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Health

Cattery Macadamia participates in the health programmes of Pawpeds which are set up for Maine Coons. The program is focused to eliminate disease and dangerous mutations within the breed without losing too much of valuable genes in the population. When participating we test all of our (potential) breeding cats. The test results helps to make better choices as a breeder to select a good breeding cat. The guidelines that PawPeds provides for breeding are also the guidelines of this cattery. 

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The PawPeds Health programme for Maine Coons contains testing on the following:

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Besides the PawPeds health programmes we also test our cats on:

  • Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) - Kidney echo from the age of 1 year

  • Luxating Patella's (PL) - Manual check of the knees and elbows from the age of 1 year

  • Feline Leukemie Virus (FeLV) - Bloodtest 

  • Feline Imunodeficientie Virus (Fiv) - Bloodtest 

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The DNA combitest provides much more results then only HCM1, PKdef and SMA. Test results like HCM 3, GSD type IV etc are also part of the test results. Those tests are not relevant or validated for the Maine Coon breed and are therefore worthless. For this reason we don't publish those results on our website.

Although breeding is a hobby and my passion but not my profession. For cats it could be a matter of life or death. Therefore as a breeder I take my responsibility very serious. Selecting a single cat for breeding could make a major impact on the breed. For this reason we test our cats on all possible validated test for Maine Coons, to get more information on the health of our cats. With all this testing it still never gives 100% guarantee that the cat is healthy and will give healthy kittens. But we do everything that is possible to exclude health problems from the start.

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On top of that I find it important to publish the test results in Pawpeds. By participating with the health programme we agree with publishing before the test is taken. Good or bad results are published in this way to create an honest picture of where the breed stands and to help other breeders to select or avoid certain lines.

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Testing is not the only thing we keep in mind when deciding to breed with a cat. There are many other factors to consider if a cat is fit for breeding. To name a few other aspects that we take into consideration:

  • good orthopedic structure is a very underestimated topic, but very important for the agility of the cat

  • good oral health and overal strong immune system since birth

  • temper

  • type meets the breed standard. Minor faults can be acceptable when it can be improved in the next generation. 

  • genetic diversity 

  • value of the pedigree

  • health of the ancestors

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