So the shelter said he was Maine coon but

He (Loki) is most likely a mix with some Maine Coon what are the odds he won't end up weighing 20-25 pounds?


Surely he is a mix and would be a smaller than that full grown right?  Am I being naive or could he wind up being "normal" size?
 

Some shelters do have a horrible habit of listing cats as breeds when they are not.
Maine Coons were a naturally occurring breed, so you can find long hair domestics that can resemble the breed but they have no pedigree blood in them

missymotus said:

Some shelters do have a horrible habit of listing cats as breeds when they are not.
Maine Coons were a naturally occurring breed, so you can find long hair domestics that can resemble the breed but they have no pedigree blood in them

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So he may still be pretty small??  I mean we can deal if he is big but I would prefer he not be 20 or 25 big, you know?  I looked up Maine Coons and he does look a bit like one but those cats are humongous!!!

Unless he has papers proving he's of a certain breed then it's very unlikely he is one

Some domestic cats can get pretty big naturally, but 20-25 lbs is PROBABLY not likely unless he is obese

I'd expect more in the 11-15 lb range for a male - more the latter range if he's big boned and / or long.

FWIW I was told my cat was a Maine Coon mix by the rescue group I got him from. He is not, of course, just a domestic long hair. He's about 12 lbs now at 14 months.

Personally I really like big cats 

What age / weight is Loki now?

Cute little guy, whatever size he becomes

LokiandSmokey said:

missymotus said:

Some shelters do have a horrible habit of listing cats as breeds when they are not.

Maine Coons were a naturally occurring breed, so you can find long hair domestics that can resemble the breed but they have no pedigree blood in them

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So he may still be pretty small??  I mean we can deal if he is big but I would prefer he not be 20 or 25 big, you know?  I looked up Maine Coons and he does look a bit like one but those cats are humongous!!!

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Ah yeah, some shelters do tend to list any old longhair cat as a Maine Coon.

Chances are very small he's an actual Maine Coon unless you live in Maine. So he'll probably just be normal size. I consider my cats big boys on the domestic scale and they're just 14 lbs. apiece.

redvelvetone said:

Unless he has papers proving he's of a certain breed then it's very unlikely he is one

Some domestic cats can get pretty big naturally, but 20-25 lbs is PROBABLY not likely unless he is obese

I'd expect more in the 11-15 lb range for a male - more the latter range if he's big boned and / or long.

FWIW I was told my cat was a Maine Coon mix by the rescue group I got him from. He is not, of course, just a domestic long hair. He's about 12 lbs now at 14 months.

Personally I really like big cats 

What age / weight is Loki now?

Cute little guy, whatever size he becomes

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He is 5 months old but I have no clue what his weight is.  He has a vet appointment on the 11th so I will know then how much he weighs.

speakhandsforme said:

Ah yeah, some shelters do tend to list any old longhair cat as a Maine Coon.
Chances are very small he's an actual Maine Coon unless you live in Maine. So he'll probably just be normal size. I consider my cats big boys on the domestic scale and they're just 14 lbs. apiece.

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Ha! I live all the way in SC.  I think it is the bushy tail and the pointy ear hair that made them say Maine coon. I'll love him either way but I hope he is just a long haired kitty. I could deal with 14lbs better than 20lbs LOL

Loki is beautiful!  It's extremely unlikely  he is a pedigree Maine Coon, and unlikely he has any big amount of Maine  Coon ancestry .   And it is  very unlikely he will weigh 20+ pounds if you keep him at a healthy weight and don't stuff him full of  corn or something.  Most Maine Coons don't even weigh that much.  I think it's more common for MC males to be around  15-18 pounds, but people often guess them as weighing more,  and a minority of them do weigh in the 20s without being fat.    Check out the nutrition area of this forum for a lot of good tips about diet.  

