The Chausie is a domestic breed of cat that was developed by breeding a few individuals from the non-domestic species Jungle Cat (Felis chaus) to a far greater number of domestic cats (Felis silvestris catus). Because Chausies are mostly descended from domestic cats, by about the fourth generation they are fully fertile and completely domestic in temperament.
Chausies are bred to be medium to large in size. Adult Chausie males typically weigh 11 to 16 pounds. Adult females are usually 8 to 13 pounds. Because Chausies are built for running and jumping, they are long-bodied and leggy with medium boning. The torso is deep-chested with flat sides. The ears are broad, tall, and set high on the head, about two fingers apart. The cheekbones are striking—prominent, long, and angular—and the eyes are flattened on top and form a half oval below.
The breed standard allows three colors: solid black, black grizzled tabby, and black (a.k.a. brown) ticked tabby. Chausies are still sometimes born in a variety of other colors and patterns. Gold or yellow eye color is preferred, though yellower and lighter shades of green are allowed.
Solid black Chausies may have faint tabby markings (called ghost markings) as kittens, but usually acquire a dense, even black pigmentation with maturity. Sometimes black grizzled tabby Chausies will appear indistinguishable from solid black Chausies when the amount of grizzling is minimal. Exposure to strong sunlight, as with most black cats, can cause black Chausies to lighten slightly and appear brownish.
Black grizzled tabbies are unique to the Chausie breed. The grizzled pattern comes from the jungle cat; it is never found in domestic cats unless they have F. chaus ancestors. The kittens are often born completely black, although occasionally they may have a bit of light colored fur on the chin or neck at birth. As the kittens get older, they begin to look more and more like tabbies. However, they are tabbies with black on black markings. That is, the background color is a sort of dark brownish black, and the markings, such as the mid-line stripe on the spine, are pure black. In addition, alternating bands of off-white appear on individual hairs in the background color. The grizzling will often extend up the sides from belly to almost the spine.
Black ticked tabby Chausies have black ticking, black stripes on the inside of the upper legs and to a lesser extent on the outside, black rings on the tail, a black tail tip, and black tabby markings around the eyes. They are also known as brown ticked tabbies because, although the markings are black, the background color is brownish. The background color can vary in hue across a large range. Background color may be reddish gold, it may be a light golden brown, warm beige, cold beige, and even a very cool light gray with just a hint of brown in it. The latter is a very wild looking background color.