Why do cat shows disqualify polydactylism in Maine Coons?

I don't think that any one who wrote the standards for the Maine Coons for CFA are on this list. I haven't heard of any reason to cause the extinction of this trait either. I do know they do not allow them to be shown. So these people are not here to justify their reason. Sorry!

Hmmm what about as you state breeding to change what the breed looks like. Like Persians, Siamese, breeding because of a fault or a trait that a cat has produced like the Scottish Fold, a Sphinx, etc, This is called selective breeding breeding for a certain trait. If I remember sometime during history some one wanted only certain type of people and tried to rid his country of certain people.

I know the standard that the Maine Coons standard was taken from was the Persian standard, when they were trying to get the Maine Coon excepted as a breed.

What has gotten you so riled up and upset. There are Maine Coon breeders who do breed Poly and non Poly kittens. I know some of them.

R P CAT

No offense but there is a breed standard for a reason. That means not ALL cats will meet that breed standard. In order to keep a a purebred standard a line has to be drawn..... Only so many toes. A tail only so long. Ears so wide..eyes so round..that is what MAKES UP the breed standard. polydactylism is considered an abnormal bone development. It is outside of the norm and not something a responsible breeder would want to encorporate into a breeding program.

I'm sorry your Maine Coon does not meet the breed standard in order to be shown but you shouldn't hold a grudge against a wonderful cat organization. This truly sounds a little like sour grapes to me.

I have bred Devon Rex and shown them for 9 years. Before that Exotics and Persians. Not all of my cats met the breed standard. Not all are showable.....that's the way the cookie crumbles. I don't sit and call CFA a bunch of snobs. They are an elite Cat Club. Some of those judges I am proud to call my friends...and the breeders that I show against are and have been my friends for years and years. Without them...I wonder who would be there to protect and promote the breed? Without a breed standard you end up with cats looking very muddled...just so everyone is "happy" that their cat can be shown? That's not how it's supposed to work. The best of the best.

Competition is hard. Suck it up. I lose more than I win...Actually not really...lol. But I am certainly for the "extinctification" of polydactalyism in purebred cats....as well as feline cardiomyopathy and anything else that might be deemed birth defects. Sorry. Just my humble opinion. I have had deaf kittens that get along just fine....would I breed and fight for the right to BREED for a deaf kitten because I can PROVE that they get along just fine and that being deaf may even BENEFIT them living indoors because they can pick up vibrations so well they are almost "super-ninjas"? NO! Deafness is a birth-defect. I would NEVER in a million years breed for it.....or six toes...or two tails.....or super short legs. Do you get my point? Probably not, because you can't see past your love for your own Maine coone, and are taking this very personally. But CFA doesn't MEAN it to be personal. It's just a breed standard. Kind of like going into the military...you sort of have to be "perfect" to fight. You have to perfect...to show and breed. That's just how it is.

I show in CFA and ACFA. There is a lot of contraversy in allowing this. Its not a "natural" trait in MC's - its a mutation and it occurs in all cats (mainly mixed breed domestic cats). The MC can survive fine without extra toes.

And where do you draw the limit on how many toes? Its not an acceptable mutation in any other breed and should not be acceptable in the Maine Coons either. When the standards were written (by Maine Coon BREEDERS) this was not a part of the standard and never wanted by the majority.

You might not like the rules, but they are there for a reason.

Cat show people are idiots. My cat is polydactyl and a damn good hunter. In fact, the reason so many domestic shorthair cats are polydactyl is because American immigrants liked to have them on their ships to catch mice.