Maine Coon Mix or Siberian Forest Cat Mix

[redvelvetone]

I adopted "Magnus" the other day from a cat rescue. His mom was a stray (supposedly a black Maine Coon mix). Magnus is six months old, weighs 6 lbs, 12 oz. and has yellow eyes. His coloring is a black smoke (the smoke coloring is more apparent around his neck mane / ruff and under his belly, though this is hard to see in the photos I have of him so far). I was told he's a Maine Coon mix but while looking at pictures on the internet I think he looks more like a Siberian mix because of his eye / ear / nose shape. he's super gentle and super sweet, though still a little shy around people so we are still socializing him.My husband and I are thrilled with him so far.

Not that it matters, and as a stray, he's obviously not a purebred, but I was just curious what an expert might think:

Some photos

 

[redvelvetone]

Here is a picture of his mom (mostly black with white accents) and his brother (grey-blue), if that helps. Unfortunatley, they had to be re-released outside (although someone is still feeding them) because they would not be socialized.

 

[StefanZ]

It is difficult to see anything on most of the pictures....  It is perhaps possible too help some by photoshopping?  I will try tomorrow, I do have Elements.

On one picture in your other thread he saw a little like a persian mix...

But it is no real point of talking about mix as we really dont know anything. At the very best we can talk about a look-alike.   

Im glad he is already OK with you. Many bough cats, even do need more than 24 hours to settle down. There are examples from them hiding and not eating anything even three days...

Congrats to your new furry friend!

ps.

I think you do have a little mix up in the breeds names:

they are three "cousin breeds" - they arent really related as they have different ancestry, but they are of the same type:

     Maine Coon    MCO           ancestry from USA

Norvegian  Forest Cat    NFC    ancestry from Norvegia and near parts of North-West Sweden

Sibirian cat                    SIB     ancestry from Russia

Of course, nowadays you can find them breed by breeders at other places too.

 

[redvelvetone]

Ok thanks clarifying that and for your comments. Again, it's not really a big deal what he is; we just want a lovable cat. My husband and i were interested in the MC breed though as we like the traits associated with them, but I am happy with any kind of lovable pet.. The only other cats I have had in the past were a tabby, a domestic shorthair, a Turkish Angora and another "moggie" that displayed a lot of Maine Coon traits and had some Maine Coon features so we think she was probably part Maine Coon. I know Magnus has the exact same fur texture as her and looks a lot like her in certain ways, though I think his eye shape is a little different.

 

[redvelvetone]

Also, if it helps, I took two short videos of Magnus



And there are more photos on the New Cat on the Block thread.

 

[northernglow]

Just wanted to correct the color, he's black, not a smoke. Smokes have pure silver("white") undercoat all over. This one is just a bit faded black. I won't be guessing on the possible breed mix though as I can't see any specific breed in him.

 

[redvelvetone]

Oh Ok. So even if he has  grey and white in the undercoat on his belly that is not Smoke?

He's just a patchy black then lol. I wasn't sure what to call it.

 

[redvelvetone]

I just found this picture online of a black maine coon cat and I think it looks just like him, even the coloring (Magnus has grey and white fur underneath, which I have not been able to photograph very well as of yet....

http://www.maine-coon-cat-nation.com/black-smoke-maine-coon.html

 

[greycat2]

Congrats and thanks for adopting Magnus. He is one handsome fellow.

I have one black smoke Persian cross (was also a stray) and one plain black DLH (not sure of his background since he was a stray.)

 

[redvelvetone]

wow, they are gorgeous! You are a lucky mommy.

 

[alleygirl]

He is beautiful, congrats

His coloring may turn out to be a lot like my Riley. As you can see from the picture below, Riley's fur is mostly grey on his ruff and underneath but he is still just black and not black smoke like the photo greycat2 posted above. He is also no particular breed but I think he's beautiful

 

[redvelvetone]

oh he sure is beautiful. he looks like he is wearing a Vest almost. very striking looking!

 

[redvelvetone]

More photos here: http://www.thecatsite.com/t/238805/magnus-my-new-adopted-cat

 

[resqchick]

He's really pretty!! At 6 months of age and 6 pounds and change, he's not really of the size that a Maine Coon kitten would be. I think he's probably a DLH, or a persian mix, both being average sized kitties. 

Congrats on him, he's gorgeous!!

 

[redvelvetone]

Got it. he's probably just a moggie but that's OK

(Though he could be smaller just because he was feral before we adopted him. He sure is gulping his food down now! I gave him a can of BB wet this morning and he ate the whole thing in a few minutes and then was licking the sides of the plate looking for more. lol).

 

[StefanZ]

Now I did looked a little more after doing some Elements. Mainly more "intensive", ie lighter...So it is possible to see the features a little better. But I dont get much wiser by this... If it is important for you to compare him with something, perhaps Sibirian. The beauty is there, whatever it is called.

 

[redvelvetone]

Thanks StefanZ. I know he's hard to photograph because he's so dark (he's also hard to see when he's sitting in the shadow of something lol. I've missed him a few times even looking right at him because he blended in to the corner). I've only had a couple of opportunities to photograph him so far. When he's less skittish I'm sure I'll get more photos and in better lighting conditions so I don't have to use a flash.

Thanks again.

 

[northernglow]

I just found this picture online of a black maine coon cat and I think it looks just like him, even the coloring (Magnus has grey and white fur underneath, which I have not been able to photograph very well as of yet....

http://www.maine-coon-cat-nation.com/black-smoke-maine-coon.html

The cat in the link doesn't look like a smoke either, just washed out black. The under coat is pure white on black smokes, not gray or brown. The undercoat needs to be silver(white) all over the body, not just under the belly or collar. Here's a pic of a black smoke Maine Coon kitten, so you can compare: http://catza.net/fi/view/code/MCO_ns/154094/  Or here is a gallery with smoke Coons: http://catza.net/en/browse/code/MCO_ns/154094/  One of the parents has to be silver to produce smoke (or other silver) kittens.

And here is a black smoke Scottish Fold (looking angry in my old kitchen ) to show a shorthair comparison:



Same foldie nursing her silver kittens, so you can see the belly side (bad quality pic though but shows the undercoat well enough)

 

[nekochan]

Siberians and Norwegian Forest Cats are a lot more rare so it is quite unlikely for him to be a mix of one of these. Maine Coons are more common so that is more likely, but it is most likely your cat is just a domestic longhair who happens to share some features with the Maine Coon. Nothing that I can see from those pics of him and his mom/brother really screams "Maine Coon mix" although he does have some things in common.
The thing about Maine Coons is they are a "natural" breed meaning there were cats that resembled Maine Coons in New England and people saw these naturally bred cats and decided to make a breed out of them. So there are many cats which look somewhat like Maine Coons without actually being a purebred Maine Coon and there are also cats in New England now called "native Maine Coons" which are not actually purebred Maine Coons but are basically the type of cat the breed was developed from.

This is my purebred black Maine Coon, Roxy (she's also polydactyl):

these photos were when she was still a kitten-





This is more recent, when she was 3 years old (she's 4 now)--

Maine Coons can keep growing till they are 3-5 years old.

 

[redvelvetone]

thanks for the clarifications and explanations. Your cats are beautiful