Fictional 'Maine Coon mix' cats at Petfinder to encourage adoptions

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This article should be a warning (if it is needed) to first-time adopters who are looking for a Maine Coon cat at a discount price. You won't find one unless you are very lucky with one at a Maine Coon cat club for instance.

Petfinder

If you search for a Maine Coon to adopt on Petfinder.com they present 604 cats ready and waiting for adoption (at late March 2023)! Clearly, they cannot all be purebred Maine Coons. I didn't have the time to check all of the candidates but the first half dozen were all Maine Coon mix cats according to Petfinder.com.

Maine Coon mix cats on Petfinder
Maine Coon mix cats on Petfinder. Screenshot.

But they simply are not. These are all random bred cats. They are moggies. And they are beautiful and very adoptable moggies but they there is no Maine Coon DNA in them. 

I'd expect all 604 cats to me moggies and mislabelled as Maine Coon mixes.

Warning to adopters

People wanting to adopt a Maine Coon but can't really afford the purchase price should be aware that the Petfinder Maine Coon mix cats are actually random bred and there is nothing to prove that they are genuinely half Maine Coon and half moggie, or that any other percentage of Maine Coon genes are present in the cats.

Confident

I have been bold in my statement but it is easy to be bold because it is equally easy to state that a cat is a Maine Coon mix. No one can check if it is true. No one will check if it is true which is why Petfinder claim that a moggie is a Maine Coon mix even of the cat does not look anything like a Maine Coon.

All the cats I have seen look like moggies. There is nothing to encourage me to decide that there is some Maine Coon DNA in there trying to get out such as a hint at a square muzzle or large ears with lynx tips or fur spouting out between the toes. Nada.

Examples

Here are a couple of examples:

This is KAWI. A great looking tabby moggie. There is nothing in the features which even hint at a Maine Coon. Kawi is a standard tabby moggie. He should be adopted as moggies are great cat companions.

 

KAWI said to be a Maine Coon mix by Petfinder but they are not
KAWI said to be a Maine Coon mix by Petfinder but they are not. Image: Petfinder.com

This is FANCY. She is described as a Maine Coon mix. She is not. She is a dilute tortoiseshell moggie and very attractive. Once again there is nothing in her physical appearance to tell me that she has any Maine Coon genes in her. Everything about her is standard moggie.

FANCY is described as a Maine Coon mix by Petfinder.com when she is not
FANCY is described as a Maine Coon mix by Petfinder.com when she is not. Image: Petfinder.com

It isn't just Petfinder. You'll find this deception on many cat rescue websites and on Facebook. It is as if it is commonplace, almost the norm, to call moggies Maine Coon mix cats in an attempt to glamorize them. To make them into something that they are not. 

It is a reflection of how humans are behaving nowadays. Think about girls on social media presenting themselves as more glamorous than they really are thanks to, for example, TikTok's app which instantly makes the user look more attractive. That's dangerous as kids can develop mental health issues

It is called body dysmorphia. Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD), or body dysmorphia, is a mental health condition where a person spends a lot of time worrying about flaws in their appearance.

It looks like humans are bringing that condition into the cat world!!

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