Rural Manitoba: In the year 2000, a Canadian born, polydactyl foundation Maine Coon was added to my breeding program.

I called him “Prairiepoly of Masterweaver”. Due to the value he presented, not only for me personally but also for the Maine Coon breed in general - a breed that had been reduced to a limited gene pool and only one or two (?) of the “original” Poly lines at the time,

I named a whole bloodline after him. I chose the word “Masterweaver” not to blow my own horn but rather to give glory to our God who created the whole universe and every living creature in it. Prairiepoly’s F2 son, “Prairiebaby Masterweaver P”, was then paired with three of my foundation females, in order to integrate the Snowshoe type foot (MW Polydactyl on all 4 feet) into several pedigrees. A lot of passion and effort was poured into these Masterweaver cats, by trying to improve their weaknesses and to enhance their natural strengths.

In 2010, some of us were finally able to show our Polydactyl Maine Coons in TICA "New Traits”. This was kind of ironic since about 35 - 40 % of the original Maine Coon breed was actually Polydactyl (lol).

The promotion of Polydactyl Maine Coons resulted in a positive reverse effect on our breed.

Showing polys has also served as a perfect tool to educate a deserving public and to eliminate some of the old ‘myths’ on Polydactylism. Polydactyl Maine Coons are super cool!!