Hopefully he’s still with his mum given the young age.
Concerning the owners appear to be breeding generations of moggies.

He needs to be neutered ASAP, while he’s very cute and will make a lovely pet he has no place in a breeding program as that consists of pedigree cats.

 

As far as the breeding world is concerned, he's a moggy/DSH mackerel tabby - I'd strongly encourage you to neuter him. It's highly atypical for anybody to produce 1/2 MCO, much less 1/4 MCO, so he's likely from a BYB, if he has any in him at all - it's common for people to call their tabby DLH MCO, when they're not, as most people are under the misconception that most cats are a breed or mix of breeds, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Most cats are randombred without any significant breed ancestry.

It's a misconception that half MCO will grow as large as full MCO - that highly depends on the genetics of the non MCO parent. When crossing with a moggy, you never really know what you're going to get.

Your kitten is cute, but I see no indication of MCO lineage, nor a reason to breed him. He also looks extremely young, nowhere near 8 weeks in the photos you posted - is he still with mum? kittens need to stay for at least 12 weeks.

Here's the only confirmed half MCO SH kittens I know of, from a local breeder's oops litter, all of which have since been neutered and rehomed. You can see that they all still have the distinctive MCO structure with the head and ear shape (though the head is, overall, much rounder than you'd see on an MCO), which I don't see in your boy. By a grandparent away, you're likely to see less resemblance, of course (which is why you don't crossbreed, especially on purpose), but things like eye and overall head shape tend to stay for a while. The ear shape and set will tend to stay, as well.

 

Well I'm not an expert at all but there are lots of sources that indicate 8 weeks is perfectly fine. No he is not with his mother now, there is little I can do to change that now, he is at home with us and I'm playing with him and taking all the steps I can in these early days to make sure he grows up to be a good cat. All advice is taken on board.

I am getting a picture of his half Maine Coon father sent soon

 

Rescues move kittens on quickly as they always have others waiting for their spaces. I breed registered pedigree kittens, mine are usually only starting to wean at 8 weeks and would be very unwell if they went to their new homes at that age - not to mention the GCCF require I keep them until at least 13 weeks by which time they are fully vaccinated.

What do you hope a photo of his father will achieve?

 

His grandfather is alleged to be a Main Coon. Even if his grandfather is actually an MCO he is a domestic shorthair.

There is absolutely no good reason to breed from him, get him castrated as soon as your vet will do it. There are already more than enough beautiful kittens born in rescues and so on.

Hopefully your vet will castrate at 4 months, which is the age the main cat & rescue organisations in the UK recommend:

https://icatcare.org/advice/neutering-your-cat/

 

I disagree about the lineage, the seller had no reason to lie, it was only when I asked the lineage that he even mentioned it

 

Because they don't know any better? As I mentioned in my post - many people assume that cats have a breed or breed ancestry, even though they don't. Loads of people around the internet calling their DLH Maine Coon or Maine Coon mixes when they don't look anything like the breed.

Well I'm not an expert at all but there are lots of sources that indicate 8 weeks is perfectly fine. No he is not with his mother now, there is little I can do to change that now, he is at home with us and I'm playing with him and taking all the steps I can in these early days to make sure he grows up to be a good cat. All advice is taken on board.

That is extremely outdated and misguided - where are you located that 8 weeks is considered a good age to leave mum? Many kittens aren't even fully weaned at 8 weeks. Also, your kitten still has blue eyes - no way that he was 8 weeks when sold. I'd report the person who you bought the kitten from, as they're selling kittens way too early.

 

The photo will achieve nothing I was merely curious about lineage, I didn't expect to get such a backfire of comments.

With regards to the weaning, can you please advise me what I can do now as now I am really worried, I've researched diets and I am NOT going to give him processed anything, I will either homemake the cat food with correct percentages or order from the best sources online. I'm worried now though, help

 

The photo will achieve nothing I was merely curious about lineage, I didn't expect to get such a backfire of comments.

