I think my cat may be mixed...Maine Coon/Norwegian Forrest Cat?

[Blank.starr]

I agree! Thank you. I know that he is not 100% purebred Maine Coon paper certified, obviously. I was just wondering others opinions on him because he is a lot different than any other longhaired cat that I’ve had.

He is a beautiful cat, nevertheless. I understand wanting to know the possibilities. He's probably got a big personality to match.

 

[allied]

He is a beautiful cat, nevertheless. I understand wanting to know the possibilities. He's probably got a big personality to match.

He does! And yep, that was not directly towards you— just my thoughts towards others comments about “papers” and mixed breeds

 

[Jemima Lucca]

Personally I think so too! Are you going to get DNA testing done? Let me know cuz if you do I’m going to try it. I’m dying to know if Lucca and Jemima have mc or nfc in them. Especially Lucca cuz he’s huge already and I can’t seem to keep him full. I’ve always called him my lunch bucket lol . Can I stop giving him kitten food? Or weight management?

 

[allied]

Personally I think so too! Are you going to get DNA testing done? Let me know cuz if you do I’m going to try it. I’m dying to know if Lucca and Jemima have mc or nfc in them. Especially Lucca cuz he’s huge already and I can’t seem to keep him full. I’ve always called him my lunch bucket lol . Can I stop giving him kitten food? Or weight management?

I am not sure yet!! And yes my boy eats wayyy too much already

 

[Blank.starr]

Personally I think so too! Are you going to get DNA testing done? Let me know cuz if you do I’m going to try it. I’m dying to know if Lucca and Jemima have mc or nfc in them. Especially Lucca cuz he’s huge already and I can’t seem to keep him full. I’ve always called him my lunch bucket lol . Can I stop giving him kitten food? Or weight management?

I wish! My little girl can't sit sit long enough to eat most of the day. I plop her in front of her food dish and sometimes she'll eat like she just forgot it was there and others, she'll get distracted and dart away. She's more curious of everything than any cat I have ever met.

 

[sivyaleah]

Noone said you get a new breed. Just that you get a mix of two breeds. It's still a mixed breed cat, just not everyone cares enough to have their cat tested and registered. You don't say a human is no race of human just because they have more than one.
All pedigreed cats are randomly bred cats somewhere down the line in their blood as well. It's just less "diluted" than most. A mut is always going to be a mut, they just have blood from many different classifications, right? We still love them.

Yes we love them regardless, of course.And if it makes you happy to tell people he's part Maine Coon, by all means do.

But, please do understand members here saying your cat (or others) are not a specific breed don't say this to be contrary. It's established information that we pass on to inform those who are not aware of it. The majority of the cat population is still enormously muddled genetically because humans have not been breeding them selectively long enough to have them be as distinct to tell apart as the dog breeds, for instance. It's fairly easy to be able to tell what mix a dog is by appearance but this isn't true for cats because there still isn't enough diversity between them for the most part. Let alone there are not as many breeds of cats as dogs, and many of them are still quite rare and not available in the area where people swear their cat is a mix of.

As you say a mut is a mut - so be happy with that but now you know there are many attributes of specific breeds which will show up randomly in the cat population and looking like something is not the same as being something. And if it makes you happy to get your cat tested by all means have fun with that but be aware that those test don't prove anything and you won't be able to register your cat with that information either, even if it came back as 100% of something. Without papers, it's a moot point.

 

[jefferd18]

Yes we love them regardless, of course.And if it makes you happy to tell people he's part Maine Coon, by all means do.

But, please do understand members here saying your cat (or others) are not a specific breed don't say this to be contrary. It's established information that we pass on to inform those who are not aware of it. The majority of the cat population is still enormously muddled genetically because humans have not been breeding them selectively long enough to have them be as distinct to tell apart as the dog breeds, for instance. It's fairly easy to be able to tell what mix a dog is by appearance but this isn't true for cats because there still isn't enough diversity between them for the most part. Let alone there are not as many breeds of cats as dogs, and many of them are still quite rare and not available in the area where people swear their cat is a mix of.

