Maine Coon, Winston, loves water but is he typical?

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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
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 pursue its own activities: some owners report that these include swimming". Anecdotal evidence essentially.

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I don't believe that all Maine Coons love water more than any other cat. To be honest, it is a myth that domestic cats hate water. A lot of individual cats quite like playing in water whereas others don't like it so much. And the reason is often to do with how they were brought up

Whether a cat likes or loathes water cuts across all the cat breeds and to the non-purebred cats as well. I do not think that you can pigeonhole a cat breed into the "loves water" category. I do not want to be a spoiler but whether a cat likes or dislikes water is about the individual cat's character not about an entire breed of cats. I know I have said that before but the Internet does tend to mislead sometimes.

Although to be fair the Maine Coon foundation cats may include some males for example who just happened to have been fond of messing around in water and the genes from these breeding cats have been inherited by today's individuals.

However, for example, Gloria Stephens in her excellent book Legacy of the Cat, which I refer to a lot, she does not mention Maine Coon cats being fond of water. You would think that if this cat was a water lover that she would mention it.

Gloria Stephens is a former cat show judge and she lives with Maine Coon cats and therefore has a lot of first-hand experience about this breed. Another reference book that I have written by the former president of the Cat Fanciers' Association, Richard H Gebhart, does not mention this cat's love of water. Perhaps his book is not intended to mention that type of character trait but if it was such an outstanding aspect of this cat, you would think that he would have mentioned it.

It appears to be the Internet authors who tend to skim the Internet for information and then write their article based upon Internet data but that data has been gleaned from other Internet authors and therefore the whole thing is circuitous. It is far safer to go back to the basics and see what genuine experts say and follow that information.

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