MAINE COON BREED COUNCIL NEWSLETTER FEB. 2007

With many members and new Maine Coon breeders attending the meeting at the International Show, we had a wonderful and productive meeting.  Our meeting was held in the home of Geree Martin.   A great meal and a great time was had by all.  Geree provided a wonderful pasta meal and there was a small raffle that afforded the Breed Council about $50.  A little of the meeting consisted of discussion on the proposed color class re-alignments for our breed and how the ballot might look.

We then had a discussion about other things in our standard which might be made clearer.  We will be discussing these more as time goes on.  Geree and her committee will be asking for your thoughts on the following:  chin, ears, tail (faults), eyes, profile, color and pattern.  Please be on the lookout for emails from Geree.

I would like to give Geree a great big thank you for all her hard work and hospitality. 

Grace Ann Cox did an outstanding job with giving our Breed Booth a new look.  There we many wonderful comments about the booth, and the spectators stopped there for a long time looking at the photos and asking questions.  I thought perhaps we might win an award, but maybe next year.  Thanks, Grace Ann.  Also thanks to all who helped me with setting up the booth and adding some special touches.

Thanks to Betsy Gaither, our Treasurer for keeping our financial records straight.  She reported that we have almost $1000.  This is great news. We really appreciate what you do for us, Betsy.

 We will again this year be doing the awards for the Top 10 Maine Coons in Championship, Kittens, & Premiership.  This includes award booklets.  If you think you may have a cat in the running for one of these awards, please be getting your photos now so you will have plenty of time to get them to us and have your photo included in the award booklet.  Tylene MacKay is in charge of getting the booklet ready to print.  She did a fantastic job last year and I am sure she will do even better this year, if that is possible.  Be on the lookout for emails from her about getting your photos to her.

Our ballot results are as follows: 

Silver Patched Tabby & Silver Patched Tabby & White Color Class  59 YES    7 NO
Eliminate the specific description for Br Tabby & white Vans         59 YES    7 NO
Bi-Color Class (including vans)                                                   60 YES    6 NO
Create Shaded/Smoke & a Shaded/Smoke & white class               58 YES    9 NO

And, the Board ratified all our items as well as giving us a compliment of an excellent job and claps! Thanks for all your input and also for voting.  It is your breed council.

Something I got from the Winn Foundation I would like to pass on to all of you:

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Maine Coon Cats

One genetic mutation that causes HCM in Maine Coon cats has been identified and a test is currently available from the University of Washington, Dr. Meurs lab:
www.vetmed.wsu.edu/deptsvcgl/
Dr. Jerold Bell is providing genetic counseling for several Maine Coon Breeders of affected cats.  It is important to remember that this s a test for one mutation in one breed of cats.  There could be other mutations in the Maine Coon that could cause other forms of HCM.  In addition, if other breeds are tested, a negative result is only negative for this specific gene mutation for MC’s HCM.  Researchers are currently trying to determine what mutations cause this affect on other breeds.

By now, many of you may know that the International show in November of 2007 has been cancelled.  Our only breed council meeting this year will be at the Annual in Austin, TX this June.  I hope many of you will be able to attend.  I may see if I can hold some smaller BC meetings in shows in different regions this year to give many of you a chance to voice your concerns and join in the discussions of our standard.  I will post any news on this or other items to the Maine Coon Breed Council list. 

Respectfully submitted,
Martha Auspitz
MCBC SEC