Your Maine Coon Guide

Do Maine Coons jump on counters?

- July 15, 2022

Omar using his enormous length (and therefore height) to go effect to scrump some tasty food from the kitchen counter. Omar is one of the world's largest domestic cats and he lives in Australia. Pic in the public domain.

Yes, just like any other domestic cat, Maine Coons sometimes jump on to counters but it depends upon the individual cat. And it depends on their owner letting them and on the cat's health (see below). But there is a difference between the Maine Coon and other domestic cats: their size. I have seen numerous pictures of Maine Coon cats reaching up to kitchen counters to grab some food on the surface. Sometimes they don't need to jump onto kitchen counters to get what they want. The picture below highlights this in an amusing way. The caption is: 'I finally found out who’s been stealing all the steak🙀.'

Maine Coons can sometimes reach up to the counter rather than jumping onto it to get what they want. Photo: u/MilosH18 on Reddit.com

Athletic by sometimes lame

But as you might expect, Maine Coon cats are athletic just like any other domestic cat. In fact, because they have longer levers, as they have longer legs than normal, they will normally be able to jump higher than your typical domestic cat.

However, there is a big health issue to discuss here. You probably know that Maine Coon cats often (25% of MCs have it) suffer from an inherited genetic condition called hip dysplasia. They also can have patella luxation which is a knee problem. Both these problems, particularly the hip problem, severely impacts their ability to jump. The ball-and-socket joint of the hip does not fit properly and it makes them lame. And on my understanding of this disease, it is likely to affect middle-aged and elderly Maine Coon cats. Although it can affect very young Maine Coon cats, under one year of age as well.

And therefore, bearing this condition in mind, Maine Coon cats are often not going to jump onto counters. These genetically inherited conditions are due to poor breeding, specifically inbreeding which is selective breeding.

Inquisitive

And, of course, Maine Coons are just as inquisitive as any other domestic cat which encourages them to jump up onto a counter to see what is going on or perhaps to encourage their human caregiver to dip into the fridge and get those prawns out.

Agility

One expert says that Maine Coons are not particularly agile because of their size. You can make of that what you will but I would argue that they are just as agile as any other domestic cat. However, if they are exceptionally large - one of those super Maine Coons that become celebrities on the Internet - I will concede that they might be less agile than a regular, standard -sized domestic cat because of their bulk. And of course, the ever-present hip dysplasia will severely hamper their agility.

Vertical movers

One reason why domestic cats sometimes like to jump up on counters is because they are high up. We all know that domestic cats like to be off the ground because they are vertical as well as horizontal movers. This is an inheritance from their wild cat forebears.

I would expect the main reason why a Maine Coon would like to jump up onto a counter is because they want to demand food. Quite a lot of cat owners don't like their cat jumping on counters. I personally don't mind, in fact I feed my cat on the kitchen counter.

Deterrents?

And what I don't like to see is people putting kitchen foil onto countertops to scare the living daylights out of their cat when there jump up onto it. This, I believe is cruel. It is, nonetheless, a deterrent but it is negative reinforcement. The better form of training is positive reinforcement by providing rewards to eat somewhere else or to encourage your cat to do something else.

Firstly, I don't see any health issues with letting a cat jump onto a kitchen counter. There might be some potential health issues but I don't think they are any greater than health issues arising out of another person handling food on a kitchen counter which might have been badly stored, for instance. Perhaps I am out of step with the rest of the world but I have never encountered any personal health issues arising out of allowing my cat to jump up onto my kitchen counter.

Conclusion

The bottom line to the answer to the question in the title is that Maine Coon cats are exactly the same as "ordinary" domestic cats except for their size but this has little impact on jumping up onto counters except, once again, for the fact that sometimes they can reach up which precludes the need to jump up! And the diseases that they unfortunately often carry may prevent them.