# Main ****???



## fluffy (Sep 7, 2004)

We found Fluffy at the street in the age of 6 weeks....so we were wondering about wich breed she's from..I came over this picture of a white Main ****...This is a he...










What do you guys think?


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

I would rather say your Fluffy has some Norweigan Forestcat or Turkish Angora in him. Maine Coons have a more "squareformed" head than your Fluffy. Angoras and Norweigans have more triangular heads. Your Fluffy also seem to have a more slender body which might point more to Angora than Norweigan or Maine ****.

But Fluffy is still gorgeous!


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## fluffy (Sep 7, 2004)

I would really like to know what she is...But the first thing that striked me was a mix between forest cat and housecat...But she sure reminds me of a Main **** though....

Thanks for the answer


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

Without papers or proof of breeding, your beautiful white kitty is a domestic longhair.  Remember that all breeds come from controlled breeding of what we call "domestic cats" -- all those genes had to come from somewhere. It's not very likely that a purebred Maine **** is walking the streets, because to be purebred the breeding needs to be controlled, and because reputable breeders don't let that happen to their cats. But that doesn't mean that your cat doesn't have any of the genes that a Maine **** or a Norwegian forrest cat carries -- because each breed had to start somewhere, right? Hope that makes sense...you have a gorgeous cat.


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## rosalie (Oct 9, 2003)

Sadly there are all kinds of breeds walking the streets, not many, not all streets in every city but though breeding is controlled cats get dumped, sometimes stray and any other accident that puts them in the streets..a grim scene but it happens. So you might get a Siamese that bred with a Ragdoll, whose offspring bred with any other cat..to top it off they have their breed temperament, aren't feral cats per se so that life is pretty hard for them. 
So depending where you live there's a chance a cat you found in the street could be a purebreed, or close.
Fluffy is beautiful but I don't see Maine **** in him, more of a Norwegian/European longhair, classic slim body and head, Fluffy's the right name for him too :wink:


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## DylansMummy (May 23, 2004)

Hmmm the lack of ear tips makes me think not Maine **** A lovely cat though, but as said could be any breed to be honest!

Hayley x x


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## Gudewife (Jun 27, 2004)

I think I'd be expecting a much squarer, blockier cat, maybe with a flatter topline, and definitely a squarer, boxier face, tufted ears and paws. MC's are big and rectangular first and foremost.

Then again, Assumpta is missing a lot of the MC features I'd expect (like the super-long tail, the super-super-wide ruff), but she has enough to satisfy my MC adoration needs  And every time someone sees a picture of a MC, they say "That looks JUST like Assumpta!"

That said, your cat is beautiful (very impressive tail, BTW), and that's all that matters.


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## fluffy (Sep 7, 2004)

Thanks...But guys! Fluffy is a SHE!  

The MC i found was a he...Just wanted to let you know that it was a he so you could compare them, since the he's often are bigger than the she's...

And..She is DEAF...When we found her, a car was about to run over her, she couldn't hear a thing...i guess that's how she lost her mother...if she wasn't dumped by cold and cruel people... :evil:


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

fluffy said:


> And..She is DEAF...When we found her, a car was about to run over her, she couldn't hear a thing...i guess that's how she lost her mother...if she wasn't dumped by cold and cruel people... :evil:


Lots of pure white cats are deaf -- it has something to do with the gene that makes them all white. My brother's cat is the same way -- white and deaf, and SUPER DUPER loving. I would love to have a cat that looks like yours someday.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

ForJazz said:


> fluffy said:
> 
> 
> > And..She is DEAF...When we found her, a car was about to run over her, she couldn't hear a thing...i guess that's how she lost her mother...if she wasn't dumped by cold and cruel people... :evil:
> ...


True. 80 % of all the white and blue eyed cats are deaf. 20 % of all the white yellow eyed cats are deaf. They aren't born deaf but there's a gene, who seems to be linked to the gene for white colour, who destroys the ear from inside and when the kitten is about 3 weeks old, it's totally deaf. It's very importand to check all white cats for deafness before breeding them and all deaf cats should, of course, be neutered.

