Maine Coon cats have long been known as gentle giants. That’s because these big, adorable fluffs can reach impressive proportions. The weight range for females is 10 to 15 pounds, while males can tip the scales at 15 to 25 pounds.

So, because the Kefir kitten is a Maine Coon, cat mom Yuliya Minina expected it to be big. But he never expected that kefir would grow so large that people would mistake him for a dog. And he hasn’t finished growing either. Not even two years yet, Kefir still has a couple of years until it reaches full size. And now that it’s been discovered by cat lovers on Instagram, we can follow along as Kefir continues to grow!

When Yuliya saw Kefir as a snow-white kitten in a cattery near her home in Stary Oskol, Russia, she knew they were meant to be together. She chose the name Kefir for him because his fur was silky and white, like milk drink. And just like the rich drink for which it is named, Kefir only had an appetite for meat and all-natural foods, and it turned up its adorable pink nose at dry kibble!

Even as a little kitty with big ears and snowshoe legs, Kefir had a huge personality. As the months passed, his body joined at the ears and feet to form a huge cat with an even bigger heart. Although Kefir is a monstrous cat, Yuliya said that it is “a gentle creature in the body of a formidable beast”.

At just one year and nine months old, Kefir already outperforms the average Maine Coon male at 26.5 pounds. And since Maine Coons don’t stop growing until they are three or four years old, who knows how big this kid will grow.

And that could become a problem for Yuliya’s dream!

“At night he likes to climb on me and sleep. When I was a kitten, it didn’t cause me any inconvenience,” Yuliya explained. “But now it has become big and heavy, and of course it’s hard to sleep like that.”

The only other problem with such a big fluffy cat is all the cat hair tumbleweeds Yuliya has to sweep up! Otherwise, as his mother told Bored Panda, Kefir is “a truly perfect cat.”

“This is one super smart cat. Strangely, you can feel the general mood in the house,” Yuliya shared. “Kefir does not meow, does not scream and does not damage furniture”.

And when visitors arrive, he welcomes them into the house like a polite cat. But they are often confused when they first see the big boy, and Yuliya explains, “A lot of people think it’s a dog at first.”

But Kefir is all kitty and one hundred percent extra large, with Yuliya vowing there’s no photoshop involved in her photos. And because the world has fallen in love with kefir, she decided to take over her mom’s Instagram account more often. So check out Kefir on Instagram or visit him on TikTok!