Maine Coon or Cross Breed??

[Chester]

Hi all

Thanks for your replies. I've uploaded some pictures of her so see what you think. The first one is when she quite young approx 4 months, the second when she was 7 months and the last is a very recent one of her. Hope they load up ok!

The vet thinks she's just under a year old now. Hard to believe someone would abandon her but her owner didn't come forward so we decided to adopt her. She was checked for a microchip when we found her and also tried to trace her owner in the local area. She's been fully vaccinated now and has a microchip.

In appearance she has an angular head, pointy ears, a large white ruff around her neck and she has very furry tufts inside her ears which curl outside. Long fur all over in tortoiseshell and white colouring. A long busy tail - although not as large as some of the pictures we have studied of Maine Coons! We thought she was just clumsy but she has very large paws and has extremely furry feet, between the pads so she slips on our wooden flooring When we had snow this year she slept outside in it which we thought was odd too....until we realised how furry her feet were.

Since she's been in the house we've noticed some things which got us thinking about her breed. When she is playing she makes a strange sound which is like a bleat or chirp. She doesn't have a normal meow either it's more of a squeaking noise as though she is talking. When we throw a ball to her she catches it with both paws and also picks things up almost like a dog would retrieve a toy. She walks around with random objects in her mouth and likes to steal things to chew - particularly tubes of lip balm!

She also likes to nip us on the nose and chin - not in a vicious way though! Considering she has lived in the shed and garden for her early days she doesn't actually like going outside much. We have a cat enclosure joined to the house so she has free access to the garden but seems to be happier inside with us. Our other cats are far more independent compared to her and she follows us around everywhere we go...unless she is asleep.

We'd like to know if she is a even a cross breed to make sure we do the best for her and to be able to understand her behaviour more.