Your Maine Coon Guide

Maine Coon cats should eat the same food as any other domestic cat. It depends on your budget. But as you are living with a beautiful and probably quite expensive domestic cat you should feed your Maine Coon cat a very high quality diet. This means a high quality wet food diet with the occasional treat if you wish. Image by  Heinz Hummel  from  Pixabay   I have changed my mind somewhat about dry cat food. The best quality dry cat food, although unnatural, are not at all bad and are certainly acceptable for grazing from time to time. I feed my cat Hills Oral Care which I find to be a good food. His coat always feels very nice after he eats it. I think that that is a good sign. I am not sure about the efficacy of specialist oral care dry cat foods with respect to their ability to clean teeth. I don't really believe it but I'm not sure. The convenience of dry cat food makes it attractive and even the more expensive ones can work out more cheaply than wet cat food whi...

Maine Coon with "split face". Photo: Screenshot. This is a very impressive Maine Coon. As you can see she is a tortoiseshell and as you probably know almost all tortoiseshell and calico cats are female. There are a few male tortoiseshell cats (and this might be one of them). Their sex is caused by a genetic aberration because the genetics of tortoiseshell cats dictates that they are almost always female. About one in 3000 are male as I recall. Also, it is not that unusual to see this extreme pattern on the face which creates the appearance of a "split-face". This is not what is called a "chimera" but a normal variation of the tortoiseshell pattern. Sometimes you do see what some people call "two-faced" cats with this sort of face due to a sharply defined pattern down the middle of the face. But the genetics behind that is different to this normal tortoiseshell variation. This is a particularly extraordinary looking Maine Coon cat. Not all Maine C...

Here are 12 alternative origins of the Maine Coon cat. Some are clearly outrageous or fanciful and at the end of this list I tell you the one which is the correct one in my opinion (and as I go along I'll comment)! Maine Coon. Fabulous cat. Photo: in public domain on Pinterest. It is a cross between a house cat or a wildcat and a raccoon. Impossible genetically. The species are too different. It is a cross between a house cat and an American bobcat or the Canadian lynx. This is too fanciful. There is no evidence that this happened and anatomically the theory is unsupported. It is descended from 6 Angora cats that belonged to the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette. A sailor, Capt Samuel Clough of Wiscasset, Maine brought them to the state on board his ship, The Sally , together with other possessions belonging to the Queen. The cats broke free and fended for themselves in the New England countryside founding the breed. It is descended from Norwegian Forest cats which were sent to ...

Richard H Gerardt is a former president of the Cat Fanciers' Association and a distinguished cat show judge. He also bred cats and therefore knows a lot about it. He makes one or two interesting points about cat breeding in his book The Complete Cat Book . The first point he makes which is of interest to me is that (and I'll quote him verbatim): "Male cats produce an especially high proportion of abnormal sperm cells, 25% on the average, compared to males in other species." Beautiful Maine Coon. Photo in public domain He said that if a bull had such a low level of sperm quality they would not be a suitable prospect for a stud. And he goes on to state that the more inbred a male cat is the more abnormal his sperm also is. This, then, makes him less useful as a stud. Therefore, a new breeder of cats should not select a male "that is too closely bred, that is, one with the same cats appearing over and over in his pedigree." The second point that he makes, and w...

I can guarantee, as can almost everybody else, that the popular cat breed called the Maine Coon is not, positively not, half raccoon! How do we know for sure? Because it is genetically impossible. These are two very distinct species of animal and they simply can't mate to produce offspring. There are limits to mating. For instance, the first filial Savannah cat has a serval father (medium-sized wild cat species) and a domestic cat mother. It is quite difficult to breed first filial Savannah cats which is why they are so expensive ($20k). But the serval and domestic cat are the same species. Raccoon. Photo in public domain. But to take two entirely different species of animal and imagine that you can create a wonderfully exotic hybrid simply isn't feasible. It was a bizarre myth that the raccoon was part of this cat's heritage but it is simply untrue. It does beg the question why they decided to name this cat the "Maine Coon". The word "Maine" is a ref...

