Maine Coon polydactyl for Championship status

In September of 2009 twenty five members of PolyStandard submitted an Application to TICA for Advancement of a New Trait (polydactylism) to Championship Status. This Application will be voted on by the members of the TICA Maine Coon Breed section in December of 2009. Should the vote be favourable, Breeders and Fanciers of TICA will be able to show the Maine Coon polydactyl for Titles and Points beginning May 1st 2010, thus becoming the second major Cat Association in the World to accept the MC poly for Championship Status. This will follow the New Zealand Cat Fancy's approval of the MC poly in the Show Ring at the beginning of 2009. PolyStandard encourages you, if you are a TICA member, to make your voice be heard by voting on this proposal. Of course we invite you to Vote YES. We thank you in advance! A copy of our Rationale for submitting the Application with supporting documentation can be viewed by clicking HERE!

Maine Coon poly and non-poly living together peacefully

Bronze Double Grand Champion

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Jazz (Mainelymagic The Jazzman P) is now a Bronze Double Grand Champion. He got the requisite number of points at the last show but one and now we are plugging away aiming for silver and possibly gold (the top award possible)

I am very proud of my pink and white boy. He has been a great cat to show, he has an unflappable nature and takes the whole thing in his stride. It is wonderful that a poly, and a Gen 3 cat (in NZ we call F1, F2 etc Gen1 and Gen2) who is not even on the full register yet has done so well. The first year for showing polys has been a success. I never thought this time last year that I would be writing this, just goes to show what dogged perseverance can do (that and a hard head LOL)



hugs

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Soozn =^.^=
Mainelymagic Maine Coons
www.mainecoon.co.nz

NZ Nationals - and a new Double Grand Champion

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Hi all,
The NZ Nationals have just been held over the weekend.

I took Jazz only, as Diggie does not travel as well. I thought I'd spare him the plane trip.

There were 5 Maine Coons in the entire cat section. The other 4 were full showlines and included imports from Europe and others from US lines. Jazz is still on our provisional register as he is part foundation - from Maine.

I was going to post on the list before I went, but I didn't think Jazz would do that well being a foundation poly. He proved me wrong! His results, which I am bursting with pride to announce, were:
First day (a bit stressed) 3rd best Maine Coon in 2 rings, 4th best Maine Coon in the other. No Top 10 placings
Second day (more relaxed) Best Maine Coon in one ring, 2nd and 3rd in the other two rings. He finalled in 2 rings, 5th Best in Show and 10th Best in Show.

The best of all was that the judge who gave him first Maine Coon (and 5th best in show over all longhair breeds) was the US judge! We had all international judges, the others were from Australia. A group of Maine Coon breeders spoke to him later to ask his opinion of the cats and how they compared to those in the US. He said he hadn't noticed that Jazz was a poly until he was taken out for the finals. He liked his boning and musculature and said he had the best head of the cats. He liked his ear set and the length of muzzle. He was asked if he would have placed him as well if he had noticed he was a poly, and he said it would have made no difference as it is allowed in the NZ standard.

Jazz won enough points at the show (which added to his other points from the other 3 shows) to bring him up to a Double Grand Champion (at least if my math is correct!)

So a momentous weekend for us, Jazz and the polys.

--
Soozn =^.^=
Mainelymagic Maine Coons
www.mainecoon.co.nz

Published Study

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For a number of years, some members of the TICA Breed Section list have been in favour of acceptance for the Maine Coon polydactyl. To further this endeavour they have shown in the New Traits classes in TICA shows. One of the major obstacles to this was the lack of scientific data concerning the Maine Coon Polydactyl and the request that studies be presented.

In the past a study brought forth from November 12, 1998 using domestic cats, but it was not specific to cat breed.

For the last five years +, Dr. Leslie Lyons, UC Davis, California, has been receiving DNA swabs from breeders and fanciers around the world from Maine Coon polydactyl sires, dams and kittens. This collected data from UC Davis was submitted to MRC-Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Crewe Rd, Edinburgh, to be used in the study referenced below.
There has also been ambassadors for the Maine Coon polydactyl present at the World Cat Congress, as well as other shows in Europe. Dr. Lyons stated emphatically on each and every occasion during the discussion of the Maine Coon polydactyl that there were NO issues with polydactyly even when homozygous.

The latest study is:

Human Molecular Genetics, 2008, Vol. 17, No. 7 978–985
doi:10.1093/hmg/ddm370
Advance Access published on December 21, 2007


MRC-Human Genetics Unit, Western General Hospital, Crewe Rd, Edinburgh EH4 2XU, UK

There is a wealth of information and a number of mediums used in the study. When asked, Dr. Lyons stated specifically that the dna swabs she received for the Maine Coon polydactyl community and Pixie Bob community were used in this study. The discussion of this article summarizes:

DISCUSSION

Analysis of polydactylous cats identified three new mutations associated with preaxial polydactyly. As found for human and mouse (8), the cat mutations reside within the ZRS suggesting that the nature of preaxial polydactyly in cats is equivalent to other mammals. Since these mutations produce a limb-specific phenotype in human with no other discernible physiological defects, we submit that this type of polydactyly has no further detrimental affect on the cat’s health.

