Thread: Can somebody tell me if my kitten is a Maine Coon?

My goodness, isn't he a beauty. Certainly he has the tail and the face and the size of a MC. But in any case, aren't you lucky, he's gorgeous! And loves the camera...

Halcyon..I am interested to see your baby as if the grandmother is Yaheska Galadriel, then my boys are uncles to your baby. Yaheska Galadriel has the same daddy as my white boys, the wonderful Yaheska White Storm.

It is very difficult to say if your cat is a MC as I believe that MC's can have a different look in Europe and America(can of worms opened maybe), some being more extreme than others so it would depend on the lines bred with. Also , show lines tend to have a more extreme look. It also could be he is part MC. He certainly looks like there is some MC in there.
I have an 'older' type MC who has smaller ears with very little Lynx tips...it will be interesting to see how he matures, pretty baby

Sure looks like one, some of the white MC sometimes do not have as much bone and they do not have big tufts on the ears,


but could also be a Siberian? example of a stunning white Siberian attached.

Wow, he is a stunner! What's his name?
Also I think he has some clear MC characteristics. Ears are a bit smallish, but so are our Tatja's. Only his weight seems on the low side... our Monty, who is by no means an exceptionally large Coon, weighed about 4 kgs (8.8 pounds) at that age and had just been recovering from a bout of diarrhoea.

Anyway, welcome to the forum! Looking forward to see and hear more about your stunning Snowman.

Okay, I’ll try to pry the first worm out of the can.

Being on this forum as well as on a Dutch MC forum I did notice something. On here I see more pics of what the folks in Holland would call ‘the extreme type’. Longer muzzles higher cheekbones, bigger ears... like howlinbob’s Larry of FreyjaRomaine’s Wicca.

The pics on the Dutch forum often show rather more ‘sweet looking’ cats, with faces like our Tatja and El Monto. And when someone does post a pic of the other type, it often gets commented upon… with people saying how they’re not too keen on the ‘extreme’ features.

That was my two cents’…
BTW, I am something of an ‘extremist’ when it comes to MCs. Just looove that look.

Originally Posted by Antonia

The pics on the Dutch forum often show rather more ‘sweet looking’ cats, with faces like our Tatja and El Monto. And when someone does post a pic of the other type, it often gets commented upon… with people saying how they’re not too keen on the ‘extreme’ features.

Of course 'sweet looking' is a matter of opinion, but I'm not quite sure what is meant. Perhaps less wild looking? I'm curious about this because I think it interesting that there might be a difference between American MCs and European MCs. There are some differences in American versus European & UK appearance between certain dog breeds that have gone so far as to be classified as separate breeds. I wonder if something like that might happen with MCs.

I think I understand what Antonia's referring to, but don't know the best way to illustrate the difference.

I know two breeders and both explained to me that there are generally two preferences in the MC show world - one is the 'extreme' look which is apparently very close to the original look of the MC and is quite feral (big puffy muzzles and long ear tips are two of the features I recall them mentioning). They believed the extreme look faired better at TICA and FiFe shows than at GCCF. Both breeders I know aim for the more extreme look and so most of their kittens are quite feral looking.

The other preference is for something less extreme - i.e. less feral (what I think Antonia's referring to as sweet); the wild/feral look is not going to be to everyone's tastes and the two breeders felt that less extreme MC's had better success at GCCF.

I don't think for one second this means that an extreme MC can't also be sweet-looking, or sweet-natured; just less feral or wild looking.

My Freyja is apparently fairly 'extreme' in looks, and it's a look that I personally love. Without any 'wild cat' markings, she can still look quite lion-like and I believe it's because of her muzzle. Wicca's muzzle has become more pronounced as she's got older but I don't think she's as extreme as Freyja (her black colouring might be deceiving though!).

Karen & candes, thanks for your further explanations.
I once came across a web page where there was mention of a ‘sweet’ look as opposed to a ‘feral’ look in MCs… pity I can’t find that page anymore.

I tend to agree with candes that the feral look is not what MCs are supposed to have looked like originally. It’s just a look that caught on with breeders/fanciers.

Attached is a pic of Minnie’s and Tatja’s faces. I think there’s a clear difference. Beside the bigger ears Minnie also has more angular features, whereas Tatja’s face is altogether softer (or what I call sweeter).

Antonia, I really appreciate the side-by-side picture! Being new, references to different people's cats doesn't help much and I haven't figured out how to track down pictures of specific MCs. (Is there an easy way?) Many thanks.