New Foundation cats

Breeders that work with new foundation lines refer to

F-1 as the first generation cross between the HCL and the domestic Maine Coon .

The F-2 is the second generation cross (the offspring of the F-1 and the domestic Maine Coon).

The F-3 is the third generation (the offspring of the F-2 and a Maine Coon).

Many assosiation (Tica, Fifè considers the fourth generation (F-4) to be a “SBT” (studbook tradition) Maine Coon, eligible for competition in the show ring and a fully accepted domestic cat.
The following table clarifies the early generation terminology used by the Maine Coon world today (not including domestic outcrosses):

F-1: HCL parent X domestic Maine Coon parent

F-2: F1 parent X domestic Maine Coon parent (has an HCL grandparent)

F-3: F2 parent X domestic Maine Coon parent (has an HCL great-grandparent)

F-4: F3 parent X domestic Maine Coon parent (has an HCL great-great-grandparent)

What is a new Foundation line?

A foundation cat is a cat that is 100% NOT related to the cats in the pedigree.

How is that possible?

This is possible cause of some breeders in USA still are searching for kittens/cats who look like a Maine Coon cat, if they are lucky to find one, the hard work start, they need to be tested with a fully DNA, check up for sickness etc, then the cat need to grow up to check hips, heart, teeth, patella etc to be sure that the cat they start use is healthy enough to not put anything in the Maine Coon breed that can hurt the breed. We all wanna keep our breed as healthy as possible.

Why do Maine Coon need new foundation lines in the breed?

To answer this we need to go back in time and look at the offsprings of Polly Adeline and Sonkey Bill, these offspring were so similar that they were referred to as the clones. These offspring became very popular and they were bred and matadored for several generations. Today’s Maine Coon has about 35% of its genetic material from these clones.

35% of the genetic material is very high, to low these numbers (as they get higher and higher cause breeders are cross breed Polly and Sonkey`s lines again and again the % of the clones, and total inbreed keep getting higher.

Polly and Bill have a total of 17 known offspring spread over 7 litters, today’s Maine Coon can often be traced back to these two.

If we wanna breed with lower inbreeding and clones we sure need these new foundation cats and the breeders who work with them.

It is important to know that the new foundation lines HAS to from the United States Of America or Canada and they are carefully selected and need to be aproved to join any foundation program.

Written by : R.Fenne.B