There was a time, during the early years when the Maine Coon's popularity was in decline that the cat fanciers struggled with writing what they believed to be the correct breed standard. There was competition between what Richard H Gebhardt describes as a "progressive standard" or one which was designed to "describe and preserve an existing cat" i.e. fix the appearance. At this time this cat breed was much more a standard looking cat which is probably why it failed to catch the imagination of the cat loving public of America. Maine Coon. Photo in public domain. A progressive standard is one which allows breeders to constantly "refine" the appearance as they might describe it. But this can lead to extreme breeding and extreme appearances such as is evident in the Persian and Siamese. There was a time, then, went Richard H Gebhardt says that cat fanciers asked, "is the Maine Coon cat simply the long-haired variety of the domestic, or American, sh...

This is an example of extreme breeding. This is a Maine Coon but this cat is an extreme and rare example of this breed. This is not the way they look normally. This face is almost like an aggressive robot with the piercing eyes and the huge muzzle.  Or like a lion's head. The head looks enormous and very heavy. It looks unreal. But it also looks very impressive.  And purchasers like impressive-looking domestic cats. But this not the face of a Maine Coon that wins cat show competitions as it does not fit the breed standard as accurately as the more moderate winners (see below).  In fact, the CFA standard is clear in that the cat should have a balanced appearance although this cat was not bred under the CFA breed standard as I understand it (see below).  Click here for more on the kind of MC which wins at shows . Maine Coon selectively breed to have an extreme face. Image in the public domain. And the Maine Coon is meant to be a large cat, the largest domestic cat b...

  Another big one! Maine Coon 'Blizzard'. Photo: Twitter. Well, Blizzard looks a lot bigger than 17 pounds but he is being held by a young girl which makes him look larger and he is nearer the camera. He looks enormous though and they say that Maine Coons develop slowly and can take years to reach adulthood and their full-size so I would expect Blizzard to end up being around 25 pounds or more. It looks as though he's a silver tabby of the classic tabby variety.

Marty was a black Maine Coon cat whose home was the Mount Washington Observatory which is situated at the US Northeast's highest peak at 6,288 feet. He lived there for a dozen years as the Observatory's mascot cat. There were plans for him to retire from his mountain home in early 2021. He was loved and a special companion to the staff at the Observatory. The Operations Manager Rebecca Scholand said that he had to succumbed an "unforeseen illness". They issued a news release last Monday. Marty. Photo: Mount Washington Observatory Mount Washington Observatory has Arctic-like conditions. A quarter of a million people visit it every year under normal circumstances to sample the peak's extreme conditions which rivals those of Mount Everest and the Polar regions. They have accommodation there which is described as cosy so tourists can stay overnight. No doubt Marty was a familiar sight to the tourist as well. I would expect that he lived inside a lot of the time bea...

By photographer Robert Sijka. Great work. This is one of those Maine Coons with a human face and it happens to be a young one who looks wise beyond his years. It's like looking at a human child who has grown up too quickly and will no doubt become a star at something because they are always talented. It's like looking at Mozart but a feline version! The photographer is superb and he has taken many beautiful photographs of Maine Coon cats. Of course, he has been successful in sourcing some wonderful animals. Perhaps he knows a fantastic breeder who has created a long line of beautiful Maine Coons. I don't know but his photographs have been published widely on the Internet. Always adopt from a shelter :)  . I know I am praising a cat breeder and suggesting that you only adopt rescue cats but that is the nature of this: I love great looking cats but my heart is tender for rescues. The latter always wins.

This is one of those Maine Coons with a human face which are bred in Russia by a Russian breeder. The breeder’s name is Tatiana Rastorgueva and her business is: Cattery Catsvill County. Her website is: MCOON.RU. The picture below is by her I suspect. In this instance a young Maine Coon has a funny human face. This is a young cat with the face of an older human and the human is probably a man. I see a male human face in that cat face! This is confusing. A few months ago I wrote about Maine Coons with human faces so I have a page on this which you might like to read . It is all about selective breeding. No doubt this breeder decided to create a breeding line which produced cats with human faces. It may have happened accidentally by which I mean she probably bumped into a Maine Coon which she thought looked a bit like a human, bought their cat and then selectively bred that cat with another to gradually, over time, create a whole family of fascinating-looking Maine Coons. They are extreme...