Normal for most male cats is around 9-12 pounds.  A small number are more like 12-15 but over that is not that common unless a cat is overweight. and over 20 pounds is extremely uncommon for cats who are not obese.    But sometimes moggies ( cats of no particular breed) do turn out on the very small or very large ends of the spectrum . My aunt had a couple domestic longhairs who were huge!  I'm sure they did not have any pedigree Maine Coon in them. but they were just very big cats,  and not fat at all,  but they must have been around 20 pounds.  

 So you'll just have to wait and see ! 

BTW,  if I were going to pick out a breed I think he resembles ,  I would say that,  much more than a Maine Coon, he reminds me of a Norwegian Forest Cat.   I'm NOT saying he IS one ,  they are a lot less common than Maine Coons in North America ( and you're talking about 'pounds' as a weight so I'm guessing that is where you are)  and it would be nearly impossible to find a NFC kitten in a shelter..  . and there are not a bunch of NFCs running around America. breeding with domestics and making mixes.  

  But there are Domestic Longhairs who just happen  to develop the same kind of look,. similarly to how the ancestors of the NFCs just developed on their own.  ( and the same is true of  how cats can turn out to  look similar to Maine Coons. )   but at least from what i can see in those pictures , his face and eyes are much more the NFC type than a Maine Coon type. .  So I'd call him a Wegie Look-alike.  

  I'd also call him a VERY handsome young cat -- and lucky to be adopted to a loving home!

A lot of shelters will list any longhaired brown tabby as a Maine Coon or Maine Coon mix, and if they are on the larger side it's even more likely. Most of these cats probably have no Maine Coon in them at all.

Even if your cat was a purebred Maine Coon he probably would not end up weighing 20 or 25 pounds, that is the extreme upper range of size for intact male Maine Coons and not an average size for non-overweight cats.
 

I'm relieved to hear it.  Oh and yes I am in North America in South Carolina so lbs/pounds for weight and dollars for money.

All I know of Maine coons is that picture of the guy holding the HUGE orange cat that was going around the net a while back and then google that said a pale could end up between 20-25 pounds.

I don't even know what a Norwegian forest Cat is (I may google that too just to see what it looks like)

Anyone have any thoughts on color pattern? I found a chart but I'm just not sure. He has an M on his head and all four feet are white lots of white on the underside and the patches of color have stripes in some places.
 





The first and last picture show the little "saddle" he has on his back, the second picture shows his little M and his "eyeliner" LOL. the last two pictures really show his white feet and the largest part of his front legs,chest and face are white. You can see the subtle tiger stripes in the last picture pretty good too.  So does his coloring/pattern have any specific name?
 

I think he's considered tabby and white, but i'm sure one of the breeders will chime in and give the correct answer.

redvelvetone said:

I think he's considered tabby and white, but i'm sure one of the breeders will chime in and give the correct answer.

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I found this really elaborate chart but I am not really sure where to start.

Here is the chart I found on Google

http://earthpetsorganic.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/catcoatcolor1.jpeg
 

Oh and since I am asking about color any thoughts on Smokey? Does his color/pattern have a name?
 

He's a blue bicolor with white.

NorthernGlow said:

He's a blue bicolor with white.

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 Thank you!

On cat channel someone left a comment on his profile that he looked like a Havana Brown but he is grey, err blue and white. So I don't think that sounds right. The blue is very light and he has blue and white but no brown anywhere at all. Well his pads are a pinkish brown but that is it.

Loki is  Brown Mackerel Tabby and White    "Brown Tabby" is really genetically a Black Tabby.  but they are commonly called "Brown Tabby" since many of them do have a brownish color between the darker stripes.

 There are different types of tabby patterns. The one with vertical stripes on the sides is called Mackerel Tabby.

The M on the head is a part of the tabby pattern. Virtually all tabbies  have an M ( as long as there isn't white patches covering up the head there) though some "M's"  are more distinct than others. 

Smokey is Blue Bicolor., "Bicolor" means one solid color plus white.  or in some associations would be just called Blue and White.   

Maybe it was the lighting or the person's monitor  that made them think he looked brown.   but yeah he's definitely blue.    He's gorgeous too.  i love his head shape and his eyes. and looks like a very attractive blue. 

