Your Maine Coon Guide

When did the Maine Coon come into existence? The short answer is in the 1860s on the east coast of the US particularly the state of Maine and further north. In the 1860s they were barn cats called 'Maine cats'. They were long-haired cats and moggies. I guess they were semi-domesticated or sometimes fully domesticated.  But the lifestyle of the domestic cat was different then. There was no talk of keeping cats indoors all the time for example and pet food was hardly heard off and the same could be said about cat litter.  The picture below is of a barn cat, not a Maine Coon, but I suspect that this is how the Maine Coon looked in the 1860s before they were selectively bred. Barn cat that looks like a Maine Coon might have looked before selective breeding. Image in public domain. It was all very natural and by today's standards quite slapdash. And of course, veterinary services were much less professional than they are today. And these semi-longhaired cats first came to the co...

If you are looking to adopt a genuine Maine Coon rescue cat from an organisation involved in Maine Coon (MC) rescue you will surely be disappointed. And it doesn't matter whether you are living in the UK or the USA. Forget the other countries - no chance 😒😉. I have done some digging around on the Internet and you will find organisations with websites saying that they only adopt out Maine Coon cats but then quite quickly you realise that these are Maine Coon mix cat and there are very few if any purebred Maine Coon cats for adoption either in the USA or UK as rescue cats. This is Aurora at the Maine Coon cat club in the UK, and she is a rescue cat. She is one of only 2 purebred (claimed) Maine Coon I have seen for adoption on either side of the Atlantic Ocean at Sept 27, 2022 😎😊😉😢. She looks like a female Maine Coon I have to say. The Maine Coon cat club in the UK has one (perhaps two)  rescue cat at the moment and her name is Aurora (see above) and I think that she has been ...

It is risky to buy a Maine Coon cat online without more. I stress: if you buy a Maine Coon cat online without any other information you are taking a risk. I would never do it. In other words, all you see of that cat is a photograph online or perhaps a video. And you know nothing of the cat breeder even if they are a cat breeder. You might not know their address because it is not provided on the website if they have a website. You are buying blind really because you have no in-depth information about the cat that you are buying which might not even be a Maine Coon cat. Online Maine Coon seller scams. Image: MikeB. And of course, there are scammers out there and there are a lot of scammers who operate online. So, you might be tempted to make an impulse purchase and the seller might encourage you to do that. And if you ask questions, they might object to those questions and will not answer them. Put the phone down, stop asking questions and abandon the purchase. And they'll demand an ...

Well, the question is like asking if two unrelated moggies will get along or if two unrelated adult cats from two different cat breeds will get along. Once they are adult it depends on their character and whether they have been socialised to each other. If two Maine Coons are raised together, they will hopefully get along when adult. You can't rely on the fact that two siblings will get on once they become adults. And that applies to Maine Coons or any other cat breed or non-purebred cat. Image: MikeB. This is a photo-edited image It just depends, is the answer. But if they are siblings, and young Maine Coons they will get on and play together. Or if they are very young Maine Coons and unrelated there will get along probably. It is just when they become adults that they become independent-minded. They are ready to create their own home range and settle down in their own territory. This is a wild cat trait and the Maine Coon like all domestic cats is ultimately a domesticated North ...

Yes, the Cat Fanciers' Association Maine Coon breed standard is quite clearly contradictory in respect of the GENERAL standard and in reference to the breed's coat. I will explain what I mean. Now, that's shaggy 😎👍✔️ but it is not SMOOTH. I hope this cat is not registered with the CFA! Image in public domain. Under "GENERAL" the breed standard states "A distinctive characteristic is its smooth, shaggy coat". The word "smooth" is contradictory to the word "shaggy". We all know what the word smooth means, but I will be more precise and say that it means something which has a regular surface and is free from perceptible projections and lumps. The surface should be flat. The word shaggy needs to be defined. It means unkempt, thick and long. It normally applies to hair and in which case it means unkempt hair or fur. The word "unkempt" means having an untidy or dishevelled appearance. It is impossible to reconcile a coat with a ...

