Summer coat in November?

Hi all please let me say if this question has already been asked previously then I do apologise. I am the owner of a lovely odd-eyed longhaired white Maine-Coon pedigree male who is now two years & two months old.I bought him purely as a pet of which he has been fabulous to have & suchfull of character. But I do have a question regarding his coat.

The past few weeks he appears to have lost a lot of his coat & now appears to be relatively short haired & doesn’t have his lovely lion type mane. To all intent & purposes he looks like he has a summer coat except it is November! He is a house cat (very rarely goes out, only on a lead if he does) & the house contains central heating. The heating is on quite alot now so I’m thinking this has had an effect on his coat which may be leading him to shed his winter coat? Apologies if this is a silly question but I just want to put my mind at rest.

Thanks in advance :smile:

Hi Dan, welcome to the forum.

Your MC sounds utterly gorgeous! What's his name? I have a solid white kitten Herbie who's 5 months old, both eyes the same, yellow/orange.
My breeder has his brother who is an odd-eyed solid white, and I kind of hoped Herbie would have odd eyes but he's beautiful anyway.

To answer your question, I think that being out in the cold does actually encourage the winter coat to come on, so if your babe is a mostly indoor cat and you have a nice warm house, then his coat doesn't realise that it's winter and it's staying in summer mode.

If he's otherwise healthy, no skin complaint, eating OK etc, then I wouldn't worry.

But, you know, it's the rule here - you MUST post some pictures!!! xxx

I have a silver boy who has a thick flowing coat,ruff & breeches to die for mid summer & he turns into a domestic shorthair come the winter,he does keep his tail & breeches now but that is at the ripe old age of 7,his ruff has just disappeared again but this year as it hasn't turned too cold yet I am making him go out in his pen until lunchtime in the hope he will keep a bit more of his coat,wishful thinking perhaps that it will work but worth a try,another thing that seems to differ in MC's the changes in their coat & when.
Back up Howlinbobs request, pictures please...x

Hi, I have a solid white green-eyed MC (in my avatar - Alfie), born November 08, so has just turned three and his coat is "back-to-front". He has his summer coat in winter and vice-versa. I washed him on Sunday for the first time since September - when he looked like a huge, fluffy, proud white lion - and he now resembles a DSH! So you are not alone! He has moulted even earlier than usual this year. His coat usually drops in about Jan/Feb time. I'm in contact with a lady called Louise in Edinburgh who has Alfies half-brothers (both solid white), born November 06, and they are the same with their back-to-front coats. Don't panic! Its normal :LOL:

Hi & thank you for your responses, it has put my mind at rest. He still has a lovely bushy tail just that his face looks kind of odd without his usual amount of ‘ruff’ & coat being somewhat shorter. Once his injections have kicked in I shall take him outside again to maybe help with his coat (he has just had a full course of injections so need to wait 2 weeks before venturing outside).

His full name is Theodore followed by his GCCF registered name of Hamshill Snow Blizzard. I bought him from a lovely lady based in Gloucester in 2009 & saw his parents, the dad being a massive MC & mum being a typical size pure white female. Coincidently her website is no longer available so whether she is still breeding I just don’t know.

As requested I have added a few photos to my gallery of Theo so please peruse at your leisure. When I get time I shall add more recent ones plus I could also post his parents photos if anybody is interested? By all means share your opinions.

Thanks again all :smile:

What lovely photos of Theodore,he is a handsome lad & he knows it,lov the pictures of him in the snow & another where you have got him curled round with face & shoulders,he looks as if he is laying there planning his next act of mischief.
Yes more please when you have time & would be great to see his parents too...x

Thanks very much for raising the issue of summer and winter coats and moulting. I didn't realise until reading this that MCs have different coats according to the seasons, even if they can be the wrong way around. Just wondered when the coats start growing or shedding? My MC is 11 months old and quite fluffy though loses some fur every day. Do they really lose their long fur and become short haired at certain times of the year? I've never seen a photo of a MC going through a short haired phase so will be interested to see what that looks like in time.

Theo is a really beautiful MC - the pure white is so striking. Thanks so much for sharing photos x

They don't all go right short brightlight23,like everything to do with our furries they all seem to vary,the only one who noticably changed from long to short is Merlyn,he always used to cause amusement at cat shows turning up in full winter bloom mid summer & no coat at all when it was freezing & snow outside,since he has fully matured though his worse loss now is his bib,it used to go right short now it has a bit of length there but no fullness so I very often just lightly powder it & fluff it up so he doesn't look so silly from the front until it decides to come back,Shimba is naturally not so long coated anyway & if he ever grows a hint of a ruff I think we will have to hold the walls up,shame really because he is so big a boy that with a bit of a bib he would look stunning,had wondered about trying some extensions do you think some of Merls silver or Bruces red fur would be noticeable....?

I'm glad I've seen this, Mufasa has lost his thick ruff that he grew in the summer, therefore I expect he's topsy-turvy too. He still has long fluffy fur but like lovely Merlyn the ruff has lost it's fluff :LOL:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Fozzie

He still has long fluffy fur but like lovely Merlyn the ruff has lost it's fluff :LOL:

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Still got the giggles the ruff has lost its fluff,luv it....x

Interesting thread, I didn't realise they could be all back-to-front with their coats.

Larry is getting very bushy so he's in tune with the colder weather I guess. It's getting much harder to keep him knot-free so I'm bugging him a lot more with the comb, poor lad, and I've got the scratches to show for it, aaargh! The comb doesn't slip through his coat as easily as before so I'm pulling a bit at the areas which are just starting to mat up. Luckily he's fairly tolerant so I can keep on top of it.

Monty's coat is no thicker than before. Still has a knotty chest because it's IMPOSSIBLE to get access there, he's such a drama queen!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jckkerrison

They don't all go right short brightlight23,like everything to do with our furries they all seem to vary,the only one who noticably changed from long to short is Merlyn,he always used to cause amusement at cat shows turning up in full winter bloom mid summer & no coat at all when it was freezing & snow outside,since he has fully matured though his worse loss now is his bib,it used to go right short now it has a bit of length there but no fullness so I very often just lightly powder it & fluff it up so he doesn't look so silly from the front until it decides to come back,Shimba is naturally not so long coated anyway & if he ever grows a hint of a ruff I think we will have to hold the walls up,shame really because he is so big a boy that with a bit of a bib he would look stunning,had wondered about trying some extensions do you think some of Merls silver or Bruces red fur would be noticeable....?

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Oh how amusing - I love the idea of you fluff up and using powder on Merlyn's bib when he goes through his unseasonal moulting! x

I have uploaded several new pictures of Theo as well as his parents & when he was just a tiny kitten :smile:

Glad I read this as one of my boys who is 21 months has lost his huge ruff and feathers down the side of his face and my other 20 month old boy has just started growing his first ruff although my 22 month old girls is still the same - is there nothing normal about owning a coonie :o) its like having marauding toddlers in the house most days lol