They are both very handsome cats! 

For fun you should check out  some photos on breeders' sites of Norwegian Forest Cats. Here is a very good example of the breed. http://norjacats.com/images/WJacobhead350.jpg  They have a more triangular face, while the Maine Coons is more square muzzle.  From the side the Norwegian  Forest cat tends to have a straight nose or almost straight, where the Maine Coon has more of a curve  ( like most cats in general)    

Norwegian Forest Cat, Maine Coon and Siberian are 3  northern longhair breeds who originally developed naturally on their own in response to their environment.   Then people started to breed them and keep track of pedigrees.  The Norwegian forest cats had been in their home country for centuries but  several decades ago they were in danger of extinction. but have been saved due to people in Norway getting organized to preserve them and getting them accepted as a breed and registered. .  By now their descendants are bred in many countries. 

maewkaew said:

Loki is  Brown Mackerel Tabby and White    "Brown Tabby" is really genetically a Black Tabby.  but they are commonly called "Brown Tabby" since many of them do have a brownish color between the darker stripes.

 There are different types of tabby patterns. The one with vertical stripes on the sides is called Mackerel Tabby.

The M on the head is a part of the tabby pattern. Virtually all tabbies  have an M ( as long as there isn't white patches covering up the head there) though some "M's"  are more distinct than others. 

Smokey is Blue Bicolor., "Bicolor" means one solid color plus white.  or in some associations would be just called Blue and White.   

Maybe it was the lighting or the person's monitor  that made them think he looked brown.   but yeah he's definitely blue.    He's gorgeous too.  i love his head shape and his eyes. and looks like a very attractive blue. 

They are both very handsome cats! 

For fun you should check out  some photos on breeders' sites of Norwegian Forest Cats. Here is a very good example of the breed. http://norjacats.com/images/WJacobhead350.jpg  They have a more triangular face, while the Maine Coons is more square muzzle.  From the side the Norwegian  Forest cat tends to have a straight nose or almost straight, where the Maine Coon has more of a curve  ( like most cats in general)    

Norwegian Forest Cat, Maine Coon and Siberian are 3  northern longhair breeds who originally developed naturally on their own in response to their environment.   Then people started to breed them and keep track of pedigrees.  The Norwegian forest cats had been in their home country for centuries but  several decades ago they were in danger of extinction. but have been saved due to people in Norway getting organized to preserve them and getting them accepted as a breed and registered. .  By now their descendants are bred in many countries. 

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I can see a similarity in the Norwegian Forest cat and my Loki. 

It is funny how different my two kitties are. I turned on the vacuum a bit ago to do the floors and Smokey practically runs up my curtains while Loki just lays there and cracks open one eye as if to say "really can't you see I'm trying to take a nap over here!" When I use the little vacuum they both chase it but one is scared of my big Kirby vacuum and the other could care less.

Blues can have rufousing, a brownish tinge especially visible in photos with a flash and you could almost mistake them for a brown if it's especially 'bad'. This does not appear to be the case with your blue, so I've no idea how anyone could think he's a Havana perhaps their monitor shows colour in an odd way. 

LokiandSmokey said:

 ...On cat channel someone left a comment on his profile that he looked like a Havana Brown ...

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Err...  Havana Browns don't have any white, and are brown not grey! 

The Havana Brown is different to the Havana as well which is the UK term for a chocolate Oriental:

http://www.cfa.org/client/breedHavanaBrown.aspx

http://www.cfa.org/client/breedOriental.aspx

OrientalSlave said:

Err...  Havana Browns don't have any white, and are brown not grey! 

The Havana Brown is different to the Havana as well which is the UK term for a chocolate Oriental:

http://www.cfa.org/client/breedHavanaBrown.aspx

http://www.cfa.org/client/breedOriental.aspx

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They must have had a bad monitor. His fur is a really, really light smokey color (hence his name! Smokey!)