Photo: Heikki Siltala / catza.net
Identify
How to identify a Maine Coon kitten
People ask how to identify a Maine Coon kitten. I look at the ears, the body, the tail, and the paws. A photo can lie. The parents are the rest of the answer.
What I look at
Tufted ears, a long body, a bushy tail, and big paws. That is the look I am breeding.
A fluffy photo is not identification. Pictures make them look bigger than they are.
Meeting the parents is the part a listing photo cannot do.
I do not send registration papers. There are none from me. Identification is the cat in front of you, and the adults behind it.
Jennifer, Unfur-gettable owner
Ears
Tufts on the ears are one of the first things I point at.
A kitten without obvious tufts yet can still be a Maine Coon. The coat is still coming in.
The body
A long body, not a cobby one. You see it better in person than in a square photo.
If someone will only meet you in a parking lot and will not show the parents, that is not how I work. I meet at my house or at the Atlanta airport.
The tail
A bushy tail. That is part of the look I keep.
The tail fills in as they grow. A 12-week photo is not the adult tail.
The paws
Big paws. They look oversized on a kitten, and then the cat grows into them.
Paw size is not a health certificate. It is one of the things I look at, along with the parents.
The parents
Seeing the parents matters more than a checklist. I DNA test every adult I breed.
Partner kittens are labeled as partner kittens. I do not hide that, and they carry the same five-year guarantee.
Color is not identification
A black kitten and a red kitten can both be mine. Color does not prove the breed, and it does not change my price.
If you want the colors I actually see, that is on Maine Coon colors. This page is about the cat, not the shade.
What a paper will not do
I do not use a registry paper as identification. I use the cat, the parents, and the health records that go home with them. Care is on Maine Coon cat care.
Health records go home with the kitten. You register the microchip. That is the paperwork I actually send.
Papers
I do not have CFA or TICA papers to send.
I say that before you pay a deposit. If a listing is selling you papers I do not have, it is not my listing.
Keep reading
How big do Maine Coons get: size, and why a kitten photo looks bigger than the kitten.
Maine Coon cat care: brushing, ears, and nails.
Are they hypoallergenic: they shed, and I will not call them low-allergen.
Maine Coon personality: they follow, they supervise, and some of mine trill.