Why do some cats have an "M" on their foreheads?

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It occurs in all "Tabby cats", however, this is a coat pattern and therefore not a cat breed. In fact, the tabby pattern is found in all domestic cats and therefore also in pedigree cats. The most noticeable mark on a tabby cat is an "M" on the forehead. Why tabbies have an "M" is unknown, but there are some interesting legends about how they got this unique marker. Even if your cat isn't considered a tabby, there's often a weak "M" to be seen — but you may have to squeeze very hard to see it. The origin of the word tabby first referred to a kind of silk taffeta made in an area in Baghdad called Al-Attabiya. The fabric had a beautiful irregular wavy finish and is named after the area of origin, 'attābī. Medieval Latin took the name of the silk as "attabi" before being translated into French as "tabis". The word for this unique silk was eventually changed to English in the early 1600s as "tabby", but it was almost 200 years later before the word was used to describe cats with coat patterns that resembled the silk fabric.

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There are several tabby coat patterns, but these are the 4 main ones:

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• Mackerel (Striped): Tabby cats with this coat pattern usually have non-broken vertical stripes that run out of a stripe in the middle of the back that resembles a fish bone, hence the name mackerel.

• Classic: This pattern, also called blotched or marble, has circular swirls on a cat's side, usually with a bullseye design.

• Spotted: A spotted tabby has coat pattern marks that resemble the mackerel or classic, but with spots in their coat pattern rather than stripes.

• Ticked (Agouti): Tapped tabby cats have noticeable tabby marks on their face, but tabby marks on their bodies are harder to find because this coat pattern usually consists of agouti hair — different color bands along the length of the individual hairs.

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Legends of the "M" on a Tabby cat:
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• A sign from Mary: After baby Jesus was born, he was placed in a basket with hay. Unfortunately, the hay did not give enough heat and he began to shiver from the cold. Mary wrapped blankets around him, but this still did not give enough warmth. Maria was beside herself and asked all the animals in the barn to get closer to the basket to help warm her child with their body heat. This still did not provide enough heat. Mary cradled her child as he continued to cry and shiver. It seemed that nothing could calm her baby. A small tabby cat had watched from a distance and knew exactly what to do to calm the child down. The cat climbed into the basket, crawled next to Jesus to warm him up, and began to purr. The cat's lullaby calmed the baby who stopped crying and quickly fell asleep. Mary was filled with gratitude and caressed the cat's forehead, leaving the sign of her own initial on the cat's forehead forever reminding humanity that a tabby cat had comforted baby Jesus.

• Mohammed and Muezza: A story of the Islamic religion tells the story of Muhammad and his tabby cat named Muezza. One day the cat had fallen asleep on one of its sleeves. When the call to prayer came, Muhammad did not want to disturb Muezza, so he cut the sleeve away to avoid waking up his precious cat. On another occasion, unknowingly, a snake had slipped into one of the sleeves of his robe. Muezza saw what was happening and killed the snake before he could harm Muhammad, saving Muhammad's life. The Prophet was so grateful to his cat that he caressed her back to allow cats to land on their feet and put his hand on her head to mark an M. From that moment on, every born tabby cat had an "M" on the forehead to remind the world of Muhammad's love for cats and to always respect our feline friends.

• Sign of the Moon: In ancient Egypt, cats were called Mau, probably because of the sound of their meow. The translation of the word Mau is seeing or light. Cat's eyes reflect light, and at night their eyes seemed so luminous that the Egyptians associate cat eyes with the moon. According to legend, the "M" on the tabby's forehead is a sign of that relationship. The Egyptian Mau is the original naturally spotted tabby and a direct descendant of ancient Egyptian cats. Of course, anyone who has owned a tabby cat would say that the M stands for Master of the Universe or perhaps, Masterful Ruler to remind us of our place as a staff.

• Mother: A more recent story about how tabby cats got an M on their foreheads comes from writer and animal welfare lawyer Jim Willis, in his story 'Beloved of Bast'. The story tells of a cat named Mother who is visited by Bast, beloved cat of sun goddess Ra. Ra decides that all tabby cats should have the letter M on their foreheads to commemorate mother's kindness.

 

Whether the legends have any kind of truth, I don't know, but I do like the stories behind them.