What kind of Maine Coon wins competitions?

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The kind of Maine Coon that wins in competition is the best kind of Maine Coon. They are Maine Coons which are the most desirable. This is because they match the breed standard most accurately. These are the kind of cats that people who want to adopt a Maine Coon should choose. And it is notable that they are not like the super-impressive Maine Coons that we see on the Internet, usually on Instagram or other social media platforms. These social media stars are the big influencing Maine Coons with which people are most familiar.

They have their own Instagram accounts with perhaps millions of followers. It can be misleading because, as you can see in the photographs below, the classic competition-winning Maine Coon is relatively modest in appearance. They are often tabby cats (tabby-and-white is a favourite) because the tabby Maine Coon best reflects the origins of this cat breed as they were barn cats. They were working cats and non-purebred cat at one time.

What kind of Maine Coon wins in competition?
What kind of Maine Coon wins in competition? This male cat is a good example. Image: Chanan.

What kind of Maine Coon wins in competition?
What kind of Maine Coon wins in competition? Another tabby-and-white Maine Coon competition winner and champion. Photo: Chanan.

The winning Maine Coon isn't necessarily huge. They might be huge. There is no bar on a huge Maine Coon winning a competition. But tellingly, the Maine Coon breed standard for the CFA states quite clearly that "quality should never be sacrificed for size". It's clear: the quality of the cat is more important than her size. And the quality is decided by reference to the breed standard.

I'm sure that if a huge Maine Coon matched the breed standard perfectly, they would win in competition at cat shows. But often you will see Maine Coon winners being large cats, larger than the average, but not massive and dog-like in size. They are well balanced in appearance. They have square muzzles but not excessively so. They have lynx-tipped ears but not excessively so. They have large ears which are well-tufted but they're not huge ears on the top of their head with great stalks of hair sticking out at the end of the ear flaps.

They look pretty normal but as a whole, these championship winning cats are very well balanced in appearance. The various anatomical components, if I can call them that, come together in harmony to create an elegant and attractive domestic cat companion.

Below is the extreme-bred huge Maine Coon social media influencer cat that I am referring to compared with another competition winner. They social media stars are not competition cats.

Comparison CFA Grand Champion Maine Coon versus Maine Coon bred to an extreme. The difference reflects the difference between American (left and CFA) MCs and European MCs under TICA and FIFE. Image: MikeB
Comparison CFA Grand Champion Maine Coon versus Maine Coon bred to an extreme. Image: MikeB

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