Maine Coon mixes are unlikely, right?

katarack21

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This is my kitty, Viseryn. His momma is a 12 pound fluffy chocolate brown furball with a gorgeous, fluffy tail and demonic yellow eyes. When we got her, we were told she was a mix of Maine Coon, Bengal, and Siamese but I pretty much doubt that. His daddy is unknown for sure, but suspected to be a big, grey marble tabby with a magnificent shaggy coat who often hangs out around our porch. His momma has been fixed since she had her litter. Viseryn, his momma, and all of his siblings also have polydactylism; they are all mitten kitties. They have thumbs.

Viseryn was not the smallest of his litter, but he was the weakest. For the first few days I had to repeatedly place him back on the feeding pile throughout the day because he kept getting forced to the side. We also had to get eye drops for him when one of his eyes wouldn't open. Of his litter mates, he is the only one who didn't come out with a traditional tabby pattern. Two of his brothers and his sister are brown tabbys (the boys with long hair, the girl short), and one of his brothers came out with a grey marble coat identical to the stray I mentioned (thick shaggy fur and all).

Viseryn, on the other hand, came out solid white from head to tail on the day he was born. I wonder sometimes if that was the problem; maybe he was easier to see when everybody had their eyes closed, a brighter area in the darkness, and so it was easier to find him and push him off? Regardless, his coat started to change fairly soon, first turning lightly grey at his ears, tail, and feet and then slowly darkening. Since then the fur on the back and around the base of his ears has darkened considerably; it is dark grey with a light brown tint. His paws are a little special; the back of his paws is considerably darker than the front, both on his forelegs and hind legs. His tail is the same, much darker on top than on the bottom. The darker color is the same, dark grey with light brown tint, but unlike his ears his tail and all his paws have clear tabby markings, as well. So does his face, for that matter, including the clear M. Eventually a little color showed up down his back, over his spine; it is reminiscent of a dirty snowball. His eyes are a light and pale blue.

He's also huge. He's six months old and he's about 8 1/2 lbs, and he's not particularly fat. What you see up there is mostly his winter coat, which is as thick as his dads but as fluffy and silky as his moms. He's just a big kitten; his brother Stormy, the grey marble litter mate, is about the same. Both of them are close to their momma in size, and seem destined to outsize the dominant male in the house (a 13 lb ginger).  His other siblings were all much smaller.

Viseryn is extremely friendly and somewhat pushy about it. He has absolutely no problem walking up and shoving his head into your arms until you pet him. He loves to cuddle, especially; he will climb up into my arms when I'm sitting on the couch and insist on it, and spends most of the night sleeping on me. Nor is he shy about vocalization; he meows, and trills, and all of that as needed. He doesn't keep me up at night yowling or anything, but he's not afraid to let me know when he wants something.

Does any of this sound like any particular breed? I've heard the colorpoint pattern points to Siamese somewhere in the ancestry. Is that true?
 

vbcatparent

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His body has the shape of a Maine Coon, so it's likely that's one of his mixes. Does he have long hair between the toes on his paws? Does he have a big squarish nose?

Mother cats can have more than one father to a litter. It's possible that he has a different background from the others and is thus perceived to have a lot of subtle differences.

Either way, he is very lovely! Give him a hug and kiss from me.
 

conikat

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The fact that he has blue eyes and his coat is darkening in a typical pattern says Siamese to me. The rest appears all maine coon. Coons love to vocalize, and the trills and chirps are very typical for them. Both breeds are pretty demanding, but maine coons just love to cuddle. They are the sweetest, gentle Giants ever! I'd say you are very lucky to have him, he's really going to be spectacular all grown up! And he's beautiful now!!! Oh yes they do mix. My last was a maine coon Persian mix ( thank god without the smashed-in face). Sounds like his momma was a very busy girl, and there may be more daddy's than you know. But wonderful results. I'll ditto the last comment with a hug and kiss from me. Having lost my big boy the end of Sept. It's hard for me to see the ones who are so similar. But I'm rather envious too. I hope you enjoy him, he's going to be a real sweetheart.
Best wishes and Merry Christmas to you all,
( and I sure hope you plan to keep him)
 
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katarack21

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Neither Viseryn nor his siblings have the tufts of fur growing between their toes, but his momma absolutely does. His sibling, the short-hair female, also has this strange trait where the hair at the base of her ears grows particularly long and luxurious, but only in that one spot. It creates this sort of tuft of fur at the base of each ear; it stands out because she has a typical shorthair coat everywhere else.

