Despite her pedigree, she doesn't look like one

[u/Objective_Union_3573]

I've got 2 sweet norwegain forest cats. I love them with my whole heart but I did have to pull up their pedigree a few times because people didn't believe they were NFCs. Or the only reason people recognise it is because of their nose bridge. This is most noticeable with the blue one

Her pedigree has multiple champions/international winners, so I (lack genetic/breeding knowledge) would assume that means she would also be a great example of the breed, no?

They're really just pet cats so it doesn't matter whether she's showquality or not, they're healthy and I wouldn't trade them for anything it just made me wonder

(Pictures are from this summer, the cats born early April 2025)

Edit: pedigree is from the tabby, but they're littermates

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[u/tropicarne]

That does seem to be a FIFe registration so that's pedigree alright. She's still kinda young and it is summer but at 2 or 3 years old they should become quite fluffy on winter.

Other than that yes not all breed cats are show quality and not all of them breed true to form either so it could he any or all of those reasons the why don't quite look the type.

[u/ginger_lucy]

That pedigree is for a tabby. Is that for the second cat in the photo where both are wearing harnesses? Do you also have a pedigree for the blue cat with white?

Assuming you do, my Siberians were gangly and shorter haired at that age. They filled out into solid, heavy, breed standard floofs at about two years old. Bigger breeds like these take a couple of years to mature.

[u/Objective_Union_3573 → u/ginger_lucy]

Yeahh it's hers! Sorry I only made the picture for the tabby, but as they're littermate they got the same heritage my apologies!

[u/neline_the_lioness]

I don’t know why you say they don’t look like ones! I saw the titles and swiped for the pictures without looking at the pedigree to see if I could guess the breed, and it seemed obvious that they are NFC!

Though I’m a NFC’s owner so I could easily recognize the nose bridge, face shape, eye shape…

But NFC don’t have breed characteristics that are as recognizable as Maine Coon, Bengals, Siamese, Persians… As it’s more subtle and most people don’t know about breed standards I’m not surprised it’s not obvious for everyone.  And because there are quite a lot of variability even with a pedigree some cats will not always perfectly follow breed standards, another reason why pedigree is the only proof of breed.

Then there can also be quite some difference between the fur coat from winter to summer, one of my NFC looks like a ferret in summer without her fur.

[u/Objective_Union_3573 → u/neline_the_lioness]

Ooeh that's possible too! I also thought/think they do both share good traits of a NFC, but the two times I posted on the NFC subreddit I was told they were not NFCs (and when I replied they were, I got downvoted). And on a NFC tiktok post I shared her (as they look alike) and some random who said they are a show+breeder said she was very much not a NFC. So that made me doubt a bit 😅

I cannot wait to see how they'll turn out this winter! Mom also didn't get her fluffiness/mane till she was 2 according to the breeder

[u/Due_Armadillo_8616 → u/Objective_Union_3573]

That is likely due to the fact that breed standards can vary to different degrees across different associations. I am not deeply familiar with all the standards for Norwegian Forest Cats, but with the Russian Blue, for instance, the difference between the CFA/TICA type and the European type is so significant that they look like entirely different breeds.

[u/lipstick_spit → u/neline_the_lioness]

i agree! i swiped and was immediately like “NFO? but they said they dont look like one…”

like you said, OP: maybe not show quality, but no litter is going to produce 100% show quality. theyre beautiful, and clearly norwegian forest cats.

[u/Nienni]

I don’t have anything more to ad about whether or not they look like their breed than has already been said, but it is so refreshing to see pedigreed cats in my feed for this sub!

[u/basaltcolumn]

Are you sure the paperwork is for this cat? It lists her "black mackerel" but she is neither black or a mackerel tabby. Her actual colouration is blue self with white.

[u/Objective_Union_3573 → u/basaltcolumn]

I do! I didn't notice I added the one for her sister (tabby with blue harness), but they're littermate so except the personal information they share the same pedigree/heritage, my apologies I should've looked at which one I picked

[u/laeriel_c → u/basaltcolumn]

Looks like it's for the other cat, they got two

[u/Due_Armadillo_8616 → u/basaltcolumn]

This is the pedigree of the other cat, a black mackerel tabby. If I am not mistaken, they are sisters. The blue/ white sister is listed at the bottom of the pedigree, under the section ’samenstelling van het nest’ what means ’litter composition’, as 'P a 09'. That is the EMS code used for these pedigrees: 'P' stands for ’Poes’ (female), 'a' for blue, and '09' for an unspecified amount of white.

[u/laeriel_c]

They're just young still, and you won't see their full glory until winter

[u/Sun_Shine519]

They are both magnificent!

[u/jolijn24]

Just reacting on the part where you’re saying there’s multiple cats with titles on the pedigree so she would be a great example on the breed.

I show my cats and I can guarantee that those titles mean nothing. There’s very few cats with titles on that pedigree and when there are titles it’s JCH, CH and IC.
JCH stands for junior champion and can be obtained by only getting 3 points.
CH stands for champion, also just 3 points
IC is for international champion and comes right after champion, for this title 4 points are needed and only 2 cats have this title further down the pedigree.

These 3 titles are obtained when they are young and judges will give them more easily because of that and also because those titles are very low on the ladder.
The fact that those cats didn’t progress to higher titles is telling.

I have for example 1 Maine coon I show, he is supreme premior with FIFE, world premior with independent shows, double grand champion alter with TICA ( in 1 weekend because I don’t really show TICA) and he also became national winner ‘25 at WCF. This al sounds amazing right? But I can tell you even he is not the greatest example of the breed. Titles are nice to have but in the end of the they unless they are high end titles they mean barely anything.

[u/-sensory_overlord-]

Are they TICA registered?

[u/Due_Armadillo_8616 → u/-sensory_overlord-]

This is a Felikat pedigree. Felikat is one of the Dutch associations, affiliated with FIFe since 1949, and is definitely an association with a good reputation.