Do Maine Coons need a special diet?

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A Maine Coon (MC) owner on the mumsnet.com website says: "Cat food confusion! Maine Coon (year old)". She believes that her cat needs a MC diet, but in general they don't. Some individual MCs might need a special diet to meet their individual health needs but that applies to all domestic cats. Please read on.

Update: Obese MCs are more prone to developing HCM and therefore a diet to control weight would be useful.

She has a young Maine Coon (MC) who's bigger than the adult cat next door and wants advice on the mumsnet.com website about buying cat food for her MC. Her cat likes dry cat food as most domestic cats do because the manufacturers add tasty fats to it. It can become slightly addictive. But just because cats like it does not mean that it is good. 

Do Maine Coons need a special diet?
Do Maine Coons need a special diet? Image in the public domain.

Like most cat owners who've studied cat food I believe that the less convenient high quality wet cat food should be the default food because it closely matches natural cat food in water content (around 70%) and in nutrients. I also believe that wet cat food should be provided in smallish quantities so that is it all eaten at one sitting. The bowl should be clean at the end of it. This saves on washing!

I also believe that eating small amounts more frequently more accurately matches small wildcat feeding behaviour. Domestic cats have small stomachs. Also, too much cat food is thrown away.

RELATED: Sometimes I don’t clean my cat’s wet food bowl even after several servings and sittings.

A key point to make and one which most cat owners miss is that MCs are exactly the same as any other domestic cat in respect of diet. The only difference between the MC and other domestic cats including moggies is their size which means that they eat more but the food ingredients are identical. 

When the cat owner asks for advice about feeding her MC, she believes that this cat breed requires special foods which is not the case.

Another point worth making is that the manufacturers make foods specific for certain breeds not because cats of those breeds need special diets but because it allows them to expand their product range and make more money. It is a cynical decision to deceive some MC owners into believing that their precious cat needs special cat food. They don't. 

What they need is the best quality wet cat food made for any domestic cat plus some large, pelleted dry such as Hill's Oral Care for occasional free feeding when the owner is asleep and a few tasty treats to brighten up their lives. The larger pellets of oral care cat foods are better than standard dry foods as the pellets need to be crunched up rather than swallowed whole. 

Swallowing dry cat food pellets is not good. It can irritate the stomach and it surprises me that the complacent dry cat food manufacturers make the stuff. They appear to be asleep at the wheel.

And if the owner has skills in the manufacture and safe storage of raw foods, they might try making raw cat food which is potentially the best as it is the most natural, but veterinarians are against raw as poisoning by pathogens such as Salmonella are a risk. Whether or not you provide raw is a question of your skill and knowledge. It you genuinely have it, make it. Click this for some input on preparing raw cat food. It was, however, written years ago.

My advice to the mom on the mumsnet.com website was:

"In general, a high-quality wet cat food should be the standard to which you can add some night-time dry for browsing. The fact that your cat is a Maine Coon is irrelevant to the food you buy. MCs are like any other domestic cat in all respects except they are bigger and eat more than average! How about trying raw cat food? A lot of advocates recommend it. It is more natural. I think good quality cat food costs more than human food. Just have to get used to that."

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