Maine coons and Norwegian Forest cats are two "natural breeds" that developed without human interference. And, then, they became show cats. But, the basic "look" has been preserved, and the personality as well. I found charming videos of Norwegian Forest cat kittens, and tried to explain why the faces were "classic" for Norwegian Forest cats, and different from "classic" Maine coons (post is here ). I searched for pictures of white cats of the respective breeds, thinking it would be easier to see the differences, without the distraction of the markings, which are basically the same. I found great photos of white Norwegian Forest cats, here , but, none of white Maine coons that I could use. UNTIL... I found Trilloteam , a cattery in Italy passionate about Maine coons. I posted a wonderful video from them Maine coon kitties from Italy- the "Awesome Eight" . The following photos seemed the best to illustrate the differences in loo...

These are just plain wonderful photos of white Norwegian Forest cats. I went to flickr to find more photos to show the differences I see between Norwegian Forest cats and Maine coons, to follow up on an earlier post here . And, then I found these stunning photos. There are a lot more in this flickr set Noé et Oracio des Fines Terres from noeoracio . I chose just a few of the many that are available under the Creative Commons License. I give the links for the individual photos at the bottom of this post-- I don't want to interrupt the visual flow of these fine photos with text. From top to bottom, the photos from noeoracio are here , here , here , here and here . Enjoy!

Not all white cats are deaf. It depends on many things. This is Casper, a polydactyl cat rescued from the Human's yard. Direct link is here Human says: "6 days 6 weeks 6 months; Well close enough, we found this little kitten abandoned in our yard, still had his eyes closed, middle segment is about Christmas (playing with the wrapping bow), and last segment shows his polydactyl 6 toes, brown/blue eyes. He is not deaf as many are. And just as cute as can be." Casper has one blue eye and one brown/ amber eye, which is a good indicator that he's deaf in one ear, on the side with the blue eye. A good discussion of odd-eyed cats is here. Intro: "What causes odd-eyed cats? The color of eyes of an odd eyed cat are blue plus either yellow, orange or green." An explanation about the cause of white coats and hereditary deafness is here. And, this article gives even more information about the genetics of cat coat color- and white fur and deafness in cats here. Ma...