Health
Cattery Macadamia participates in the healthprograms 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 testresults helps to make better choices as a breeder to select a good breeding cat. The guidelines that Pawpeds give for breeding are also our guidelines of this cattery.
The Pawpeds healthprogram for Maine Coons contains testing on the following:
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Hypertrofische Cardiomyopathie (HCM) - Heart echo on 1-, 3-, 5- and 8- years of age
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Hypertrofische Cardiomyopathie (HCM) - DNA test HCM1 (MyBPC3-1 gen)
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Hip Dysplasia (HD) - Photo of the hips at the age of 1-year (minimum)
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PK Deficiency - DNA test
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Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) - DNA test
Besides the Pawpeds healthprograms we also test our cats on:
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Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) - Kidney echo from the age of 1 year
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Luxating Patella's (PL) - Manual check of the knees and elbows from the age of 1 year
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Feline Leukemie Virus (FeLV) - Bloodtest
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Feline Imunodeficientie Virus (Fiv) - Bloodtest
The DNA combitest provides much more results then only HCM1, PKdef and SMA. Testresults like PKD, HCM 3, GSD type IV etc are also part of the testresults. 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 healthproblems from the start.
On top of that I find it important to publish the testresults in Pawpeds. By participating with the healthprogram 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.