With regards to the weaning, can you please advise me what I can do now as now I am really worried, I've researched diets and I am NOT going to give him processed anything, I will either homemake the cat food with correct percentages or order from the best sources online. I'm worried now though, help

Guess you joined & posted without taking a look at what was already here. Any hint of a poster being a BYB and they get short shrift here.

If he is eating & putting weight & has normal poo on he is fine. Making your own food is laudable but has quite a few pitfalls. The best foods online are cereal & grain free, I buy mine from Zooplus & Amazon. There is a sticky about this:

https://www.petforums.co.uk/threads...o.uk/threads/zooplus-cat-food-list-just-the-good-stuff-work-in-progress.440844/

 

I have a 8 week year old kitten whose Grandfather on the male side was a Maine Coon. I researched online that half Maine Coons can grow to be as large as Maine Coon's themselves and I was wondering whether it also might be possible for him?

Also I was just checking before I get him done in a few months whether or not it was worth holding off doing that and using him to breed? How desirable would he be in the breeding world? I'm new to that sort of thing so I was just asking for opinions from experts. It was difficult for me to picture his coat fully but he has an amazing coat on his chest also that is stripey!

Thanks

You have asked for the opinions of experts and you are getting them from breeders on here who are very experienced and well regarded.
Please do not consider breeding with your kitten. He would not be accepted by Maine Coon breeders and breeding moggies is certainly not the way to go.

 

If he’s eating his food, I wouldn’t worry about changing him over, especially quickly — that’s liable to upset his tummy, and kittens get dehydrated quickly from things like diarrhea. Given his age, I’d just keep feeding a kitten wet food until he’s around 12 weeks, as the milky smell that comes with a lot of these formulations will likely encourage him to eat. At that point, you can slowly transition to an all stages wet food.

 

Just checked your photos, he does indeed have blue eyes (I mentioned those above as a clue the seller is lying) and looks tiny. If he is eating solids that's fine, as long as he is growing properly. See my guidelines - 100g at birth and 100g per week. Well 70g at a minimum.

But if he's not really eating he can get dehydrated very easily. It's harder to tell on kittens than cats, but if you lift the scruff of his neck it should snap back, not o down slowly. Compare doing that on the back of a young person's hand and an older person's hand.

You could offer him a bottle of kitten milk replacer - this is not the same as 'kitten milk' sold as an (unnecessary) treat. Royal Canin, Cimicat and Beaphar are all reasonable makes. RC do a kit - or did - which I saw at my vets. It included a bottle & teats as well. You would also want sterlizing tablets from the baby section at the supermarket.

There are also lots of recipies on the Internet for 'kitten goup' - home made milk replacer.

This is the RC kit: https://www.royalcanin.com/uk/cats/products/retail-products/babycat-milk

I'm not sure if they do a similar drum just with the milk powder.

If you don't have a set of electronic kitchen scales that weigh in grams now is the time to get one. With bigger kittens I put a solid dish or mug on before I turn them on, the scales will show zero, pop the kitten in and note the weight. The bigger the weighing platform the easier it is.

 

Many, many years ago I was 'gifted' an allegedly 1/2 Siamese kitten who can only have been 6-8 weeks old. She was full of worms. alive with fleas and not fully weaned. Once sorted out she was a lovely playful little kitten and my companion for the next 18 years.
She was not happy when I met my OH and got married, even less happy when the chldren came along.
My point is that the early rehoming and other problems are fixable with work, this kitten will regard you as her mum and rely on you to teach her how to be a cat.

 

I've just bought kitten milk and goat's milk, I will see which he will prefers? He didn't eat on the first day but now he is drinking water and eating wet food so fingers crossed

 

I don’t see anything distinctly MCO about his ears, but the M is just characteristic of tabbies — in fact not all MCs even have one, as they come in solid colours like black; some tabby MCO won’t have an M, either, and that doesn’t make them meet standard any less. Not sure where the idea that “M means Maine Coon” came from. Perhaps because tabby MCO tend to be most popular.

In any case, best of luck with the little one! Good to hear that he’s eating and drinking. Would be a good idea to have him seen by your vet soon if he hasn’t yet — doesn’t sound like he came from the best start in life, though it’s always a good idea to have any new animal seen by the vet, regardless of origins.

