Trends, Misconceptions and Common Sense (last update 04/25/2025)

Recently there has been a lot of chatter about Maine Coon bloodlines. The trend, especially among newer and unconfident breeders, is to literally discard some of their great quality, healthy, imported Maine Coons, while following advice to breed with pedigrees containing exclusively or predominantly “US lines”.  These influenced breeders will then try their hearts out to gain the favour of successful North American Catteries, in order to get a breeding kitten from them. I am puzzled by the recent glorification  of certain bloodlines and the downgrading of others. So I want to urge breeders to stop this insanity.

So here is some good advice, take it or leave it: 

Trends: For clarification, there is no such thing as "US" lines versus “Euro or Russian” lines. These are actually ALL the very same bloodlines, with different cattery stamps on them. Maine Coons from Catteries in the US and Canada were imported to France and Germany in the mid 80s, then distributed to the rest of Western Europe, then to Eastern Europe, then quite a bit later to Russia. That was the big "US import" trend.

During that same decade, while I was still living in Germany, there was also a short epoch of the "good old German lines" trend. No such thing really as those lines were in reality also created from American imports but before the Sonkey Bill offspring imports started in Europe. So the "old German" lines had no "clones" (Please refer to Pawpeds for these terms).

Back to the story - Europeans were then developing their Maine Coon imports from US lines for several decades. Scroll forward probably 2-3 decades, these exact same lines were imported back to the US, creating the "Russian/Euro" trend over here in North America where I live now. I think this EU/RU trend is pretty much over.

Then there was also the less extensive "Maine only" trend which seems to be still going in certain circles but it's softening from what I can tell.

Now recently there has been the "US Catteries only" trend. Basically NA breeders are pressured to discard all those previously exported/imported cats and instead only buy from Catteries from my side of the ocean.

Cattery conditions and mills: One of the biggest reasons for the new "NA Only" trend seems to be “ethics” and that makes me chuckle. As amazing as some of my NA colleagues are, guess what? Despite common belief, a Maine Coon bought in North America does not necessarily equal a cat from an ethical Cattery. In fact, many, many Catteries all around the world do not keep their cats in a home like, caring environment and actually find nothing wrong with that. New breeders with no mentoring and flashy websites are coming out of the woodworks daily. Again, this is happening globally! Often glorified mills can't be easily distingued from good breeders. So if you think living conditions are generally better over here, please, please think again! :-( 

Inbreeding: When looking at a kitten you might get blinded by the fact that a typical “North American” line arrangement often has an average COI complete of “only”  around 12 -14 %, often with similar, relatively low numbers behind that particular kitten. The reason for this is that many ethical NA breeders prefer to keep their breedings around this cut-off % and that's why we see these same numbers over several generations. That's GREAT! A lower COI is always better! What you might not be aware of is that even a 12.5 % COI Complete (back to first generation) technically (or mathematically) equals a "half sibling" or "cousins-to-cousin" breeding. Even though such pedigree is generally still lower than the COI complete in some overseas pedigrees, it is definitely not optimal and does not insure a lack of genetic- and immune related problems. Besides, a kitten with for example 12.5 % COI complete could potentially equal a lower heterozygosity than a kitten with for example 18 % COI complete but with an outcrossed background! A pedigree with average 12.5 % COI over many generations can in fact be more affected by issues than a pedigree with 20 % COI Complete where the background is better outcrosed in itself. Heterozygosity does not always relatively correlate with the COI complete of a pedigree. There are many factors to reading a pedigree. (These are examples as there are many different % constellations in various pedigrees - globally).

Titles: Perhaps you are intrigued by the titles in some North American pedigrees? It is known among hard working exibitors that titles in pedigrees can technically mean a lot and also can mean nottin’ much of anything! Remember that some serious campaigners have high positions in the associations and are often judges themselves. A lot of judges are also breeders. Often show etiquette isn't being followed. There are certain obligations and if we pay attention we can observe reciprocative back scratching. So you could end up with an excellent kitten but also could (emphasis on *could) theoretically end up with quite a mediocre kitten from highly titled, *good* but definitely not always *excellent* quality ancestry. I am adding here that many exibitors earn their titles honestly but some of the controversy at the show hall is well worth mentioning. Discretion is needed.

Breeding Rights and Restrictions: Obviously some catteries make it too easy to obtain a breeding kitten with no strings attached. Remember that this happens over here as well and not just abroad! We are definitely supposed to stay away from those type. Same goes for DBE breeders or breeders of exteme features or fad colours who are flooding the market. We obviously don't want to support their practices, that's a given! ....... In contrast, many of the North American campaigner breeders take it to the far extreme to protect their lines! If they do end up selling a breeding kitten to you, you likely aren’t allowed to sell anything into breeding for two generations, even if you’ve been showing and breeding for quite some time. So you can adore your new kitten, show a lot and remain among the important. They do all this to protect their precious lines and titles. Some even go as far as you can’t mate their cats with any Maine Coons with an “RU’ in the pedigree. Go figure. At the same time many of them actually don’t even outcross properly at all, many of them never even test for hips! They might be busy protecting their official standings and keeping their offspring among their own group for more titles in the pedigree.

Testing: Please don’t assume because a Cattery has been around for a long time and says they test for genetic diseases that they are actually doing their job. Even though you might feel super honoured that they’ve chosen you for one of their kittens, don’t be intimidated but ask! Regardless of what country you buy your kitten from, let them show you proof of the HCM and HD testing. You might be surprised about how many excuses you will get, even among the old timers. :-). Sad story.

Motives: I think some of us might have to re-consider our priorities and stop going after fads, may that be “colour raves” or "Cattery location"? Are we breeding to pride ourselves with old or rare bloodlines? Are we breeding to impress and please others with our pedigree wreaths or are we breeding to keep our breed healthy, strong and good quality?

Common Sense: So next time you read a pedigree on Pawpeds, try not to obsess over finding as many as possible “US” origin abbreviations. Instead try to breed with common sense by mixing (hopefully) solid bloodlines from ethical Catteries to make good quality, STRONG cats. Neither European nor North American breeders have the quality all figured out! In fact, a colleague of mine recently imported an excellent Maine Coon from a quality Cattery in - yes Japan! Since our breed has been developed with different emphasis in certain geographic areas and also sometimes in different associations, mixing the lines can actually be quite beneficial, in regards to complimenting and balancing out weaknesses. In contrast, if we continue to stay in our own realm of bloodlines, our cats can actually become more and more strange looking (seriously, I've been there!) and also have a tendency to become quite frail, unintelligent and irritable. Mixing lines just by origin obviously does not fix diversity, which is why and when new foundation breeding comes in. (not the focal point in this article)

My advice to newer breeders who are "under the influence" is as follows: Maybe it’s time to encourage your mentor to be less occupied with country codes? We should all be interested in preserving breed heritage but with a broader, more balanced aproach. There are many good and many bad breeders ALL around the world. Quality is not necessarily linked to titles and Pawpeds abbreviations are only as good as the knowledge of the person reading the pedigree. 

To clarify again, the Maine Coon cat is a natural, North American breed ONLY, originally found and registered in North America ONLY, then distributed to other parts of the world! I would hope that anyone who reads this article with attention and in proper context would realize that the aim is not to critize individual breeders on the continent I live on. I wish fot the reader to recognize that the ultimate goal of the article is to bring things into perspective - for the sake of our beloved breed and the people involved in preserving it as a whole.

Pictured above is "Caracal". Her pedigree contains a wonderful combination of bloodlines!