How much do Maine Coons shed? Comprehensive discussion.

It's a bit like asking how long is a piece of string? I'm joking but the answer depends to a certain extent upon the perceptions of the cat's owner. Some Maine Coon caregivers will hardly see tumbleweed hairballs blowing around the kitchen floor! 

Or whiskers that have been shed lying on the carpet or bed. Domestic cat fur does tend to get everywhere and an experienced cat caregiver will be somewhat blind to it because they become used to having it around.

Huge Maine Coon will be difficult to groom. Image in the public domain with words added by MikeB.

But to answer the question, Maine Coons shed their fur like any other domestic cat which is to be expected. Only, as they are a medium-longhaired cat, the hair strands are longer and therefore there is more hair in terms of overall bulk being deposited on household surfaces. This is compounded by the fact that they are the largest domestic cat breed.

Of course, the old adage is that caregivers of medium-longhaired and longhaired domestic cat should have a regime of grooming their cat with a brush which has been manufactured to remove hair that is due to be shed. This will obviously reduce the amount of hair shed by their cat and it is a way of controlling the amount of hair in the indoor environment.

Video

The video shows a very longhaired Maine Coon. She's almost like a Persian in this respect. It is a good video though on grooming long fur with a new and specialist brush.

Reason for shedding - change in ambient light

Some people believe that seasonal temperature changes govern when a cat sheds. Shedding is actually influenced more by changes in ambient light. The greater the exposure to natural light the more the shedding. And the effect is unaltered whether the cat has been sterilised or is unsterilised.

This begs the question as to how cats respond to the indoor environment. I'm referring to full-time indoor cats. They live in a more or less consistent and unchanging environment with the same amount of ambient light year in and year out. Of course, there is some window light which makes it brighter or darker depending upon the season but the ambient light is more stable than for an indoor/outdoor cat.

RELATED: Recycling Loose Cat Hair.

For cats who spend most of their time outdoors the longer hours of sunlight in late spring activates the shedding process. It can last for weeks. Cats who go outside part of the day normally shed and grow new coat sometime around the beginning of summer which is a bit later.

In the autumn (fall) as the days become shorter the coat begins to thicken for winter and shedding more or less stops.

For indoor cats they tend to shed lightly and grow a new coat throughout the year. In other words, there is less dependency upon seasonal changes.

Double coat

Typical of other domestic cats, Maine Coon cats have a double coat: an undercoat and a top layer which is resilient to rain et cetera the undercoat keeps them warm like a duvet. The top layer is made up of guard hairs and the sebaceous gland oils on the hairs help to repel water. And this topcoat keeps the dirt out.

Cat hair strand under a microscope. Hair is made of keratin.

Sometimes you see cats who are very disinterested in whether they are being rained upon or not and I think it is because their coat is so protective of their skin that they can't feel the rain at all. It doesn't bother them as a consequence.