Photo: Helmi Flick You may wish to take out a pet health insurance policy on your Maine Coon cat. Here are nine tips to ensure that the insurer pays out and to make sure that you've not missed something which results in a non-payment on a claim. Make sure that the details regarding your Maine Coon are up-to-date and notify them of any change in circumstances which includes moving home and relinquishing your cat, which is highly unlikely! Your insurer will probably not cover your Main Coon if he or she is used for commercial purposes such as breeding. It may also include the cat being used as a therapy animal. I would certainly check this. Make sure that your Main Coon is within the minimum and maximum age limits for qualifying pets under the insurance policy. If you're concerned about cover for dental health matters then check the policy because not all pet insurance policies cover this aspect of health i.e. it is not always included as standard. Pet insurance policies have a 1...

Don't pick up a Maine Coon like this, please. I realise that the reason is to show off the length of this cat but it is wrong particularly for a big, heavy cat. It'll place too much strain on the certain parts of the body such as the spine and the shoulder joints. Below the Maine Coon picture is another showing how to pick up a cat. This is how you pick up a domestic cat. The illustration by Kattaddorra, a cat lover.

CFA Maine Coon standard for tail -- TAIL: long, wide at base, and tapering. Fur long and flowing . Well, a magnificent tail. Fully plumed as they say in the cat fancy. This Maine Coon is a calico - tortoiseshell-and-white - which is why the tail has those super highlights across it. People understimate the value of a good tail on a domestic cat to enhance attractiveness! :) They are important and the Cat Fanciers' Association breed standard recognises this.

The CFA breed standard for legs and feet of the Maine Coon includes the phrase "well tufted" for their feet: LEGS and FEET: legs substantial, wide set, of medium length, and in proportion to the body. Forelegs are straight. Back legs are straight when viewed from behind. Paws large, round, well-tufted . Five toes in front; four in back. Well, here is a nice photograph (which I have presumed is in the public domain) of a glorious grey/silver tabby Maine Coon with well tufted feet.

This is a video of a beautiful Maine Coon (calico - tortie-and-white) who is exploring the water in a lake for the first time. His gentle owners apparently wanted him to experience water in this way. I think it's a great idea. You can see him (I am presuminng that this cat is a male for the sake of convenience in writing this article) pawing at the water as if to test it and play with it. The substance is novel to him and he's not quite sure about it. He gingerly goes into the water for the same reason. It's all brand-new to him. His entire life has been spent on dry land and here he is half-immersed in the liquid.  Screenshot from video below It gave me the idea that when Maine Coons play with the water in their water bowls they're doing it because they are interested in it and they're a bit unsure about it as a substance . Yes, they drink it instinctively but as a substance in its own right they are unsure about it and therefore they are testing it and playing wit...

This photograph is published here with Warren Photographic's written permission. He is a specialist animal photographer. I'm not altogether sure that this sweet, little black kitten is a Main Coon but I don't know because they develop into an adult Maine Coon appearance. I am one day late because Halloween was yesterday but just about within the limit of justifying publishing the picture today, the day after. It's a nice picture particularly as the cat is black. We all know the inherent dangers for black cats at this time because of superstitions over witchcraft. Yes, it is still possible that somebody, somewhere is practising witchcraft, a throwback to the Dark Ages when there were real witches who were killed out of the superstitions of ignorant Christians. I say "real" witches. In my opinion they weren't real at all because witchcraft doesn't really exist. But that's another topic.

The CFA breed standard makes the Maine Coon "ruff" desirable: COAT: heavy and shaggy; shorter on the shoulders and longer on the stomach and britches. Frontal ruff desirable . Texture silky with coat falling smoothly. It is interesting that it should be a "frontal ruff" whatever that means! It must mean that the ruff is predominantly at the front. The word "ruff" comes from the human clothes of Western, Central and Northern Europe from the mid-sixteenth century to the mid-seventeenth century. The picture of the Maine Coon on this page illustrates the ruff for this breed. Picture in the public domain It is a bit shaggy but Maine Coons should have shaggy coats. The ruff develops gradually. The picture below is of a human ruff. You can see the similarity! Cat breeders also refer to the term "britches" to describe the longer hair around the upper part of the hind leg . Johannes Verspronck  -  Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem.

