Admire the huge, magnificent Maine Coons but temper it with realism

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All of us admire the statuesquely impressive massive Maine Coons made famous by the internet's social media websites. They sock you in the face with their sheer size and lion-like, or human faces. Yes, we have seen those extraordinary human-faced Maine Coons from Europe.

The MC (Maine Coon) has developed into the top 3 most popular cat breeds. I would expect the breed to be the world's most popular in coming years.

Super human-faced Maine Coon bred by a Russian but at what cost to health?
Super, human-faced Maine Coon bred by a Russian but at what cost to health? Image credit: see image.

Alright, let's enjoy humankind's creation of the MC. Yep, they are a human creation. When you see the stunning MC internet celebs you are not seeing the original MC that happily lived on a farm on the east coast of America.

They were tiny and ordinary, almost dull by comparison to today's monsters. The MC cat show winners look rather sad compared to the huge MCs we are used to seeing.

You are seeing a 'product' of human ingenuity which is designed to impress and garner accolades. There are now countless numbers of social media channels particularly, latterly on TikTok of short videos celebrating the MC.

MC owners are jumping on the bandwagon. They want social media success, and they can get it vicariously via their darling cat companion.

The people are doing this for themselves. To make money through advertising or the promotion of products. The MC is the vehicle to their success.

The same goes for the breeders. They are bringing new cats into a world where there is an excess of domestic cats. An inherently incorrect mode of human activity.

If there are millions of unwanted cats, why are we allowing people to create more for financial profit? Would it not be better if we ensured that all homeless and unwanted stray, feral and domestic cats had homes where practical FIRST and then breed some more if we think it a good idea?

It is a double whammy of questionable behaviours because MCs are bred with serious inherited health problems such as hip dysplasia and HCM.

The breeders know this, but they refuse to 'cull' breeding cats carrying these defective recessive genes which are toxic to the health of these gorgeous cats.

When you buy a MC, it is like buying a car with a known mechanical defect. And the manufacturers do nothing about it and the buyer totally accepts it.

This would not happen in the world of cars, but it happens in the world of cats.

The reality is that if MC breeders culled (removed from breeding lines) their handsome but defective breeding cats they'd lose the desirable appearance which they so covet.

They are not prepared to do it, and neither are the administrators of the cat associations prepared to insist that there should be no inherited, genetic diseases in registered cats.

This perpetuates this unhappy state of affairs. A superb creature such as the MC should not be tainted by defective genetic mutations causing ill-health.

The bigger the MC the more likely the individual is to suffer from that well-known MC health problem: hip dysplasia.  This is a hidden issue.  The flip side of glamour.

Behind the glamour there is the seedy side, the reality. It was always like that. Glamour does not really exist. It is a fiction designed to deceive.

The cat fancy doesn't want it discussed but it needs to be if we are to think about animal welfare rather than what humans want and covet.

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