People very rarely surrender Maine Coon cats. Discuss.

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We are in an era of post-Covid and high inflation. Inflation has not affected every country equally with America doing better than many others and the UK doing rather badly with inflation at about 10%. But there is real pressure on family finances which is having a knock-on effect concerning cat and dog ownership.

A rare Maine Coon x American Curl hybrid mix that was at a shelter. I bet they found a new home fast! Photo: Friends for Life Rescue Network on Instagram.

We are told by a number of animal rescue organisations that they are experiencing fewer adoptions and more surrenders. This does not apply across the board but there is a trend.

For example, Business Insider reports on the Casper Humane Society in Wyoming who told them that they have stopped listing animals waiting to be rehomed because it became "too overwhelming". I interpret that to mean that the list kept on growing with not enough people coming forward to adopt.

Craig Cummings, the director of Casper Humane Society said that there has been an increase in the number of pets being abandoned. The shelter is running at overcapacity all the time with currently at least 200 cats waiting for a new home.

The shelter receives phone calls daily from owners who can no longer afford to keep their companion animals. They have surging prices and widespread housing insecurity apparently, in Wyoming.

That is one snapshot of one shelter in one place, but it may be replicated in various parts of America, and I have heard similar stories in the UK. I don't know about the effect on European shelters, but I would suspect that it is not too dissimilar.

"I argue that there is an attitude problem among a small percentage of the cat owning public which leads to unnecessary surrenders. Casual adoption can lead to equally casual relinquishment."

To get to the point: 99.99% of the cats surrendered to shelters are moggies. These are random bred cats. You rarely see purebred cats including, of course, Maine Coon cats, the topic of this conversation, at shelters.

Of course, there are fewer purebred cats than non-purebred cats in the world and therefore it is less likely that you will see Maine Coon cats at shelters but there's a bigger issue.

Caregivers of Maine Coon cats will probably never give up their cat or cats to a shelter. The only time that they do is because they are elderly and no longer able to cope due to illness, or they've died, and the executors of their will give up their cat to a shelter on the deceased's behalf. Their cats are too precious to them.

This point, then, to an attitude issue. Sometimes, people genuinely have to give up their cat companion because it becomes impossible to be a caregiver but often times it's a question of convenience.

There needs to be a modern survey on this. One that is totally honest. If a person genuinely is committed to keeping their domestic cat companion for life, they will manage it whatever happens. They will make arrangements in their life so that it can happen. It's about commitment. There are alternatives to similar giving a cat away for good.

The problem is that too many people cats are expendable to a certain extent. I can remember right now a resident of Qatar saying that in her country cats are adopted as if the person is buying a new fridge or computer. That information came out because there is a news media story saying that the authorities are rounding up stray cats and dogs and killing them before the football World Cup which is being played in that country.

RELATED: 3 purebred Maine Coon rescue cats for rehoming in Wales.

That's an attitude problem. The same animal cruelty took place in Russia before the Sochi Winter games and in Beijing before the Olympics. Both these countries have an attitude problem towards animal welfare and towards human rights. The two are linked.

But that is another matter. The point I'm making is that people who adopt Maine Coon cats are more committed to a lifetime of care compared to those who adopt moggies in general. It's important to note that last phrase "in general". That's because there are many super committed individuals who love their moggies and would never give them up no matter what.

But too many do and when times get a bit tough financially, they consider giving them up as reported by Casper Humane Society.

Location: 849 East E Street, Casper, WY 82601, USA

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