As you say a mut is a mut - so be happy with that but now you know there are many attributes of specific breeds which will show up randomly in the cat population and looking like something is not the same as being something. And if it makes you happy to get your cat tested by all means have fun with that but be aware that those test don't prove anything and you won't be able to register your cat with that information either, even if it came back as 100% of something. Without papers, it's a moot point.

Cats, like any other animal, have to come from some breed. The cat in question has been identified by many members on this post as having Main Coon in him because of his features.

To say he is not a Main Coon mix would be like me saying this kitten does not have any Siamese in her:

Yes, obviously, she has some tabby in her and God knows what else, but she also has Siamese in her as well.

So papers or not, cats, except for purebreds, are mixtures of other breeds


That is what kills me, even when the OP presents the word mix, he/she is still subjected to "No, your cat can't possibly be........"

And it is not "moot" to the person who owns the cat.

 

[lutece]

Cats, like any other animal, have to come from some breed.

Animal breeds are different from animal species. Most animal species don't have "breeds" at all. Domestic animal breeds are created by humans through selective breeding.

Cats became domesticated about 8,000-10,000 years ago, but they weren't selectively bred by humans. For thousands of years, there were plenty of domestic cats, but no "breeds" of cats at all.

Selective breeding of cats only started around 150 years ago, and very few people participated in this hobby; most cat breeds are less than 100 years old, and only a small minority of cats descend from these cat breeds. Most cats still descend from generations upon generations of random-bred domestic cats.

I know it's confusing, because most other domestic animal species have been selectively bred by humans for thousands of years, but cats are different. People did not create cat breeds until quite recently.

 

[Blank.starr]

Yes we love them regardless, of course.And if it makes you happy to tell people he's part Maine Coon, by all means do.

But, please do understand members here saying your cat (or others) are not a specific breed don't say this to be contrary. It's established information that we pass on to inform those who are not aware of it. The majority of the cat population is still enormously muddled genetically because humans have not been breeding them selectively long enough to have them be as distinct to tell apart as the dog breeds, for instance. It's fairly easy to be able to tell what mix a dog is by appearance but this isn't true for cats because there still isn't enough diversity between them for the most part. Let alone there are not as many breeds of cats as dogs, and many of them are still quite rare and not available in the area where people swear their cat is a mix of.

As you say a mut is a mut - so be happy with that but now you know there are many attributes of specific breeds which will show up randomly in the cat population and looking like something is not the same as being something. And if it makes you happy to get your cat tested by all means have fun with that but be aware that those test don't prove anything and you won't be able to register your cat with that information either, even if it came back as 100% of something. Without papers, it's a moot point.

Pretty sure a cat needs to be 100% whatever in order to have it registered anyway, don't they? But as OP stated, they were only asking for thoughts, not for registration or any sort of thing.

 

[Blank.starr]

Cats, like any other animal, have to come from some breed. The cat in question has been identified by many members on this post as having Main Coon in him because of his features.

To say he is not a Main Coon mix would be like me saying this kitten does not have any Siamese in her:

Yes, obviously, she has some tabby in her and God knows what else, but she also has Siamese in her as well.

View attachment 319751

So papers or not, cats, except for purebreds, are mixtures of other breeds


That is what kills me, even when the OP presents the word mix, he/she is still subjected to "No, your cat can't possibly be........"

And it is not "moot" to the person who owns the cat.

I have tried to say this many other places although I think you word it better.
Although, "tabby" actually refers to a cat's coat pattern and has nothing to do with breed at all other than selectively few cat breeds (when purebred obviously) don't come in tabby patterns. So I mean, technically, you are not wrong. The cat in that picture is undoubtedly a tabby cat. It's just not its breed. lol
Kinda the same way that "DSH" is just a fancy way of saying it's randomly bred.

 

[AbbysMom]

Just a reminder that this forum on the Cat Site is more of a "fun" forum to talk about what breeds the cat looks like or what mix they could possibly be. TCS’s stance is that without papers a cat’s breed is a domestic longhair, domestic shorthair, etc.

You can find more here:

What Breed is My Cat?

 

[allied]

Cats, like any other animal, have to come from some breed. The cat in question has been identified by many members on this post as having Main Coon in him because of his features.

