjoyed reading about the tabby cats two. Three of us are tabbies!
Tabbies rock! Happy Blogoversary gang!
Concatulations ! Happy Blogoversary ! Angel Loupi was a Tabby ! Purrs
HAPPY BLOGOVERSARY! may your next year be as successful, your readers grow and your friendships strengthen.
Harvey, Miranda and Silver
Wow nine of us, heaps of tabby types and we didn’t even know!! Thank you for a lovely post!
Harvey, Miranda and Silver.
I love tabbies! Both of my kitties are tabby cats. Manna has a classic pattern while Cinco has the mackerel pattern.
Congratulations to the entire tabby family on your one year blogoversary. Thanks for clearing up the meaning of the name Tabby. I always thought it referred to a mixed breed cat.
Happy One Year Blogoversary! My cat Chessie is a rescue and she could be the sister of Charlie – they look a lot alike!
Happy Blogoversary! See? We knew we were all special (says to mom who knows we are special, very special indeed). Purrs….
I didn’t know there were that many kinds of tabbies. One of my cats is a tortoiseshell tabby or a torby.
We had only heard about the “Mau” for the “M” on the tabby forehead. We do like that one best. Happy 1st Blogoversary. That’s always a great milestone. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
Happy Happy Blogversary. Sugar’s BFF cat tis a Tabby cat 🙂 Golden Woofs
First – Happy First Blogoversary!!!! We hope you have many many more. We always love reading your posts.
Carmine and Milita are both tabby kitties. Jewel was, too. I love the Mary legend 🙂 So sweet.
Me and Zoey are tabbies…both with Ms on our heads.
Congrats on your blogoversary…here’s to many more years!
That is very interesting. My Miss Gitty was a classic tabby and was wonderful. Congratulations on your blogiversary! Woo Hoo!!
Technically, we Somalis (and Abyssinian kitties too) are ticked tabbies, because we have the Tabby M on our foreheads! But we aren’t allowed to have any stripes or pattens in our agouti fur – that is considered a “flaw.” Although have you ever heard of a cat with a flaw? Ha!
Thanks for the info. Great article!
Athena is a tabby and I always joke with her that the M on her forehead stands for Marie (or Mum).
Purrs xx
Athena and Marie
We have two gray tabbies – our senior Maine Coon boy, Koneko, and my adult DSH girl, Moko. They both have the “M” on their foreheads. I’d have to say that Koneko is a “Ticked Tabby”, especially with his longer fur. His body stripes aren’t as obvious, but his facial markings are definitely Tabby. Moko is a “Mackerel Tabby” with the distinctive line down her back. It’s wider and less pronounced on her back, but very obvious on her tail. Oh, and both are very affectionate. Moko has to be the friendliest and most affectionate cat we’ve ever had.
My daughter’s cat/kitten (he just turned one) is orange and white, but the orange parts have Tabby stripes. A Calico we had a number of years ago was white, orange, and gray Tabby striped. She was a quiet little thing – she had been found literally hours at most from starving and was nursed back to health by the rescue we adopted her from.
As far as the legends, I prefer the first as I’m a huge lover of anything and everything Ancient Egypt.