Heterochromia iridum means odd-eye colour in layperson's language. There are two cats in the picture as you can see. Both are totally white and both have odd-eye colour. They have the classic odd-eye colour which is one is blue and the other is gold-yellow. The cat in the background is not a Maine Coon in my view. If she is then she does not have the right type i.e. appearance to be a show cat because the muzzle is not strong enough and the ears are no lynx tipped. The cat in the foreground is very much a Maine Coon. Odd-eye colour is very common in all-white cats whether they are purebred or random bread. This is because the dominant white gene which removes pigmentation from the hair strands also removes pigmentation from one of the eyes leaving that eye blue. It is also claimed that inbreeding ("a lack of genetic diversity ") predisoposes animals to this condition. The blueness is caused by the refraction of light through the eye rather than by pigmentation in the ey...

CFA breed standard for ears: EARS: Shape: large, well-tufted, wide at base, tapering to appear pointed. Set: approximately one ear’s width apart at the base; not flared. "Well-tufted" means lynx tips. The word "lynx" is a reference to the lynx wild cat species which has tufts of hair coming out of the tip of their ears. The breed standard demands it. The CFA standard for the muzzle is equally clear: MUZZLE/CHIN: is visibly square, medium in length and blunt ended when viewed in profile. It may give the appearance of being a rectangle but should not appear to be tapering or pointed. Note the "visibly square" description and "blunt ended". It is should not be pointed as is the case for the Norwegian Forest cat which is often confused in appearance with the Maine Coon. Here is a great cat who meets the CFA standard: Photo: Reddit.com.

There is a high potential for matting in this superb Maine Coon. I know that the coat needs to be shaggy to meet the requirements of the breed standard so they look like genuine barn cats of the late 1800s but this guy needs ongoing maintenance of a serious kind: daily grooming by their human caretaker is probably a must to avoid mats forming. Once they form and take hold, they are hard to remove. Proactive action is far easier and more successful. Maine Coon's trademark shaggy coat. Needs human intervention of the grooming kind! Photo: Reddit. The important thing about grooming your cat is to be gentle. And the best care is proactive. Far easier. And commercial grooming parlours might not that good as they are unregulated and you don't know what is happening.  Will your cat be scared and traumatized? Is he safe? Are there dogs at the parlour as well? How do they dry cats? Are there safety controls? I would not use a grooming parlour as there have been some terrible stories ...

Maine Coons are domestic cats like any other domestic cat. Yes, they are more glamorous than some other domestic cats but in terms of their behaviour there is not one iota of difference between a Maine Coon and a moggy which you can adopt from a rescue centre. Nobody asks whether a moggy is dangerous because they are domestic cats. So the same answer applies to Maine Coons. They are not dangerous in any way. Maine Coon. Silver tabby. Photo: Pixabay There is one caveat which applies to all domestic cats. If a domestic cat is badly provoked by a person for whatever reason then they may retaliate aggressively. They may attack that person and they may injure the person. Under those circumstances a Maine Coon could be described as dangerous but the victim would be the author of their own injuries. It will be extremely rare for a person to provoke a domestic cat but I have seen it and I have seen a well-behaved domestic cat turn very aggressive. You don't have to provoke a cat purposeful...

Another good example of the size of the bigger Maine Coons. Photo: Reddit.com This is a good photograph from the point of view of comparing size because it is from above and so we can see the full length of this almost totally black Maine Coon with white boots. The cat looks bigger than the child which is possible because I've seen Maine Coons which are positively enormous. I'm sure breeders of this cat go out of the way and bend over backwards to breed the biggest Maine Coon that they can. It's a challenge. They're not meant to necessarily be as big as this, as far as I know. That wasn't the initial objective under the breed standard. The standard does not say that Maine Coons must be enormous. In fact, the Cat Fanciers' Association breed standard, in the opening paragraph provides an overview of the cat and there is no mention that this cat should be very big. It is reproduced below (great cat though): "GENERAL: originally a working cat, the Maine Coon is...

