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How to choose the Maine Coon kitten?

If you want a kitten of Maine Coon breed, it’s more correct to formulate the question from the title: «How to make sure that you have really Maine Coon, and not just a representative of a kindred breed»? At least, buy a kitten in a specialized club or from breeders who will provide documents for the kitten. That is, beforehand, before the sale, the club will perform an activation procedure — an expert evaluation for compliance to the breed’s standard — and receive a document indicating the class of the breed.

What are the breed classes?

There are three classes of breed:

  • 🐱 SHOW class;
  • 🐱 BREED class;
  • 🐱 PET class.

This directly determines the price of the kitten. The show class is, so to speak, the standard of the breed. Breed is a physically healthy individual for breeding. Pat-class is not intended for breeding, but corresponding to almost all traits of the individual.

Show and breed are sold in the area of thousands of dollars, pit-class – in 3 – 4 times cheaper (as agreed). The last of the litter of a 5 – 6 month old pet often comes with a big discount.

Why show and the breed class are quoted at a fair price? The fact is that some kittens «gain» all the signs of the breed only to 12 months. Therefore, when buying a three-month kitten in the documents in case of doubt indicate: «breed, with show potential.»

To re-qualify such a Maine Coon, you must take part in the exhibition at one-year-old age. And if the cat has found benchmarks, it will be taken to the show class, issuing the relevant documents.

Как выбрать котенка мейн-куна

At what age should better take the kitten?

You can buy a Maine Coon kitten from the age of three months:

  • 🐾 Firstly, only by this time there are clear signs of the breed.
  • 🐾 Secondly, up to three months the cat needs a mother-cat, and it is not yet able to eat completely independently.
  • 🐾 Thirdly, the process of adaptation of the kitten to the surrounding world is going on — teaching to the toilet, order, cleanliness and so on.

And, finally, up to three months you need to do basic vaccinations. It is desirable to organize the process under the supervision of an experienced breeder, and even to a kitten, extra stress from changing places at a small age is useless.

By the way, an experienced breeder will never offer you a kitten younger than 12 weeks, almost three months. Suggestions like «take a small one» usually indicate an attempt to deceive and sell not Maine Coon, but just a kitten similar to it.

7 signs of belonging to Maine Coon breed

There are several visual signs of the breed, and they form at Maine Coons just in time to the three-month age:

  1. ✔ The elongated trunk is rectangular in shape.
  2. ✔ The tail is equal to the length of the trunk, that is, reaching up to the shoulder blades.
  3. ✔ Compact massive paws.
  4. ✔ Square neb like a «box» in the full face.
  5. ✔ Specific «hall» (not a straight transition) between the forehead and nose in the profile.
  6. ✔ The chin and nose form a right angle in the profile.
  7. ✔ Standing closely located ears, can be with brushes.

Concern brushes it is necessary to dispel widespread belief, as if brushes are an attribute of Maine Coon breed. This is not necessary and depends on the specific of breed line to which the individual belongs. Brushes it’s very beautiful, so this sign is very popular. By the way, if the brushes did not appear for three months, then they will not grow any more.

More detailed information about the breed standards can be found on the sites of specialized felinological organizations. In different felinological systems, like CFA, FIFe, WCF, GCCF, TICA, CFF, etc, they are slightly different. But in general, the above characteristics for a correct definition of belonging to the breed is sufficient.

For those who interested, we will clarify that in Ukraine the first three systems from the list are more represented. In total there are more than a dozen of them all over the world.

Выбираем котят мейн-кун

What weight should be the kitten?

A three-month kitten should weigh at least one and a half kilograms. It is possible more, but not less — this is a sign of a stunding. In general, a healthy minimum weight of Maine Coon up to 8 months is calculated by the formula:

1 month life x 0.5 kg = minimum weight

There are also more accurate weight gain tables for weeks, but this is for the breeders. You, as a buyer, enough this formula. Moreover, as you have already found out, no one will give you a very tiny kitten.

Up to 6 – 8 months, female and male cats develop at almost the same pace. Then growth slows down and finally the individual is formed by one and a half to two years. On average, the adult male Maine Coon cat weighs 8.5 – 10 kg, the female cat weighs to
6 – 8 kg. Castrated cats usually weigh more than those bred for breeding, and reach 11 – 13 kg.

By the way, another myth about Maine Coon is the abnormal weight of 20 – 27 kilograms, which the cat supposedly has to reach. There are individual specimens of enormous length and heavy weight, but this is not a sign of the breed. By analogy with
people — there are exist very tall people, more than two meters tall and weighing 120 kilograms, but that does not mean that this is the norm for everyone.

And one more myth about some one and a half meter cats that look likes tigers: do not expect that your Maine Coon will grow to such size. On average, an adult Maine Coon is about a meter in length, taking into account a tail 33 – 37 centimeters, and the height at the withers is 32 – 34 centimeters, rarely more.

In general, this is everything you need to know about Maine Coons to choose a kitten. In other words, to select a Maine Coon kitten, and not another similar breed. So get and enjoy life with the kitten.

By the way, Maine Coons are very cheerful, mobile and at the same time not too annoying cats, not tired to share their positives with their owners.

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