 

I don't see anything distinctly MCO about his ears, but the M is just characteristic of tabbies - in fact not all MCs even have one, as they come in solid colours like black; some tabby MCO won't have an M, either, and that doesn't make them meet standard any less. Not sure where the idea that "M means Maine Coon" came from. Perhaps because tabby MCO tend to be most popular.

In any case, best of luck with the little one! Good to hear that he's eating and drinking. Would be a good idea to have him seen by your vet soon if he hasn't yet - doesn't sound like he came from the best start in life, though it's always a good idea to have any new animal seen by the vet, regardless of origins.

He has been to the vets and had his worm and flea stuff done!

 

Here is the mother

 

His eyes are more grey

 

And what's even funnier is I spoke to a lady in the Pet Shop earlier and she said she had a kitten who was also 8 weeks old without mum, so there must be a lot of us out there doing it wrong

 

I don't think it's "funny" at all. Yes, there ARE a lot of you out there doing it wrong. That's one of the reasons this forum exists, to teach people that kittens need those important 4 weeks with the mother and siblings for crucial social and physical growth.

Especially when they buy from back yard breeders and the kittens are actually even younger than that. It happens all the time to people just like you. Kittens are expensive to feed and litter when they start eating solids, so off they go.

As you say, it's too late for yours now, but no need to continue to perpetuate the fallacy, now that you .know the truth.

Neuter your lovely boy and have many happy years with him.

 

A kitten can leave it's mother between 8 and 12 weeks old but not before, that seems to be a general consensus online so I'm no longer worried that it's been done too early

 

You will always find an answer to suit a disagreement but it is always better to listen to those who know what they are talking about..............

https://www.thesprucepets.com/when-can-kittens-leave-mothers-555163

 

Also with moggies, you’ll rarely know history of diseases, as compared to pedigree cats, where you can track lineage very far back, and through that know what a cat might be genetically prone to. Sure, there are healthy moggies out there, but there are plenty that carry or even have genetic issues that emerge later in life — the idea that moggies are healthier than pedigrees is, on average, false. The purpose of breeding any animal should be, before anything else, improving health and longevity. Then come other important factors, like improving temperament, conformation to breed standard, and quality of colour. None of this is achievable with breeding just because any given cat is pretty.

 

So it's okay for you to breed orientals to make a contribution to colour but it's not okay for people to breed interesting moggies to create colours?

There is nothing necessarily wrong with a moggy but most people worry about the large numbers of random bred cats in rescues looking for homes so it is better to find them homes rather than breed yet more.

When ethical breeders breed pedigree cats, it is usually because they have a passion for the particular breed and wish to breed really good examples. We could be criticised for adding to the overall population of cats but actually pedigree cats are only a tiny proportion of the total.

I bred Siamese and Oriental cats for twenty years and felt I had made a contribution to the colours I helped to develop and the difference I managed to make to the temperament by careful selection of studs etc. With a random bred cat it is much harder to know how a kitten will turn out as it grows.

 

Moggies already come in every color under the sun. There are millions, pick a color, waiting for homes or being dumped in a sack in traffic or abandoned and left to starve and worse.

 

Besides which, pedigree cats in a breeding programme are tested to ensure any kittens are not affected by inheritable diseases.

 

Also with moggies, you'll rarely know history of diseases, as compared to pedigree cats, where you can track lineage very far back, and through that know what a cat might be genetically prone to. Sure, there are healthy moggies out there, but there are plenty that carry or even have genetic issues that emerge later in life - the idea that moggies are healthier than pedigrees is, on average, false. The purpose of breeding any animal should be, before anything else, improving health and longevity. Then come other important factors, like improving temperament, conformation to breed standard, and quality of colour. None of this is achievable with breeding just because any given cat is pretty.

It makes much more sense that moggies are healthier in my opinion. That's why the oldest cats in the world have all been moggies. Hybrid vigour

 

Genetic problems in moggies might not be as easily identifiable but they certainly aren't as common as the ones you all breed

 

I am closing this. Please do not be rude to those who have offered you their advice.