5 Maine Coon pedigree myths that make people overpay for a pretty piece of paper

Pedigrees get overrated and underrated in equal measure. Some people pay for a great-grandsire's titles, others skip the papers altogether as a mere formality.

Here are five beliefs behind both mistakes.

Myth 1. "The more titles the ancestors have, the better the kitten"

A pedigree with champion title abbreviations on every line looks convincing. That's exactly what the seller is counting on.

A title means that one particular cat was assessed by a judge on one particular day. It tells you about that cat, not about its descendants three generations down the line.

Inheritance in cats works so that an ancestor's contribution halves with every generation. A great-grandsire provides about one eighth of the genetic material, and his champion title has almost nothing to do with your kitten.

Then there's the nature of titles themselves. In some systems titles are earned by the number of shows rather than the strength of the competition. A cat taken to small shows every weekend will collect more titles than a better cat that was shown three times.

What really matters. The first and second generations: parents and grandparents. Their show assessments, their tests, their condition. Beyond that, a pedigree is a history of the line, not a list of achievements.

Myth 2. "A pedigree guarantees a good cat"

The document confirms ancestry. It doesn't confirm that the cat meets the breed standard.

One litter, with the same parents and identical pedigrees, produces kittens of different quality: one has a slightly short tail, another's ears are set a little too wide, a third turns out show quality. The paperwork is identical for all of them.

That's what kitten classes are for: pet (a companion with minor deviations from the standard), breed (for breeding) and show (with show prospects). The breeder decides the class, and contracts usually say so in as many words: breeding quality is assessed at the time of sale.

What really matters. Look at the pedigree and assess the cat separately. The paper tells you who the ancestors were. The cat in front of you tells you what came of them.

Myth 3. "A birth certificate and a pedigree are the same thing"

This confusion is behind a lot of misunderstandings when people buy a kitten.

A birth certificate (in Russian clubs, the "metrika") is a record of origin that the club issues once the litter has been inspected and registered. A club specialist examines the kittens and confirms that they are purebred and match the declared parents. The birth certificate is what the kitten leaves the cattery with.

The pedigree comes later, usually when the owner exchanges the birth certificate for it through the club. It lists the ancestors for several generations. It's issued on the basis of the birth certificate: if there was never a birth certificate, there is nowhere for a pedigree to come from.

So here's how to read "we'll send the pedigree later". If you have the birth certificate in hand, that's normal, and it's usually how things go. If there's no birth certificate, the litter was never registered, and as far as the breed is concerned the cat is non-pedigree.

What really matters. Insist on the birth certificate when you collect the kitten, not a promise of a pedigree. And check it by phoning the club: give them the litter's date of birth, the kitten's sex and colour, and the parents' names.

Myth 4. "You don't need papers for a pet, and it's cheaper"

This is the most expensive saving of all, and people usually realise it a few years later.

What papers give you is not so much the right to enter shows as a history you can check: who the ancestors were, what tests they had, what illnesses they had, and whether the line includes matings between close relatives.

Along with the paper, you lose the parents' tests for HCM, PKdef and SMA: a cat of unknown origin doesn't have them and can't have them. You lose any way of predicting size, type and temperament. And you lose the chance to go back to the breeder a year later, when something goes wrong.

And then there's the price. A kitten without papers can't cost as much as a pedigree kitten, because none of what you pay a cattery for has gone into it. The usual way people lose money goes like this: a price just below a cattery's, the explanation "at least you're not overpaying for paperwork", and a promise that the cat will grow huge.

What really matters. If a mixed-breed cat is sold cheaply or given away to a good home, that's an honest deal and there's nothing wrong with it. Only one scenario doesn't work: paying almost a pedigree price and expecting to get a pedigree cat.

Myth 5. "You can get a pedigree for any cat later"

No, and it's important to understand this before you buy.

A pedigree is issued on the basis of the birth certificate, and the birth certificate after a particular litter has been inspected by a club where both parents are registered and approved for breeding. This chain can't be rebuilt after the fact.

There is a separate procedure for cats without papers: registration with a club on the basis of phenotype, after an expert assessment. Many breeds were originally built this way, and some systems still allow it.

But it's a formal process with records kept by the club, and the resulting document is not a full pedigree: it shows no ancestry, because the ancestry is unknown. Besides, it's rarely used for Maine Coons today: the breed was established long ago, and there's no reason to bring in blood of unknown origin.

What really matters. In an ad, the word "phenotype" (as in "a Maine Coon by phenotype") usually means a mixed-breed cat. Ask straight out whether the cat has any club document at all.

How to read a pedigree

Look at the first two generations. Parents and grandparents account for most of what the kitten will inherit.

Look for cattery prefixes. Different prefixes in different branches mean the breeder works with several lines. The same prefix repeated over and over is a reason to ask how closely related the cats are.

Check for matings between close relatives. If the same cat appears several times within the nearest generations, that's inbreeding. It's used deliberately to fix traits, but it fixes hidden defects too, so it's fair to ask the breeder about it.

And most important of all: a pedigree is no substitute for tests. Ask for the lab reports on both parents, separately from the pedigree.

The paper is worth exactly as much as the work behind it

A pedigree on its own doesn't make a cat bigger, more affectionate or healthier. It makes it verifiable, and that is worth paying for.

The full list of a kitten's documents is covered in a separate article. Kitten classes are described in Kitten classes, and pricing in Kitten prices.

Home in Raksi Maine Coon cattery, St Petersburg. Our breeding cats' pedigrees are on the Females and Males pages, and our kittens are on the Kittens page.