Maine Coon cat clubs and associations - 2021
Here is a list of Maine Coon clubs and associations as at 2021 which may not be comprehensive but which you might find useful nonetheless. Clubs and associations tend to come and go but the ones mentioned here are well-established.
The Maine Coon Cat Club, affiliated to the GCCF and established in 1985 (UK based). In 1995 it published a guide to the breed: Introducing the Maine Coon. They have an initial joining fee of 1 pound with a single annual subscription of 5 pounds or a joint annual subscription of 7 pounds. For those under 16 they have a junior subscription of £2.50 but juniors have no voting rights. They have forms on their website to complete. They have a Facebook page, Maine Coon Cat Club UK, on which they say that the club currently has five hundred members, both in Britain and abroad. Membership is open to anyone. You don't have to own a Maine Coon to join. Many of their members do not breed or show their cats. They just enjoy living with a Maine Coon. They say that the club has a list of kittens available which is updated weekly alongside a list of breeders. The Facebook page has over 12,000 members.
Maine Coon Breeders and Fanciers Association. Established in 1968. It is therefore a well-established club. Their objective is to "preserve, protect and promote the Maine Coon cat". Its membership is composed of fanciers and breeder members internationally. Their website provides a lot of information about the breed and listings of available cats and kittens. They also provide photographs of the allowed coat types and colours of the Maine Coon. They have various regions across America as it is an American-based association. They also have an overseas region.
Maine Coon Breed Society. This is a GCCF affiliated club. They say that they are "dedicated to the standard of points and the welfare of all Maine Coon cats". Anyone can be a member and they welcome those who want to keep the breed pure and to promote it to others.
United Maine Coon Cat Association. They are affiliated to The Cat Fanciers' Federation. Note that this is not the CFA but the CFF. The United Maine Coon Cat Association was founded in 1972 and is a not-for-profit organisation. Their goal is to educate the public about purebred Maine Coon cats and to protect this breed from "obliteration or distortion of any of its naturally evolved features". There are four levels of membership: honorary membership, fancier membership, associate membership and breeder members.
International Maine Coon Club. This is slightly confusing because Dr. Desmond Morris in his book Cat World refers to the Internationaler Maine Coon Cat Club (IMCCC). It is or was based in Germany. I have two addresses one mentioned in his book and the other online. There appears to be no website whereas for the other clubs there are websites. Please use Google to look them up. I don't know if this club is still functioning. Online there are the following details for this club:
Ms. M.Burkhardt Friedenauerstraße 19 40789 Monheim
Tel.: 02173 / 56236
Fax: 02173 / 57081
e-mail: vorstand@1-imccc.de
Internet: www.1-imccc.de
There will be more local clubs on a state-by-state basis in America. There will also be, I suspect, smaller clubs in the UK and on continental Europe. The clubs mentioned are the ones which pop up on a Google search.
In addition to the above, of course, you have to include the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) which is not a club exclusively for the Maine Coon but all breeds and the other major cat Association with the same purposes is The International Cat Association (TICA). Both are based in the US and both have extensive websites. And finally in the UK there is the GCCF, the premier cat fanciers' club in the UK.
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| Maine Coon (brown tabby) siting on a table looking very cute. Photo in public domain. |
The Maine Coon Cat Club, affiliated to the GCCF and established in 1985 (UK based). In 1995 it published a guide to the breed: Introducing the Maine Coon. They have an initial joining fee of 1 pound with a single annual subscription of 5 pounds or a joint annual subscription of 7 pounds. For those under 16 they have a junior subscription of £2.50 but juniors have no voting rights. They have forms on their website to complete. They have a Facebook page, Maine Coon Cat Club UK, on which they say that the club currently has five hundred members, both in Britain and abroad. Membership is open to anyone. You don't have to own a Maine Coon to join. Many of their members do not breed or show their cats. They just enjoy living with a Maine Coon. They say that the club has a list of kittens available which is updated weekly alongside a list of breeders. The Facebook page has over 12,000 members.
Maine Coon Breeders and Fanciers Association. Established in 1968. It is therefore a well-established club. Their objective is to "preserve, protect and promote the Maine Coon cat". Its membership is composed of fanciers and breeder members internationally. Their website provides a lot of information about the breed and listings of available cats and kittens. They also provide photographs of the allowed coat types and colours of the Maine Coon. They have various regions across America as it is an American-based association. They also have an overseas region.
Maine Coon Breed Society. This is a GCCF affiliated club. They say that they are "dedicated to the standard of points and the welfare of all Maine Coon cats". Anyone can be a member and they welcome those who want to keep the breed pure and to promote it to others.
United Maine Coon Cat Association. They are affiliated to The Cat Fanciers' Federation. Note that this is not the CFA but the CFF. The United Maine Coon Cat Association was founded in 1972 and is a not-for-profit organisation. Their goal is to educate the public about purebred Maine Coon cats and to protect this breed from "obliteration or distortion of any of its naturally evolved features". There are four levels of membership: honorary membership, fancier membership, associate membership and breeder members.
International Maine Coon Club. This is slightly confusing because Dr. Desmond Morris in his book Cat World refers to the Internationaler Maine Coon Cat Club (IMCCC). It is or was based in Germany. I have two addresses one mentioned in his book and the other online. There appears to be no website whereas for the other clubs there are websites. Please use Google to look them up. I don't know if this club is still functioning. Online there are the following details for this club:
Ms. M.Burkhardt Friedenauerstraße 19 40789 Monheim
Tel.: 02173 / 56236
Fax: 02173 / 57081
e-mail: vorstand@1-imccc.de
Internet: www.1-imccc.de
There will be more local clubs on a state-by-state basis in America. There will also be, I suspect, smaller clubs in the UK and on continental Europe. The clubs mentioned are the ones which pop up on a Google search.
In addition to the above, of course, you have to include the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) which is not a club exclusively for the Maine Coon but all breeds and the other major cat Association with the same purposes is The International Cat Association (TICA). Both are based in the US and both have extensive websites. And finally in the UK there is the GCCF, the premier cat fanciers' club in the UK.
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