Is Poncho a Maine Coon?
by Christa
(Vancouver)
Poncho
This is Poncho, is he a Maine Coon? I am wondering if this fellow looks to you like a Maine Coon cat? I found a picture in a cat book that looked like my cat and then began researching Maine Coons and their personality description matches him to a tee.
He is the most interesting, smart, happy, kind, funniest cat I have ever seen and if all Maine Coons are like this I'm going to have to get another one!!
Every night he brings his toy to my bed, during the day he takes it back to the living room.
Every morning when I leave he follows me out the door, purrs, and then I put him back in the apartment.
He follows me from room to room. He opens the door where the cat food is and feeds himself so I had to store his food in the oven or the washing machine otherwise he would get at it and rip the bag.
This guy is unbelievable...does he look like a tuxedo coon?
Christa
Hi Christa... thanks for coming on the site and asking. We get quite a lot of similar questions actually.
You are lucky to have such a responsive intelligent boy cat.
In answer to your question, there are a whole range of "Maine Coon cats" that are either, "look-a-like" Maine Coons (moggie, random bred cats that look like Maine Coons), Maine Coon mixes (cats that are say one removed from a Maine Coon because of a Maine Coon mating with a non-Maine Coon), unregistered Maine Coons (these are purebred but there are no papers to prove it), abandoned or lost purebred Maine Coons (so there are papers but it is not known where the papers are - the papers are separated from the cat), Maine Coons that are registered and purebred but not of the right type (wrong appearance for showing etc.), and show cat purebred Maine Coons.
....and I don't know what you cat is. Poncho looks Maine Coonish. But appearance alone is not a great way to tell because there are a wide range of appearances - some purebreds will not be to type. And he acts like a Maine Coon. Once again a good indicator but no more as other cat breeds and random bred cats can sometimes chirp etc and act like Maine Coons.
So, in conclusion....if you have no evidence of a pedigree in documents (certificates) as is the case, and if Poncho is a rescue cat (not sure that he is) it is probably that he is a "Maine Coon mix" (substantially Maine Coon but not purebred).
It could be argued that even a show cat Maine Coon of the highest standard is not a purebred Maine Coon without certificates (pedigree) to prove it.
Petfinder have a good number of Maine Coon mix cats on their books. Even when you search for Maine Coon (i.e. purebred), mix Maine Coons come up. Someone else might be able to answer the question better than me, which would be fine.
Poncho is a great cat though. Thanks once again for popping in to share.
your cat could be a twin compared to our cat tyler. we think he is a maine coon mix. he doesnt have the ears like a maine coon but he has massive paws and giant fangs that hang out of his mouth. he weighs close to 20 lbs. he is super affectionate and acts as the alpha male of the house, often picking on our tabby cat.
Tyler has an amazing face. What I call the “zorro” face. He could well be a Maine Coon mix. There are quite a lot of Maine Coon mixes and of course the Maine Coon comes from Maine barn cats which are moggies but Maine Coons nonetheless. They are still around. In the 1840s all Maine Coons were moggies.