A calm indoor cat from Australia, with spots or marbling in warm colours under a soft haze.
The Australian Mist is a breed made in Australia. Dr Truda Straede started it in 1977: she wanted a calm, loving cat that is happy to live indoors. Its spots or marbling seem to fade under a soft haze, the mist in its name. It loves people, is gentle with children and is perfectly happy to stay inside.
Very friendly: it wants to be near you and loves attention.
Fans say it often climbs onto a lap, even without being asked.
Playful and curious, especially as a kitten, and happy to join a game.
Lively as a kitten, a good deal calmer as an adult.
Usually quiet; it is not known as a chatterbox.
Clever, and some even learn to walk on a lead.
Usually friendly and relaxed, also when visitors come.
Patient with children and does not mind being picked up.
Gets on well with a dog that is calm around cats.
Usually settles in easily with other cats.
It does not like whole days alone. It wants people around, or another cat.
The breed was made to be an indoor cat, and it is happy that way.
The Australian Mist is a wild cat or a street cat from Australia.
No. It was bred on purpose, from 1977, from about 30 cats: Burmese, Abyssinians and ordinary tabby house cats.
This cat always has spots.
No. There are two patterns: spotted and marbled. Marbled cats were accepted in 1997, and a year later the name changed from Spotted Mist to Australian Mist.
The 'mist' is a silvery grey colour.
No, it is not a colour but a soft haze over the pattern. The colours themselves are warm: brown, gold, blue and lilac. Silver is not part of the breed.
The haze over the coat has two causes. From the Burmese the breed got the sepia gene, which makes the colours softer and warmer. And between the spots are hairs with light and dark bands. Together they blur the pattern a little, as if you were looking through mist.
In Australia, Dr Truda Straede starts the breed with Burmese, Abyssinians and tabby house cats.
The first spotted Mist is born in Australia.
The breed gains full recognition in Australia and may compete for championship.
Besides spotted, the marbled pattern is now accepted too.
The Spotted Mist gets a new name: Australian Mist.
The World Cat Federation (WCF) recognises the breed with championship status.
The first Australian Mists arrive in Britain.
Britain's GCCF gives the breed preliminary recognition.
America's TICA gives the breed championship status.
The GCCF gives the breed championship status.
Germany gets its first Australian Mists: a female from Britain and a male from America.
A medium-sized, solid cat with no extremes. Pick it up and it is heavier than it looks. Only at about two years old is it fully grown, with its full colour and green eyes.
Cat registries write colours as an EMS code. The letter is the colour (n black, a blue, d red, f tortie), s means silver or smoke, y golden, and the numbers tell you about white (01–09), shading (11, 12), the tabby pattern (22–25) or colourpoint (33).
Brown spotted(n 24 31)
Blue spotted(a 24 31)
Lilac spotted(c 24 31)
Gold (cinnamon) spotted(o 24 31)
Brown marbled(n 22 31)
Chocolate marbled(b 22 31)Caramel is an extra-diluted colour. Australia's ACF and Britain's GCCF list it, but not every description of the breed counts it.
There are only spotted and marbled cats in warm colours. Red, cream, tortie, silver, smoke, solid, other tabby patterns, points and white are not part of the breed. Even white toes cost a cat its award with TICA and Australia's ACF. Breeders call a solid kitten a Ghost Mist.
The breed began in 1977, and by 1986 the first cats were already champions in Australia.
The whole breed comes from the roughly 30 cats it started with.
Until 1998 the breed was called the Spotted Mist. Once marbled cats joined, that name no longer fitted.
Now and then a kitten is born with no pattern at all, solid dark all over. Breeders call such a cat a Ghost Mist.
Only around its second birthday does it get its full colour and green eyes; pale kittens look almost faded at first.
No study has measured it. Britain's GCCF says about 15 to 18 years, and other sources say much the same.
The red blood cells lack something they need for energy, so they break down too early and the cat can become anaemic. It is rare in this breed: testing found one carrier.
How it is found: DNA test. In Britain every breeding cat must be tested.
The retina slowly wears out, so the cat goes blind over time. It comes from the Abyssinian and is only a risk when an Abyssinian is bred in. A cat is only affected if both parents pass on the gene.
How it is found: DNA test of the parents, and of any Abyssinian that is bred in.
Not an illness, but it matters. Both blood types A and B occur in this breed. If a mother has type B and her kittens type A, the kittens can become seriously ill from her first milk.
How it is found: Blood typing of both parents before mating.
The Burmese can carry a few serious inherited diseases, such as a head defect in kittens, the nerve disease GM2 and muscle weakness from too little potassium. They are only a risk when a Burmese is bred in. Australian Mists that were tested showed no sign of the muscle weakness.
How it is found: DNA tests: every Burmese must test clear before it is bred in.
Very little work: its short, glossy coat only needs a brush now and then.
As a kitten it is lively and curious; later it calms down. Still play together every day, especially if it lives indoors only.
It loves its food and easily gets plump. Give measured portions and do not let it overeat.
Nothing suggests this breed causes fewer allergies than other cats. If you are allergic, spend some time with one first.
The breed was made to live indoors, and it is fine with that. It does want company, though: someone often at home, or another cat.
Checked on 22 October 2026
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