Maine Coon vet visits compared to other cats in Japan and Sweden

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There are two studies on the Internet in which the Maine Coon cat breed is compared to other breeds and non-purebred cats concerning visits to a vet for health issues under an insurance policy. One comes from Sweden and the other from Japan.

Maine Coon vet visits compared to other cats in Japan and Sweden
Maine Coon vet visits compared to other cats in Japan and Sweden. Image: MikeB based in background image by mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

Sweden

They evaluated vet visits for health problems of insured Swedish cats between 1999-2006 by age, breed, sex and diagnosis. I am able to look at the summary ONLY which is about 10 lines. There were 875 visits to veterinarians for health problems per 10,000 "cat-years at risk". 

They concluded that the Siamese, Burmese and Abyssinian cats had higher rates of claims compared to the Norwegian Forest cat, the Maine Coon, the European Shorthair and domestic cats (moggies). 

In other words, the Maine Coon, on this evaluation, is healthier than the Siamese, Burmese and Abyssinian cats. The most common claims under the insurance policy were for trauma, lower urinary tract and gastrointestinal problems.

Japan

Scientists evaluated health visits to veterinarians for insured cats in Japan over the period 2008-2013. They concluded that for vet visits for cardiovascular system disorders (blood system & heart), the Maine Coon, Scottish Fold, American Shorthair, Persian, Norwegian Forest cat, Ragdoll and Bengal breeds had a higher annual incident rate than non-purebred cats (random-bred cats).

This implies that the breeds mentioned have a poorer cardiovascular system in terms of health than moggies. This doesn't surprise me because, for example, the Maine Coon inherits hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). HCM is also common in Ragdolls, Bengal and the Norwegian Forest cat. In fact, my immediate research indicates all these cat breeds are predisposed to HCM. A bit shocking really.

The most common health problems in this survey concerned urinary tract and dermatological (skin) disorders. You can see an overlap here with urinary tract disorders between Japan and Sweden which highlights the problems of this condition among domestic cats.

I don't have more info as the summary in accessible by me. But this is a summary which has some usefulness. I'd have to purchase the article at a cost of around $35 to see it all which is not financially viable.

The study titles are (1) Morbidity of insured Swedish cats during 1999–2006 by age, breed, sex, and diagnosis and (2) Morbidity pattern by age, sex and breed in insured cats in Japan (2008–2013).

Location: Sweden

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