Thread: Can somebody tell me if my kitten is a Maine Coon?

I think I understand what Antonia's referring to, but don't know the best way to illustrate the difference.

I know two breeders and both explained to me that there are generally two preferences in the MC show world - one is the 'extreme' look which is apparently very close to the original look of the MC and is quite feral (big puffy muzzles and long ear tips are two of the features I recall them mentioning). They believed the extreme look faired better at TICA and FiFe shows than at GCCF. Both breeders I know aim for the more extreme look and so most of their kittens are quite feral looking.

The other preference is for something less extreme - i.e. less feral (what I think Antonia's referring to as sweet); the wild/feral look is not going to be to everyone's tastes and the two breeders felt that less extreme MC's had better success at GCCF.

I don't think for one second this means that an extreme MC can't also be sweet-looking, or sweet-natured; just less feral or wild looking.

My Freyja is apparently fairly 'extreme' in looks, and it's a look that I personally love. Without any 'wild cat' markings, she can still look quite lion-like and I believe it's because of her muzzle. Wicca's muzzle has become more pronounced as she's got older but I don't think she's as extreme as Freyja (her black colouring might be deceiving though!).