This list of The International Cat Association (TICA) and Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) registered Maine Coon breeders is good as at 2019 and I hope still good at 2022 but it's important to know that in the world of cat breeding things change fairly quickly as nearly all cat breeders are hobby breeders. You need to make sure that you adopt/purchase a genuine Maine Coon not a Maine Coon mix. The latter are moggies. This is a vital starting point. US cat show champion on left. Extreme bred Maine Coon on the right from Russia. Their catteries are their homes. They are small scale operations. They have no employees and can stop breeding cats whenever they like. Not infrequently they are middle-aged and sometimes elderly people which makes it more likely that they'll stop and retire.  The laboured point I am making is that the list below may not be accurate in a few years, but it is the best that can be produced at this moment. Both CFA and TICA will update their lists so yo...

Can Maine Coons be left alone? The answer depends on for how long! I guess that is obvious. Five minutes? Yes, 5 hours? Yes. A full day, just about but don't do it regularly. I don't think any domestic cat should be left alone every day such as when their owner goes to work and leaves their Maine Coon at home in an apartment for the entire time.  and even goes out in the evening; not good. That does not work for me, and neither will it work for the cat. Although they will have to tolerate it sometimes but perhaps at the expense of their health: separation anxiety causes stress and possible aliments such as idiopathic cystitis. Stressed Maine Coon. Image in public domain. The answer to the question in the title is No, because the question is by implication: 'Can Maine Coons be left alone all day every day?" And it does not matter if we are referring to domestic cats of any breed including non-purebred cats. They all have the same essential emotional requirements, which ...

This Maine Coon picture caught my eye. They've got to be siblings. They look young but also very large for their age which is pretty typical of Maine Coons. They are said to keep growing for the first four years of lives. The picture was probably taken a few years ago. I'd expect them to adults and in nice homes. And I also expect that they'll be very large domestic cats with a real presence. Picture of 2 young, grey Maine Coons being held. Image in the public domain. In the photograph you can see why the cat fancy always refers to grey (gray) as blue. There is a faint tinge of blue in their coats. The Maine cat can have a massive range of coat colours and patterns. It is recognised by the cat fancy in all colours and divisions of the traditional category.  I have a page which lists all the coat colours! If it interests you, you can see it by clicking on this link . Grey is a diluted 'self' colour (black). Click on the link below to read about self-colours. RELATED:...

A lot of websites are answering the question as to whether Maine Coon cats are good with dogs, and it is a question which looks at half of the issues that need to be dealt with. There are two players, the cat and the dog. There's no point having a cat that gets on well with dogs if the dog they live with does not get on well with cats. 😎. That's the first point. And, further, whether a cat gets on well with dogs it is normally not breed specific. It is about individual cats. This is not something that you can guarantee that breeders breed into the kittens that they create. By this I mean it is not something that is always created through inheritance unless the breeder has selected a foundation breeding pair of Maine Coon cats both of whom are known to have characters predisposed to getting on with cats and a supressed prey drive to chase cats. That's the second point. Are Maine Coon cats good with dogs? It depends. Image: MikeB A dog friendly cat and vice versa is normall...

Well, there is nothing in the literature about this ever popular at breed which states that they are endemically shy. So, the answer is NO . There wouldn't be anything in books on this breed about shyness because the Maine Coon is selectively bred, and breeders want to sell their kittens.  They want to create kittens with great characters and confident cats sell better than shy cats because they are more likely to interact with people and instigate interactions with their owner. People like that and when a cat starts an interaction they last longer. It is all good for the relationship. Sweet looking slightly shy female Maine Coon. Image in the public domain. That does not mean that some Maine Coon cats might be shy as this in an individual cat trait. There are going to be some shy Maine Coons in the general population. The reason will be the same as for humans: an inherited trait and/or how they were raised and socialised. You can normally tease out a cat with shy character over ti...

One top Maine Coon website states that statistically only 30.4% of Maine Coon cat owners claim that their cats are lap cats. They don't state where that information comes from. But it means that about a third of Maine Coon cats would like to jump on your lap and cuddle up. That sounds about right to me although it'll be guesswork. In fact, I would expect about 25% to be lap cats. Another person who claims to know about Maine Coon cats, states that they are not usually lap cats. Another website states that male Maine Coon cats are more likely to be lap cats than females. Huge Maine Coon lap cat in which the lap is too small! Image: Pinterest. Different answers You will find different answers to the question in the title on the Internet. I know that you want a nice solid answer, but I am afraid there isn't one because no one's done a good survey. Individuals And each individual Maine Coon will have their own character anyway. Some like to jump on a lap while others don...

