Do Maine Coon cats cross their legs more than normal and if so, why?

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I believe that I can answer the questions in the title with some certainty. Having surfed the Internet for 15 years about cats I think it is fair to say that Maine Coon cats do indeed cross their forelegs when resting more than normal. It seems to be a Maine Coon cat trait. 

The observation comes from an owner in America who is the caregiver of three Maine Coon cats and she has noticed this characteristic which got me thinking about it.

Note: this is a cross-post.

Do Maine Coon cats cross therefore legs more than normal and if so why?
Do Maine Coon cats cross therefore legs more than normal and if so, why? Image: Reddit.com.

Why do Maine Coons cross their forelegs?

The lady didn't explain why her Maine Coon cats do it. I've come to a common-sense conclusion about this. Maine Coon cats cross their forelegs because it's more comfortable. Normally, this is the exact reason why humans do it. It allows the crossed leg to hang loose which takes the pressure off the foot and the leg.

And so, the muscles are relaxed. The relaxed muscles send a signal back to the brain that the person is more comfortable. And I would suggest quite strongly that exactly the same process occurs in domestic cats, particularly Maine Coon cats.

Why do they have the trait?

But why do Maine Coon cats have this particular trait? This is another question that might be worthwhile looking at. I don't think that is been addressed ever by anybody on the internet and therefore I've got to speculate.

It's been suggested that all the members of the Maine Coon cat breed, contentedly sitting in lovely homes across the planet and mainly in America come from five foundation cats. And among those five foundation cats there may have been one who simply by chance liked to cross his legs when he rested on his belly. And he did this because it felt good. That is the instinctive and logical reason why it happened.

And that cat's genes were inherited by many thousands of other Maine Coon cats over the intervening years. We don't know how many. My suggestion is that the Maine Coon cat likes to cross their legs more than normal because they inherited this particular trait in their DNA, in their genes.

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