CFA breed standard - COAT: heavy and shaggy; shorter on the shoulders and longer on the stomach and britches. Frontal ruff desirable. Texture silky with coat falling smoothly. That shaggy coat. Photo: whippedcreamcheese / Reddit The coat is meant to be shaggy under the breed standard. I think we can agree that this individual meets the Cat Fanciers' Association breed standard. It's a little bit wild but I guess with a brush and a smoothing he or she will meet the standard perfectly. I think that you will find that the requirement for a shaggy coat is the cat associations' respecting the history of this cat as a barn cat in the state of Maine in the 1800s. This is essentially a shaggy-coated semi-feral cat working cat refined over a hundred years and more through selective breeding. But at its heart is still that barn cat with a shaggy coat to keep it warm during chilly Maine winters in a draughty barn. Note: the CFA like their Maine Coons more refined than TICA who like the...

There are two outstanding, if one can call them that, health conditions associated with Maine Coon cats. These are inherited conditions due largely to selective breeding for appearance but not always as certainly the causes of hip dysplasia are unclear to the experts as far as I can tell. I'm not going to blame the breeders or be critical of them but all purebred cats can develop inherited health problems because of selective breeding which is another way of describing inbreeding to various degrees.  Maine Coon. Author: brenkee / pixabay.com Patella luxation and hip dysplasia can sometimes be found in Maine Coon cats. One condition can occur with the other. In patella luxation , the kneecap of affected individuals tends to slide to the inside of the leg rather than remaining in its trochlear groove. The signs are quite mild normally and include occasional lameness and a reluctance to jump. Sometimes there is intermittent "locking" of the 'stifle' followed by exten...

In case you didn't know, allogrooming means mutual grooming. It looks like what it is, namely an act of friendship. It's like a woman giving a man a cuddle and vice versa. Cats cuddle each other too! The nice thing about this video is you're looking at 2 really good-looking Maine Coon cats with very attractive ginger tabby coats. It is actually the first time that I have seen Maine Coons grooming each other which is rather strange since I have watched many thousands of videos and seen many thousands of still images of Maine Coons.

WELL, APOLOGIES ALL AROUND . I had two videos on this page of the same event: a cat falling through the ceiling of a restaurant in Asia somewhere, but both of the videos stopped working which I totally expected!!   Anyway, here is another similar event. It is not a restaurant, but Chinese guys are eating and a cat falls through a false ceiling in exactly same way. Clearly domestic cats find their way into these false ceiling which are constructed to house the lighting and wiring because it is warm thanks to the lighting!   Expect this video to stop working one day too 😉👍😢.  This is not about Maine Coons. Sorry (another apology). The reason why the video is here is because the Google adverts on this site seem to make more money :). This video does not render that well sometimes. It looks squashed.  It shows a grey tabby-and-white cat falling from what appears to be the ceiling of the restaurant onto a table of a diner minding his own business.  The cat...

Update : This is written about 4 days later. Cats flick water from their water bowls because they are interested in it as a novel substance. That sounds bizarre but I believe it is true. They are playing with it as a toy almost. Well, we don't really know the answer to the question in the title. In the video I argue that cats like to flick at the water in their water bowls so that it ends up on the floor or countertop where they can lick it up as if they are licking water from a puddle outside. Perhaps they are trying to make the situation more natural for themselves. Perhaps they miss muddy rainwater from the outside and are trying to replicate it artificially. One problem with tap water is that it is chlorinated. Even a tiny amount of chemical in water can be slightly offputting for a domestic cat. This is why you often see them drinking what appears to be filthy water outside when there is clean water to be had inside the home. It's all about chemicals and processing water...

I had to refer to "domestic cats" because there are tigers and lions in the Bronx Zoo which are definitely larger than a very large Maine Coon. Here he is: NYC's biggest domestic cat. Samson is four feet long and weights 28 pounds. This puts him in the same weight zone as the wild ocelot .

There are two reasons why a Maine Coon cat might or might not get on with dogs. The first concerns selective breeding. This is a friendly cat breed but then again all of them are. But if breeders selectively breed for a particularly friendly character and socialise their cats then they will get along with dogs more so than others potentially. Maine Coon in The Netherlands. Photo: Dani. The second factor is socialisation which I have referred to above. If a breeder of Maine Coons allows the kittens to share plenty of time with a family dog during their early years i.e. the first 10 weeks of life lets say, then they will forever get along with dogs. The primary reason why a Maine coon cat might get along with dogs is because they are socialised to dogs. And this aspect of rearing a cat applies to any breed or random bred cats. It doesn't have to be a cat who is a member of a cat breed to benefit from socialisation. MAINE COON PERFORMS DOG-LIKE TRICKS So if a website says all Maine...

