American Shag (cat)

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What is the American Shag?! No, it is not describing a passionate encounter between two Americans. I think that's why the name was dropped 😃. You might be able to guess that it is an alternative name for the Maine Coon. The Maine Coon cat actually has a lot of different names in its history such as the:

  • American Coon Cat
  • Maine Trick Cat
  • American Longhair
  • American Forest Cat
  • American Snughead

It appears that in the early days, somewhere between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, the cat fancy struggled a bit with how to name this cat and they eventually settled on the "Maine Coon", which surprises me greatly because it is a horrible name (by today's standard at least). 

Shaggy coat of the Maine Coon inspired the American Shag name
Shaggy coat of the Maine Coon inspired the American Shag name. Image in public domain.

Well, the first bit of the name is good but the second bit is ridiculous and the name as a whole now has become objectionable because of the second part, which has racist connotations. Anyway, the second part might be a reference to the raccoon which is equally stupid.

The websites Pinterest and TikTok don't recognise the second part of the name for obvious reasons.

Anyway, enough of that. The naming of the first Maine Coon cats omitted the second part and there were simply called "Maine cats". And then, for a while, I suspect the cat fancy dreamt up the name American Shag for this impressive cat breed.

No doubt it was named after the shaggy coat for which it is famous. This is a semi-longhaired cat with an unruly coat, let's put it that way. The International Cat Association (TICA) like the Maine Coon to look like this because it harks back to their barn cat origins. 

The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) takes a different viewpoint and they like a more refined and tidier appearance which means the coat is not going to be quite so unruly.

I suspect that the Maine Coon cats that win cat shows under the CFA are rather sleek in appearance compared to those registered with TICA which are probably a bit shaggier!

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