The full report can be seen at:

http://www.polytrak.net

On the left side click on INFO/ARTICLES
click on EDINBURGH STUDY

Setting personal preference aside, genetically and health wise the Maine Coon polydactyl is as sound as its regular footed counterparts and consideration should be made for acceptance for Championship Status.
Thanks

Deb Brown

TO IGNORE THE FACTS DOESN'T CHANGE THEM

A Maine Coon Polydactyl is a Maine Coon.
Support for Champion Status - http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/polystandard
Promote the Polys...get your cats listed in PolyTrak!
http://www.polytrak.net
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Showresults

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Moon's show career has ended. Unfortunately she did not like it.

Moon in Arnhem, 13 April 2009

Show: Mundikat Eastershow (Fife)
Adult Class: 09 CAC (10 months and 2 days old)
Judge: John Hansson (GB) President GCCF
Result: CAC

Dondi with ruff

New Traits showreport: CAT (TICA) show in Hellevoetsluis, NL Feb. 28 and March 1 2009

On Saturday there were 4 cats in New Traits. 1 ragdoll and 3 MC polys.
Sunday there were 6 cats in New Traits, the same ragdoll and 5 MC polys; Ormedon’s Ambush P, TLC Polycoon’s Fanny P Write, Vaskebjorns Thurayya P, Leather and Lace Paperdoll P and Cameron Coons Alicia Spinnet P.

The judges were: Massimo Picardello (IT), Alexy Shuchkin (NL), Francine Hicks (USA), Donna Gonyea – Madison (USA) and Jean-Marc Lagarde (Fr).

On Saturday Donna explained to the public that the MC polys are just Maine Coons with extra toes and that the poly breeders and fanciers applied for Championship but were voted down. She suggested next time we’d might better apply for a seperate breed group. Sharon explained that the MC poly breeders and fanciers have discussed this thoroughly and we feel that the MC polys belong within the same class and should get the same rights as the normal footed Maine Coons. Therefore we won’t apply for a seperate breed broup within the Maine Coon breed. She’d understand, but it could take years and we’d might never reach that goal. Because while we’re promoting the MC polys and gaining votes, on the other side, the opposition is gaining NO-votes even harder. We told her the MC poly breeders and fanciers are willing to invest the money (showing, ballot etc.) and time to go for full acceptance. The next day Sharon and I had a private chat with Donna and she said she won’t object to the MC polys, but would never vote different than the outcome of a breed section voting. However she said that some members of the board would vote against the MC polys, no matter what the outcome of the voting of the MC breed section would be. There are 813 MC breed section members. The reason why only 216 members voted last time was because the timing was in between renewing memberships. But that had been our one and only chance. Next time the MC breed section won’t allow this to happen again.

Then we had the judging of Massimo. On Saturday his best New Traits went to the ragdoll, over Ambush. He emphasized ‘Today’. And Jenny said: ‘Well we’ll be back tomorrow.’ After the judging I handed him the article about the MC polys being accepted in NZCF. And I asked him why he opposed the MC polys being accepted in the showring? He said that he was neither against nor in favour. He told me this was the first time he’d actually seen an adult MC poly male of show quality in the showring. He talked about Rh, and I told him that this is a different gene. Then he was talking about whether the boning in the legs of MC polys would be good enough to carry the heavy body weight of the Maine Coon. I said, the extra boning would support that. But he compared it with the Munchkin. We won’t know for sure if the extra bones connected to extra toes are sound and straight. I said if it wasn’t, we would have known by now. But he doubted that. I said so bottom line is: 1. you need proof of the soundness of the boning of MC polys and 2. you need to see more typey adult MC polys in the showring. He told me that he was not important in this issue and referred to Solveigh Pflueger and the MCbreedsection. Besides that he said it would only be a matter of time and numbers (registration of MC polys within TICA) for the MC polys to be accepted in TICA.

On Sunday Sharon and I talked to Francine Hicks. According to Francine, the biggest issue for the MCbreedsection would be that breeders have tried so hard for so many years to breed the trait out of the MC breed. And now other breeders are breeding it back in. And on top of that, want them into the showring. So IMO really a non issue! But we have to face it anyway.