To say he is not a Main Coon mix would be like me saying this kitten does not have any Siamese in her:

Yes, obviously, she has some tabby in her and God knows what else, but she also has Siamese in her as well.

View attachment 319751

So papers or not, cats, except for purebreds, are mixtures of other breeds


That is what kills me, even when the OP presents the word mix, he/she is still subjected to "No, your cat can't possibly be........"

And it is not "moot" to the person who owns the cat.

Thank you for your input! I 100% agree. I said multiple times “thoughts” about him. Not to be lectured about constitutes a breed. I could care less if he has MC in him or not. Just was curious

 

[Jemima Lucca]

Cats, like any other animal, have to come from some breed. The cat in question has been identified by many members on this post as having Main Coon in him because of his features.

To say he is not a Main Coon mix would be like me saying this kitten does not have any Siamese in her:

Yes, obviously, she has some tabby in her and God knows what else, but she also has Siamese in her as well.

View attachment 319751

So papers or not, cats, except for purebreds, are mixtures of other breeds


That is what kills me, even when the OP presents the word mix, he/she is still subjected to "No, your cat can't possibly be........"

And it is not "moot" to the person who owns the cat.

I completely agree with you because things like genetic diseases and things like cardiomyopathy is more prevelant in certain breeds. With dogs, herding breeds and mixes can’t have certain medications because it’s fatal and/or dangerous. Cats too have things they’re predisposed to. Yes a mutt is a mutt but sometimes it’s important to know what’s in the mix. Also, certain breeds of cats have certain traits. We as humans are curious about what we’re about, so it seems important to know about our pets. I feel it’s dismissive to say, “ it’s no breed”...

 

[lutece]

I completely agree with you because things like genetic diseases and things like cardiomyopathy is more prevelant in certain breeds. With dogs, herding breeds and mixes can’t have certain medications because it’s fatal and/or dangerous. Cats too have things they’re predisposed to. Yes a mutt is a mutt but sometimes it’s important to know what’s in the mix. Also, certain breeds of cats have certain traits. We as humans are curious about what we’re about, so it seems important to know about our pets. I feel it’s dismissive to say, “ it’s no breed”...

It's true that genetic confitions are more prevalent in certain breeds than others, and that's one reason why it's important to understand the distinction between a cat that has specific breed ancestry, versus a random bred cat that isn't any specific breed. Random bred cats that happen to look like Maine Coons (for example), but which don't actually have MC breed ancestry, are not any more likely to inherit conditions common in the MC breed than any other random bred cat. Most MC "lookalikes" don't have MC breed ancestry.

Dogs are different, because nearly all dogs ARE mixes of breeds. Cats, for the most part, aren't mixes of breeds. But even with dogs, "lookalikes" can be very deceiving; a dog can look very much like a breed without actually having that breed in its ancestry.

 

[mightyboosh]

Did she eat a lot as a kitten?

He probably did but I got Oliver when he was ten yrs old so I can't really answer that. I know one thing though, it was love at first sight when I met him.

 

[jefferd18]

It's true that genetic confitions are more prevalent in certain breeds than others, and that's one reason why it's important to understand the distinction between a cat that has specific breed ancestry, versus a random bred cat that isn't any specific breed. Random bred cats that happen to look like Maine Coons (for example), but which don't actually have MC breed ancestry, are not any more likely to inherit conditions common in the MC breed than any other random bred cat. Most MC "lookalikes" don't have MC breed ancestry.

Dogs are different, because nearly all dogs ARE mixes of breeds. Cats, for the most part, aren't mixes of breeds. But even with dogs, "lookalikes" can be very deceiving; a dog can look very much like a breed without actually having that breed in its ancestry.

Except, according to multiple people who answered this thread, the OP's cat bears the markings and traits of a Main Coon Cat. Since I am not an expert on the breed I will not question their judgement.

Yes, all "lookalikes" can be deceiving, but it doesn't make any sense to assume that a cat doesn't hail from a particular breed just because it doesn't have papers.

Remember Jeff? She certainly didn't have any papers, but that didn't stop any of us from trying to guess her ancestry.

Anyway, the OP loves her cat and that is all that really matters. .