Do Maine Coon cats drink a lot of water?

I could ask whether Maine Coon cats drink a lot of water with their paws because I've seen this a lot especially with Maine Coon cats. And it seems for some reason that Maine Coons are fascinated with water. The experts say that they love to keep hydrated! Do Maine Coon cats have a particular awareness about their hydration? And they prefer to drink running or moving water rather than water in a bowl.

Is it fair to say that Maine Coon cats are obsessed with water? If this breed is more interested in water than the average cat it begs the question as to why? And why do they use their paws more than is normal? Well, some of this reputation is an exaggeration which has been pushed around the internet by websites.

Do Maine Coon cats drink a lot of water? I am not sure. It is said they do but I think this is an exaggerated reputation?

However if the love of water is a personality trait of this cat breed, it must be because of hundred years of selective breeding. Normally cat breeders selectively breed for appearance. And in doing that they choose their foundation cats and create a bloodline. All the cats in that line are going to inherit the genes of the foundation cats.

I am speculating but it is plausible to suggest that there may be no more than about 10 or 20 Maine Coon foundation cats and from these cats all of today's Maine Coons have been created. And if that is correct, and I have no evidence to state firmly that it is correct, it would be plausible to suggest that two of those cats had a fascination with water and that personality trait has been carried forward and propagated throughout the Maine Coon cat breed.

When you think about it, there is no other plausible explanation unless the stories are untrue 😎. It is also said that many owners have reported that their Maine Coon cat has spent a fair bit of time playing with water either in a water bowl or when running from a faucet, in puddles and shower trays!

And, as mentioned, one way that they show their love water is by dipping their paw into the water bowl and then licking their paw. And they like to pat the water and touch it to see how it disturbs the water. Is this an inherited trait to test the water for prey animals such as fish?

One Maine Coon expert says that they like to rub against your wet legs when you come out of the  shower. Have you heard this? I am not sure that is true either. This one of the problems with the internet. Fiction gains traction and becomes fact along the way. And you have these earnest website writing stuff as if it is the gospel truth.

If this fascination with water is true, it is a very good thing because by and large domestic cats are rather poor drinkers due to their North African wildcat inheritance. Like all domestic cats, thanks to their wildcat ancestors they don't feel the urge to drink a lot of water because the North African wildcat lives in a very dry and arid environment where they have to get a lot of their water from their prey animals.

And as dry cat food is so convenient and fed to cats an awful lot, many domestic cats tend to become slightly dehydrated, it is argued. I would suspect that this does not apply to the Maine Coon, which is very good to know. And there are other benefits of being a good water drinker such as preventing a concentration of urine in the bladder which can help to predispose a cat to cystitis and crystals in the urethra. These cause blockages which are part of that umbrella of diseases called Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disease.

Drinking plenty of water also helps to digest food and the absorption of nutrients from the food into the bloodstream.

On average, Maine Coon cats need about 3.5-4.5 out of the water for every 5 pounds of body weight. This points to one reason why they drink a lot of water. They are the largest domestic cat breed. On the formula mentioned they are going to drink more water than normal.

Of course, there will be exceptions. I have generalised in this post. Every cat has their own individual character. I would expect, in fact, that the majority of Maine Coon cats to drink a normal amount of water and it should be said that there are many random bread cats and other cat breeds who like to play with water and use their paws to drink it.