This is a rather strange TikTok video of a ginger Maine Coon cat being held by one of his owners while the other owner videos their cat. And for some reason this Maine Coon pulls a funny, scary face. It is a temporarily aggressive face, let us put it that way. And it's been turned on artificially because this cat is unaggressive so the question is why did the cat pull this face? Sweet, scary looking Maine Coon cat but this is just pulling a face. This is a screenshot by the way. And I think it is something to do with the wind and the way he is being held. There is quite a strong gust of wind blowing into this cat's face and eyes while he is being held in an uncomfortable way. I see this a lot. People should not hold their cats like this. Did they generate the wind deliberately to provoke this facial expression? But because of the scary face, the video has gone viral on TikTok and it is being talked about. It's been seen 19.8 million times but let's remind ourselves that...

There are a lot of pics of huge Maine Coons (MC) on the internet. Rarely do we see an MC in direct comparison for size to a regular-sized cat. This iPhone snapshot is nice because the MC almost looks like a monster with a huge head; a fictional animal from a centuries' old legend. It was taken by "Jorbasa Fotografie" and uploaded to Flickr on August 2013.  Not all MCs are like this it should be added. The caption on Flickr in German is as follows (translated by Google): "Sabine Müller managed this incredible snapshot with her i-phone and made it available to me! Pasha, the giant Maine Coon, wants to visit Nala and Mats! - Sabine Müller takes this beautiful snapshot with her I-phone and provides it for me! Pascha, the Giant Maine Coon, wants to visit Nala and Mats! Thank you, Sabine!" Internet surfers are getting used to seeing monster Maine Coons. It distorts the truth as most are larger than the typical moggie but not huge. Some are not larger than regular cats...

This Maine Coon who is called Winston loves water but are all Maine Coons the same? We don't know whether this trait is inherited or whether he learned to love water because he was in and around it when he was tiny. However, we read a lot about the Maine Coon cat loving water. There seems to be an Internet trend which states that all Maine Coon cats love water and it is part of their character. I do not believe that that is true or if there is some truth in it, it is not a character trait which is as outstanding as stated. When I hear that Maine Coon cats love water, I hear it on the Internet but I don't get that from the reference books that I have in my possession. This Maine Coon who is called Winston loves water but are all Maine Coons the same? Screenshot. There may be a passing reference to it such as in Dr. Bruce Fogle's The Encyclopaedia of the Cat. He says that "While the Maine Coon enjoys the company of people, it is not a dependent breed, but is content to p...

Well, this is a picture of a glamorous tortie-and-white Maine Coon with classic lynx tipped ears only for me the lynx tips are too long and they've keeled over as you always see on the caracal, a medium-sized wild cat species. It is okay for a caracal to have floppy, black ear tufts as we expect it and they are not subject to a breed standard 👍but the Maine Coon breed standard is clear. Tortie-and-white Maine Coon with ears like those of a caracal. Image: Pinterest. This is the caracal called Big Floppa on account of the flopped over ear tufts which are very typical of caracals. This is a pet wild cat and they are fat. I don't like to see that. Image: Wikipedia. The ears should be 'large, well tufted, wide at base, tapering to appear pointed . The tufts of hair at the tip of the ear (the lynx tips) should enhance the triangular appearance of the ears. Why else have them? They help the ears to 'appear pointed'. And lynx tip tufts of hair which don't remain erect...

There is an old post on the Reddit.com website with the title: I Need Help/Advice. My Maine Coon Is NOT Friendly. The owner wants help to try and figure out why her neutered male cat behaves as he does. He’ll sleep with me sometimes at night and tolerate petting, but does not like to be held, and turns to bite if you pet him “too much”. (Which is often 2-3 pets) She says that he came from a breeder whose other Maine Coons (MCs) are friendlier.  The way I see it is that the overarching character trait of the Maine Coon is perhaps not - in general - as 'lovey' and accepting of petting as some other cat breeds. And I always refer to Gloria Stephens who was or still is a cat show judge, Maine Coon owner and author ( Legacy of the Cat ). She has firsthand experience and lots of experience on the character of the MC. She's clear on the MC character: They do not constantly demand attention, preferring to hang out with their owners. They do not necessarily want to be held, but they...

