Thread: When did you Maine Coon get a "mane"?

At what age did your Maine Coon develop a big "mane" or neck ruff?

I thought that my girl Roxy might never get a really big neck ruff, maybe because she was a female and I know it's the males that have the really big "manes" so I thought she might just never have one, since she was 4 years old and still just had a moderate amount of neck fur...
But then sometime in the time after she turned 4 or 4 1/2 she suddenly grew a whole lot of fur around her neck! It's funny because it didn't happen in the winter either (like a winter coat would?)
She also finally "filled out" in the last 8 months or so, so I guess it's really true what they say about Maine Coons continuing to grow until they are 5... Roxy's just turned 5 on October 30th.

I don't have a lot of good photos between the times, but here is Roxy a few months before her 4th birthday, not much of a ruff:
(taken in August 2011 I think)


She looked about the same a few months after her 4th birthday:

(taken in the end of December 2011)


This was taken just 6 or so months after the last photo:


(in July 2012)

Poof! Mane explosion!




She looks like a lion.