Spots on skin?

According to Wikipedia, Egyptian Maus have spots on their skin that apparently can be seen when the cat is shaved. A few questions:

1) Is this true?
2) Is this only Egyptian Maus, or all spotted cats?
3) Will this still show up on a black cat if it has ghost spots?

(Reason why I'm asking: I'm starting to wonder if Bunny is a black E Mau. I knew she has ghost spots, but it only recently occurred to me that she could be a black mau. While I assumed she's a DSH, she's a stunning cat as far as body shape. The more other people comment on it, the more I wonder. She seems to fit the descriptions I've read. There's a breeder nearby and I'm wondering now...)

There is a way to find it out

Spots is just a form of the spotted tabby pattern (one of 4 kinds). Most tabbies will have spots or stripes on the skin. The exception is the Ocicats. Their spots are on the surface - not on the skin

Bagheera's tummy was shaved for her spay operation. She had spots.

Please don't shave your cat!! There are much easier solutions to this. Take some pictures for me, I am confident I could tell you if her body/head fit the Mau standard. Be warned, though, it is not likely that a breeder would let a black Mau go easily. Most breeders I've talked to would love to have one. I know of one breeder that let classic (non-spotted) Mau go and her daughters still talk about that cat with so much regret.

lol No, I have no intention of shaving her. More of a curiosity. I considered trying to see if I could tell the difference in skin color, but hard to tell.

I can try and take pictures of her. I still don't have a good one. She's either running, or she's sleeping! Her eyes are beautiful, and I've been trying for weeks to get a good picture of them. The problem is as soon as she's calm enough to stop running, she's so happy to be getting attention that she's doing squinty-eyes and smiling. Very cute, but so annoying for pictures!

She was found as an unspayed stray at 6 months old and spent 8 months at a local shelter. I assume a breeder would have been checking every shelter for a missing cat, but who knows. I'll see what pictures I can get.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

The exception is the Ocicats. Their spots are on the surface - not on the skin

Click to expand...

I disagree, I got Ana 2-3 days after her flank was shaved for desexing, she had spots on her skin.

really? On Charlie - all his spots are on the surface. Check your boys and let me know if the others have surface spots or not.

Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45

Spots is just a form of the spotted tabby pattern (one of 4 kinds). Most tabbies will have spots or stripes on the skin. The exception is the Ocicats. Their spots are on the surface - not on the skin

Click to expand...

When Sadie was shaved for her spay her bare belly had spots on her skin. (Her vet commented, "I guess that's why she's named Lotsospots Sadie.") But, I'd be interested in knowing if that's just the case for the females.

Watch out Charlie and Demetri, your moms may want to shave your bellies to test the theory.

Not talking about the tummy - on Charlies back and sides - they are on the surface. I don't see the spotting to the base of the coat; their pattern is near the top.

Will have to take a better look at him. But I thought I read that the spots on Oci's are not on the skin.

Nikita is a bengal and she's got spots on her skin on her sides (saw those when she was shaved for a side-spay when she was spayed) however looking through her fur the spots don't reach all the way down. I.e the hair is ticked so it has the light and dark bands even in the spot hairs. So I don't really see the spotting at the base of the coat even though I know the skin is spotted.

I know bengal breeders are deliberately trying to breed for as little ticking as possible so they want the spot hairs to be dark all the way through rather than pale at the base but I think that's still a goal rather than reality atleast in the bengals I've seen. You have spotted tabby sphynxes which have spotted skin. I would surprised if Ocis were different from all the other tabbies (spotted or otherwise) that have marked skin.

Ok maybe I was wrong