In this instance the word 'pointed' means the ears physically ending in a point and not pointed in the sense of being a colourpoint cat (i.e. Siamese type coat)! And on that basis: Yes, Maine Coon cats (MC) should have pointed ears and this is accentuated by the lynx tips i.e. the hair tufts that project from the tip of their ears. How do I know? You simply have to go to the breed standard which will vary slightly between cat associations but looking at the number one American cat association and the biggest cat association in the world, the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), the breed standard for the ears is very clear and as follows: EARS: Shape: large, well-tufted, wide at base, tapering to appear pointed . Set: approximately one ear’s width apart at the base; not flared. Pointed ears of Maine Coon. Image: MikeB Notice the phrase "tapering to appear pointed". This implies that the ears do not actually end up at the top as a point which makes sense because cats...

Of course, would be the answer to the question if you love your cat and you provide her with a great environment in which to live and good food et cetera. If you do that then there is no reason why your cat would not like you. Cats, including Maine Coons of course, are able to experience basic emotions at least and therefore the emotion of affection for others just like humans. In fact, both cat and human are mammals and they have a huge number of similarities both in terms of their anatomy and variations in emotionality. Cats have variations in their behaviour which is similar to the variations that people experience. RELATED:  Ten Emotions That Cats Share with Us . For example, some cats eat too much and become obese. I believe that these cats are seeking food therapy. They are eating for pleasure. They do this because they are bored. This is a human trait. Many cats are described as being finicky eaters but then so are many humans.  And domestic cats have preferences regard...

This is a warming video. A family have a couple of gorgeous Maine Coons and they decided to adopt a fluffy puppy (8 weeks old Maltipoo puppy, Leyla). The take pretty bold but sensible steps to introduce the puppy to the resident Maine Coons. Within a day there is acceptance and no hissing or objections it seems from the Maine Coons. A great result in football parlance. RELATED :  Tip on introducing a new cat to a resident cat . I like the way they used a large indoor cage for the puppy to allow the cats to get used to the smells and presence of their new canine friend. I don't think you can ever be sure how resident cats will get along with a newcomer, cat or dog, until it happens. The outcome must be dependent of two possibilities (1) the cats are already socialised to dogs, so probably no problem or (2) the character of the cats is great for accepting a new dog. They have placid personalities which seems to the case in this instance. Mutual play is a great way to socialise a newc...

I thought I would dig around and see whether I could find some human celebrities who live with Maine Coon cats. There are a lot of Maine Coon celebrities, as it happens, but what about the humankind and whether they like Maine Coon cats? And I have to say that I was somewhat surprised to struggle to find a celebrity with a Maine Coon cat companion. The Maine Coon is in the top three most popular cat breeds so you might have thought they would be more popular with celebrities. RELATED:  Cat breed popularity – top 3 at 2022: Bengal, Maine Coon and Persian . Here is a photograph of Joe Perry with his grey tabby Maine Coon whose name, by the way, is Icon. Joe Perry with his Maine Coon 'Icon'. Image: Billie Perry on Facebook. Joe Perry Here is a bit about Joe Perry whose full name is Joseph Anthony Parreira, born September 10, 1950. He is an American musician and the founding member and lead guitarist of the rock band Aerosmith. He also has his own solo band called The Joe Perry Pro...

Screenshot from video below. This is a classic case of a domestic cat, in this instance a beautiful Maine Coon, copying the sounds of their human caregiver to their advantage. It seems that the cat is speaking English but for the cat it is simply mimicking the sound made by his owner but with a purpose. As people like to hear cats speaking English, the video has garnered a lot of viewings. All domestic cats are good at observing their owners and copying if it is beneficial to them. This normally means activities such as opening doors or making a sound that triggers the correct response from their owner.  The evolved meow/baby cry that some domestic cats have mastered is another good example. Some cats understand that when babies cry for their mother there is an instant response. Very effective, they think, why not use it to my advantage! They modified their meow to add a hint of baby cry. And the same is more or less happening here. The Maine Coon has learned that he/she is more li...