It is always instructive if you're interested in the cat fancy to compare the appearance of purebred cats from about 1900 to the present day. The cat fancy started in the late 1800s so it had been going on for a relatively short time when these photos were taken of early purebred Maine Coon cats. On this page you'll see three photographs two of which are from the late 1800s and 1901 of Maine Coon show cats of that era. The top photograph shows a Maine Coon born in 1884 who died in 1901. His name was Leo and he lived with a Mrs Persis Bodwell Martin of Augusta, Maine. He had a good life. His appearance is described as 'competitive' (in terms of cat shows) from The Book of the Cat. The picture below shows another Maine Coon looking like a standard medium-longhaired cat today. The pictures show cats that have the appearance of standard random bred cats by today's standards. There appears to be be hardly an inkling of Maine Coon in their appearance if ...

This is a super-shaggy, very large, grey/brown tabby, Maine Coon cat and very impressive he is too.

It is unfair to generalise about all the cats of one cat breed because within that group of cats there are individuals who are different from the rest. Although perhaps through selective breeding there's probably a tendency for individual cats of this cat breed to "not constantly demand attention, preferring to hang out with their owners. They do not necessarily want to be held...". Zak. Photo by me. A super charming and sweat cat. The quote comes from Gloria Stephens in her book Legacy of the Cat . She knows the cat breeds extremely well and was a specialty judge for the American Cat Fanciers' Association in 1971 and has been an all-breed judge for the American Cat Association. Personally, I have never lived with a Maine Coon for a long period of time. However, I have lived with a charming Maine Coon cat, Zak (see above), for 14 days in Dallas and I would confirm that although he was a beguiling and lovely cat I never saw him on a lap although he came on...

No, the Maine Coon is not the biggest cat but the biggest domestic cat excluding the high filial wild cat hybrids such as the F1 Savannah cat which are nearly always bigger, by the way. The Maine Coon weight can be exaggerated as we often see very large individuals. The average weight is something around 19 pounds for larger cats and it varies between males and females of course. Dutch Maine Coon bred by Dani. Photo by Dani. This is a nice natural Maine Coon. I'm being precise because if you refer to "biggest cat" you are really referring to all the cats on the planet which includes the wild cat species. But through selective breeding the Maine Coon has evolved into being the biggest domestic cat . This was not always the case. Let's remind ourselves that this very popular cat breed started off in around the late 1800s as a farm cat in the state of Maine, USA. They were shaggy, long-haired barn cats. They were attractive and at the beginning of the c...

The photographer is Robert Sijka (per the photo). This is another Maine Coon with a human expression. It is not an overtly human expression but you can definitely detect the human face in this cat. For some reason, the Maine Coon is predisposed to looking like a person. They can certainly be selectively bred to look that way. The photographer is excellent as well. I seen his work before and he takes outstanding photographs of cats of this breed normally. This is an all-white cat and therefore he may be deaf because the dominant white gene which causes the hair strands to be devoid of pigmentation can also affect hearing. The eyes are a pale blue which is typical of white cats but sometimes they are a more deeper blue than this. Altogether a fabulous looking cat. Imagine owning this cat? Anyone visiting your home would be stunned and all you would talk about would be this beautiful, magnetic creature.

Maine Coon with impressive ruff. Photo in public domain. The breed standard for the Maine Coon includes this impressive ruff: COAT: heavy and shaggy; shorter on the shoulders and longer on the stomach and britches. Frontal ruff desirable . Texture silky with coat falling smoothly.  Well, this cat certainly meets the CFA breed standard to a T. The ruff is gorgeous. It is said to be desirable and therefore you won't see this feature in all Maine Coon cats or to the same extent, let's put it that way. This is why I selected this cat for this website. He/she is particularly impressive. Please explore this site for more information and pictures on the Maine Coon, a most desirable cat companion.