So on Sunday the last ring for New Traits was Massimo’s. Our expectations were high. He talked about the MC polys, his concerns about the boning. And said he was very impressed with the show quality of the MC polys being shown today. Especially Ambush who could easily compete against the normal footed Maine Coons he saw today and would even beat some of them. The compliment couldn’t be bigger. And then.....the moment we’d all been waiting for, Massimo gave the ribbon for best New Traits to Ambush (over the Ragdoll). Massimo explained that it was a lot easier to breed a good type Ragdoll in a different colour than a show quality MC poly. We were all very pleased. Especially since we all know where Massimo is coming from.

We’ve handed the article about acceptance of the MC poly in NZCF to all judges and all Maine Coon breeders attending the show. We also had a large MC poly information stand.

For the MC poly cause this was a good show. And then, coming home, finding Suzan’s message about Diggie and Jazz becoming the first MC poly Champions in the world!!!! That was really the cherry on the cake! Or should I say, the icing on the carrot cake? ;-))

A momentous day

February 28th, the NZCF held the first show of the 2009 show season. It's hard to believe that the day I have been praying and hoping for and waiting for so many years for, has finally happened :-)).

It was a small show held in a provincial town on the West Coast of the South Island, but a big one as far as polys are concerned and one that will take its place in the history of Maine Coons.

I had 2 polys, Diggie (Mainelymagic Digitally Enhanced) and Jazz (Mainelymagic The Jazzman P) entered in the entire section. This was the very first time in the entire world that a polydactyl was to be legitimately judged as a Maine Coon and eyes were on us :-))). Everyone was waiting to see how they fared, particularly as I was told that 2 of the 4 judges were against polys.

I am very proud to announce that both cats did extremely well. They were the only 2 Maine Coon entire cats there (other breeders brought kittens and neuters), but they were judged against the other breeds for overall placings.

Diggie was favoured over Jazz by 2 of the 4 judges. He went on to receive 2 Runner Up Best in Show awards from these judges, beaten both times only by a Persian who last year won the National Points Award for Best Longhair kitten (All Breeds). Diggie also received 2 awards for Best Groomed.

The other 2 judges picked Jazz over Diggie for Best of Breed (an even split LOL). He was placed by one as 3rd overall and by the other as Best in Show!!!!! He also won a Breeders Award of Merit for us. This is a special award given at the judge's discretion, they are highly prized by breeders and mean more to most than the placing awards. Needless to say, we were over the moon. Jazz also won 2 awards for Best Temperament and one for Best Groomed.

The night after the show we were having a celebratory party with the other Maine Coon breeders at the show, we were all excited at how the polys had done and also one of the MCO entire kittens who did extremely well. The others had received many texts and phone calls asking how the polys had done at the show. There was evidently a lot of interest in how they had fared being judged for the first time. I was happy that even the judges who did not personally like polys judged them well and fairly. Only one judge seemed to be influenced by their feet, the others judged them according to their heads (ears, muzzles, profiles etc), body, boning and tail length and didn't bother with the feet other than to remark that the cat was a poly.

So many set backs and disappointments but now it has happened. Polydactyls judged as Maine Coons, Polydactyl Maine Coons taking out Best In Show, Polydactyl Maine Coon Champions (both Diggie and Jazz now have the title of Champion!) Woo hoo!

Photos from the show:

CH Mainelymagic The Jazzman P (1 year old):




CH Mainelymagic Digitally Enhanced (4 years old);




regards from an exhausted but elated
Soozn =^.^=
Mainelymagic Maine Coons
www.mainecoon.co.nz

Polydactyls accepted for showing in New Zealand YAY!!!!!!!!!!!

Copy of the post sent to the TICA list, January 6, 2009

I am proud to tell you all that the New Zealand Cat Fancy has accepted polydactyly in the Maine Coon breed and 2009 will see the polys on the show bench, taking their rightful place (in my opinion of course LOL) alongside their straight footed brothers and sisters.

New Zealand has long been a country that embraces fairness and equality. We are made up of people who are not afraid to do something different to the rest of the world if we think it is right. NZ was the first country in the world to allow votes for women and I hope that, as with equality for women, the rest of the world will slowly follow our lead and treat polys equally.

I hope you will all see over time that nothing has changed, some people will continue breeding polys because they like them and others won't because they don't.....just as it is now. The cats will look the same, the breed won't deteriorate because a previously ignored section of it is ignored no longer...just maybe the breed will improve as the disenfranchised poly breeders come back into the fold and improve the quality of their cats because of the showing exposure. My big wish for the New Year is that other registries including TICA will follow suit.

I would like to thank all the Maine Coon breeders in NZ who did not allow prejudice to overcome their sense of fairness, and who voted three times over the years to accept polydactyly. In particular I'd like to thank my friend Zena for her unswerving support of the poly cause.

regards
Soozn =^.^=
Mainelymagic Maine Coons
www.mainecoon.co.nz