08-04-2025
Heirs of Egyptian Pharaohs' Cats Are Living Among Us: Is Your Cat Descended From Royalty?
Archaeologists and historians have known for decades that ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, but recent research has proven that the Pharaohs had an even more significant impact on the species than previously thought. In fact, the descendants of the Pharaohs' cats are likely living among us today, making the Egyptians the world's first cat breeders.
To celebrate its new line of premium SHEBA SELECTIONS Filets, the SHEBA cat food brand is looking for a premium cat to worship like the ancient Egyptians. On April 3, the University of Missouri's Feline Genetics & Comparative Medicine Lab and feline researcher Dr. Leslie Lyons officially began the search for the next royal cat.
Famous cat dad Nathan the Cat Lady hosts the search for the Egyptian cats' descendants, but cat parents can also use SHEBA's new 'Pharaoh Cat Finder tool' to explore their pets' similarities to the ancients. Best of all, your cat can get their paws on a free sample from SHEBA, too!
Could your cat be a descendant of the Pharaoh's cats?
This is going to be a fascinating endeavor, but for Dr. Leslie Lyons, this is only the next step in her already extensive research. Dr. Lyons and her team were the first scientists to sample DNA from mummified cats, and they did so with three main goals in mind:
Successfully extracting DNA from a mummified cat
Discovering whether ancient cats and contemporary cats shared any DNA sequences in common
Learning where in the world cats with 'Pharaoh's blood' are located
For this research, Dr. Lyons and her team studied two bones from the Brooklyn Museum and a jawbone from the Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. In a sterile laboratory, they used a process called Polymerase Chain Reaction to separate and identify specific regions of the DNA called mitotypes."In genetics," explains Dr. Lyons, "'mitotypes' represent a group of mitochondrial DNA variations that are inherited together from only the mother." In other words, any royal cats found through this campaign will all be related to the Pharaohs' cats through their mother's genes, not their father's.
Once Dr. Lyons' team extracted the DNA sequence they were looking for, they began the painstaking task of comparing it to the DNA sequence of modern-day cats.
"The mitotype of Pharaoh cats is very rare and easy to distinguish from the mitotypes of other modern-day cats that are descendants from other historical populations," Dr. Lyons said, "so once we were able to identify the DNA sequences, we were then able to compare with samples of cats living amongst us today and find matches."
What they found is that the DNA sequence shared by Pharaoh's cats is still around today! While the DNA sequence, or mitotype, isn't found only in a specific cat breed, it has been found in two specific locations around the world: Egypt and the United States. That means that your average feral cat could actually be a Pharaoh cat!
Meanwhile, Nathan's search for the royal descendant continued!
After comparing ancient cat DNA and modern cat DNA, Dr. Lyons is teaming up with SHEBA and Nathan the Cat Dad to help find the next royal cat. Nathan will be meeting cats from across the country to find the feline with the highest DNA match to the Pharaoh cats. If one is found, and perhaps even crowned, they'll receive a lifetime supply of SHEBA cat food so that they can eat like royalty for the rest of their days.
Although cat parents can't submit their fur babies to be a part of the video series, they can use the AI-powered Pharaoh Cat Finder tool to see how much their cats have in common with the ancient Egyptian felines. Remember, this fun tool is based on physical features, not DNA, so it's just an estimation!
To meet a few of the cats who may be contenders for the royal title, take a peek at part 3 of the video series.
By submitting your cat's photo to the campaign, you can receive a free sample of SHEBA SELECTIONS Filets regardless of your kitty's results. But if your cat has a high percentage in common with the Pharaoh's cats, it may be time to start treating them like the royalty they are!
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