Australian Mist

The Australian Mist (formerly known as the Spotted Mist) is a breed of cat. This breed was developed in Australia in the late 1970s, hence its name. The breed was developed by crossing the Burmese, Abyssinian, and Domestic shorthair cats to create a shorthaired cat with a spotted coat. The name was changed from 'Spotted Mist' to 'Australian Mist' in 1998 when cats with marbled coats, rather than spots, were accepted as part of the breed.

Australian Mists are medium-sized shorthaired cats, with a round head and large, expressive eyes. The coat patterns have three levels of definition; (1) ground colour, paler than pattern; (2) pattern, delicate though distinct from ground colour; (3) appears to wear a misted veil, caused by random ticking in the solid colour areas. The legs and tail are ringed or barred, and the face and neck also have delicate lines of colour. Australian Mist cats come in seven colours: brown, blue, chocolate, lilac, caramel, gold and peach.

As a relatively new breed, all Australian Mist catteries are in Australia, however desexed cats have been introduced to America and several other countries. The breed is now accepted for Championship status by the World Cat Federation. The Australian Mist will celebrate 20 years as an accepted Championship breed in Australia during 2006.