Foreign white is an exception. They're not prone to deafness.


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

Sol said:


> Foreign white is an exception. They're not prone to deafness.


Wow...that's really interesting. Do mean foreign as in anywhere outside of the United States? Any idea what the difference is? 

My brother's cat has green eyes. Would that be considered the same as yellow, and he'd fall into the 20% category?


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## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

Foreign as in foreign breeds, like the Turkish Angora for instance:


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## Doeremi (Aug 21, 2004)

Sol said:


> True. 80 % of all the white and blue eyed cats are deaf. 20 % of all the white yellow eyed cats are deaf. They aren't born deaf but there's a gene, who seems to be linked to the gene for white colour, who destroys the ear from inside and when the kitten is about 3 weeks old, it's totally deaf. It's very importand to check all white cats for deafness before breeding them and all deaf cats should, of course, be neutered.
> 
> Foreign white is an exception. They're not prone to deafness.


I know this is also true for white-headed dogs. I know certain breeds are more susceptible to deafness such as dalmation and boxer. There may be others..those are the 2 I know offhand.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

ForJazz said:


> Sol said:
> 
> 
> > Foreign white is an exception. They're not prone to deafness.
> ...


Foreign white is basically a white Siamese. When it comes to green eyed cats I don't really know. In general it's considered that 50 % of all white cats are deaf so when it comes to green eyed or odd-eyed white cats then it should be the 50 % that counts.


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## spacemonkey (Aug 12, 2004)

I had a dalmatian (he was hearing, though was often _selectively_ deaf), and I had heard that blue-eyed dals were often deaf. But I didn't think that the deaf gene in most dogs was linked to the color. I could be wrong, but there are a lot of unscrupulous dog breeders that bred for looks and not genetic quality, so many of these traits have simply become a part of the breed. Sort of like, many Shepherds get dysplasia, many Dals are deaf. But I could be wrong...


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

spacemonkey said:


> I had a dalmatian (he was hearing, though was often _selectively_ deaf), and I had heard that blue-eyed dals were often deaf. But I didn't think that the deaf gene in most dogs was linked to the color. I could be wrong, but there are a lot of unscrupulous dog breeders that bred for looks and not genetic quality, so many of these traits have simply become a part of the breed. Sort of like, many Shepherds get dysplasia, many Dals are deaf. But I could be wrong...


The gene for white colour regarding Dalmatians (and Boxers I believe) is can be linked to deafness. Of course all Dalmatians are white :roll: but it seems to have something to do about the colours on the EARS! If a Dalmatian have very few spots and don't have much colour on the eats it seems like they are prone to develop deafness. Probably it has something to do with the amount of pigment since animals with little pigment (albinos for an example) often are prone to diseases like deafness and skin problems. The eye colour might indicate on the amount of pigment. Blue eyed Dalmatians and blue eyed cats probably have less pigment than non-blue eyed ones.


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

spacemonkey said:


> Foreign as in foreign breeds, like the Turkish Angora for instance:


What I meant was, foreign to ME or foreign to Sol. Foreign to Sol would include American breeds, and for me foreign would mean anything BUT American breeds, you know? Turkish Angoras are also prone to deafness, so I know that's not what she meant. (TAs are one of my very favorite breeds -- great pics btw. ) 

So Sol -- you're saying that there is actually like a breed called Foreign, and it's like a Siamese? You didn't mean anything but American cats, did you? I'm very intrigued.


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## Sol (Feb 20, 2003)

ForJazz said:


> spacemonkey said:
> 
> 
> > Foreign as in foreign breeds, like the Turkish Angora for instance:
> ...


No, it didn't have anything to do with American :wink: The Foreign White is quite exactly a white Siamese. Check this link: http://www.netcattery.com/felizaliente/


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## ForJazz (Dec 30, 2003)

LOL. Wow -- that clears that up. (The link didn't work for me though. ) That's so interesting that it's a certain breed of cat -- I thought you meant "foreign" as in the general definition of the word, and I was thinking "wow -- what went wrong with American cats??"


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