Maine Coon is one of the largest breeds of domestic cats. These animals owe their dimensions to forest ancestors. The material of this article will help the reader to find the differences between ordinary pets and representatives of the breed of Maine Coon.
Features
External features of the Maine Coon can be lost during uncontrolled reproduction. Its genetic features have their own nuances. For example, they can be inherited by genotype and phenotype. The genotype determines the set of parental genes in which the kitten receives them from both parents. A phenotype is nothing but external signs that depend on a combination of genes.
These cats are friendly, docile, loyal, non-aggressive, although careful in their behavior. Purebred representatives of the breed have medium length wool. Kittens are born with different weights, however, regardless of this, the weight of the Maine Coon is always greater than the weight of the outbred specimen. Unlike ordinary cats, Maine Coons love water. They can splash around in it, bathe, pour out of the bowl, play with its streams, do something that an ordinary cat would hardly have agreed to.
As practice shows, these cats differ in their level of intelligence, which is why they can be taught various tricks. Other features of the breed include mobility. These cats are so active that they can envy ordinary pets. Despite the important appearance, they are happy to rush, play, sometimes entertaining themselves with the most ordinary objects.
These animals single out one owner, although they treat the rest of the household quite friendly. By nature, they are fearless, but very curious and constantly looking for what to do. They are very talkative and often purr with the fact that they do not make heart-rending and harsh sounds. The character of the representative of the breed completes the formation of three years.
An interesting feature of the breed is the fact that Maine Coon females are rarely the cause of household allergies, in contrast to sexually mature males.
What is different from the usual?
Maine Coon has a number of features that distinguish it from an ordinary relative. Appearance of this cat is more similar to wild animals. Their face remotely resembles the face of a panther, a look rather predatory and confident. This cat is solid, large, often with a rather stern look. At the same time, the eyes of a wild cat are slightly slanting, which is not the case of a pet: its eyes are round.
At first glance, it immediately seems that this is a cat on an enlarged scale. Despite the fact that females of Maine Coons are smaller than males, the length of a cat can reach about 1 meter. The average weight is 8-9 kg, castrati weigh up to 10-12 kg.
In comparison with the usual cat at the Maine Coon, an elongated muzzle, and its lower part is fed forward. The chin itself is located on a single line with the nose, it is quite powerful and well developed. Unlike domestic cats, Maine Coon resembles an athlete: individuals of this breed are characterized by a strong and even muscular physique. Their skeleton is large, their paws are more powerful, wider and longer.
Maine Coon boasts thick hair, and it is not just thick and thick, but very soft. This cat has a furry collar-jabot, covering not only the neck, but also the breast. Longer hair grows on the tail, hind legs and abdomen. In addition, it is present between the claws.
The position of the ears is also different: they are higher in the Maine Coon than in an ordinary cat. The ears themselves are wider, from the inside they have long tufts of wool, which are located horizontally to the floor. The key difference is a large cat can be called the presence of brushes on the ears, characteristic of the lynx.
Difficult to distinguish from the Maine Coon. This can be recognized by experts, considering the animal's face. They note that a pedigree Maine raccoon cat has a box that is shaped by vibrissa pillows and is geometrically flawless. In addition, they have a more distinct transition to the zygomatic part. The weight of the mestizo differs: as a rule, mature individuals do not exceed 7 kg in weight.
Differences with other breeds
From the Siberian cat, the Maine Coon differs in a fully formed breed, it is not heterogeneous. His legs and body are longer, his neck is longer. The Siberian cat has a deeper and wider chest. In addition, Siberians have a rounded back.
In Maine Coon, the muzzle is long, with a sharp wedge shape. His forehead is bulging, protruding cheekbones with a high landing. The chin of this breed is strong and developed, and the pillows with vibrissae settled on them are prominent. In the Maine raccoon cats the distance between the ears is less than that of the Siberians. They look almost vertically.
Cats differ in color. For example, purebred Maine individuals may not have the color of chocolate, lilac, fawn, cinnamon. In addition, this cat can not have acromelanic coloring. As for the care, in contrast to the Siberian cat, the Maine-Coon needs regular combing of thick and silky wool.
As for the Norwegian forest species, the differences here are in appearance. If the Maines head more tends to form a "box" or "rectangle", then the Norwegians have a wedge-shaped or triangular, narrowed at the bottom. The profile of the Norwegian cats is straight, they have a flatter forehead. In addition, skogkatts wool coarse and tough, albeit double.
You can see the difference in body length: the Norwegians, it is more compact in comparison with the Maine Coons.
According to the comments of the breeders, the Maine cats are friendlier, while the Norwegian forest pets may have an intolerable character.
How to distinguish pedigree kitten?
Usually, obvious differences can be noticed when Maine Coon is 3 months old. A purebred individual is born with a weight of 100-150 grams versus a normal kitten with parameters of 80-100 grams. Maine-Coon grows and develops faster, it is more active and earlier accustomed to the usual feed. In addition, his eyes open earlier.
The purebred kitten has brushes between the claws. If it is difficult to identify an individual, you can take a closer look at the tail: it is twice as long in a pedigree baby. His body is distinguished by a massive chest. Half-year representative of the cat family by weight is commensurate with the usual yard cat.
Kittens differ in head shape. In the case of the Maine Coon, it is more elongated, and the length is always greater than the width, while in classical pets it is usually wider. In addition, purebred Maine cats have a pedigree.
If not, this is a sure sign of out-of-breed or mixed breed.
You can find out about 10 interesting facts about Maine Coons by looking at the video below.