I am absolutely keeping him! I decided the moment I saw him, all tiny and white and close-eyed with the giant hand-paws almost as big as his head (he has grown into them, although the mitten effect still makes them look large), that Viseryn would be my first kitty. My fiance has had many cats, so she's helped me out with a lot of the learning I've had to do while Viseryn was growing. He is growing into a friendly, affectionate, curious kitty
 
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katarack21

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These show off his markings and coloration a bit more. You can see the tabby markings on his points. I particularly like that pic up on top, I think that's about as nice as my cruddy phone can do.

 


This is his sister, Ghost. They neither look nor act anything alike, really, but are good friends. I took this picture in the middle of their play session--Viseryn is in the cupboard just beneath her, and about one second later he reached through the back to tag her leg.
 
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katarack21

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I can't figure out how to edit my posts, so that is why I keep adding new ones down her as I get more pictures. This is Stormy, Viseryn and Ghost's brother. My phone sucks, so he looks much darker than he actually is. He's actually a grey marble tabby. If the person who gave us their momma, KitTen, was being honest then it seems to me that Stormy and Viseryn expressed the most of the Maine Coon in their parentage.

 

conikat

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Oh but they are soooo beautiful! I've always loved maine coons for their lovely soft fur, big feet and the sweetest temperaments ever! Though I must say that my Sarah is running right up there with them, though she isn't a maine coon. She's what is called a Chantilly or Tiffany cat, after you see her, go check it out online. I had to do the same as I'd never heard of them either, and there is no maine coon in the mix at all! Incredibly sweet girl and a one-person kitty ( mine). Now let's see if I can add the photo this time?

 
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katarack21

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And now: Measurements!

Viseryn is 10 inches long from shoulder to base of tail, with a tail length of 10 inches from base of tail to tip. He stands 10 inches high at the shoulders when on the ground, and weighs 9 lbs.

Stormy is 16 inches long from shoulders to base of tail, with a 12 inch tail. He stands 12 inches high at the shoulders and weighs about 10 lbs. He is *HUGE*.

Ghost is 14 inches long--so actually longer than Viseryn, and almost as long as Stormy--with a 10 inch tail and stands 10 inches at the shoulder. However, she only weighs 8 1/2 lbs. She's not skinny, she just has a very light and gracile build compared to the males. She's a jumping and climbing kitty, while they are stalking kitties.

All of them are exactly 7 months and 15 days old. They are big kitties, but even so Stormy is big compared to the rest.
 

conikat

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At 7 months?.....WOW! My Sis and I have been talking about this for the past few years. Maybe it's just us, but it surely seems like " housecats" are getting a lot larger than they used to be!! We have a few theories about that, if you're at all interested.
Right now I must say how envious I am of your beauties. They really are you know, and soon to be even more so. I hope to see pictures now and then if you wouldn't mind sharing? They remind me so much of Paxi. He had the longest and fluffiest tail I've ever seen-- until now! And his ruff was a real thing of beauty. He was also very sweet and very chatty, so it seems terribly quiet now without him here in person. I love all my babies, but you know how sometimes one is just a bit more " special" than the others. He was like that. He did some of the most unusual things I've ever seen a cat do. He loved being combed and brushed, and would lay upside down on my chest so I could get everything... Moving around so I could reach it all. Even to stretching out this leg--and then that one, so I could get the " pits" too. Truly unusual for any cat, but he really hated knots! I'm going to try and send a better photo of him. One of my favorites, so here ya go;
 

conikat

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Thank you. We always thought he was especially beautiful with that huge ruff. Of course it did require some work, but luckily he seemed to enjoy it....if I was very careful! I learned a few tricks about combing that long thick fur. There are ways that don't hurt if you are careful. And never use a brush...it'll just make it worse!
Connie
 

conikat

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The really bad part is being without his cheerful chirps and trills, then the chatter. He was such a sweet friendly kitty, with everybody, and now it's just horribly quiet...[emoji]128546[/emoji]
 

conikat

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Evamilly,
We were lucky to have him. He was a huge cuddler, and such a sweet boy. I guess I'll miss him 'til we are reunited at the bridge. But thank you, I think we were all lucky. He was the King of the house! But always so sweet and friendly, even with dogs, which surprised me. Losing all three within a few months has been almost more than I can bear. It's hard not to be depressed, as they are your family. I hope I'll get out of this hole I'm in eventually. I try not to dwell on it so much, but he's left such a gigantic hole where that big personality used to be. Thank you for reminding me of the positives. We ere lucky to have had him in the first place.
 
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