Your Maine Coon Guide

In the era of 'global boiling' a lion cut for a Maine Coon is on the cards

- July 28, 2023

Pretty Maine Coon with lion cut. Image in the public domain.

Antonio Guterres, the UN Secretary General said this about global warming:

"The only surprise is the speed of the change. Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning. The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived."

Relative to America, air conditioning is quite unusual in most of Europe. The Washington Post recently reported that only 20% of European homes have air conditioning, and it's rare to find it in schools or offices. I've argued that in some American states such as Texas it would be unfair to have a Maine Coon as it'd be too hot.

There are many Maine Coon cats in Europe. And further, July is "virtually certain" to be the hottest month on record globally by a significant margin, the United Nations and a European science agency have said.

July's first 23 days averaged a record 16.95°C globally.

You might have read about the wildfires in Greece and there have been heatwaves across large parts of China, Europe and North America. All the climate monitoring agencies state that although July is not over it is likely almost certain to be the hottest month yet recorded. They say that this would not have happened but for global warming.

Of course, there are various factors which accounts for this hottest July on record but the underlying factor which magnifies the effect of the other factors is climate change.

The Maine Coon cat is a semi-longhaired cat. It is a very popular cat breeders we know. And we must mention the 10% of domestic cats who are non-purebred who are also longhaired cats. All of these cats living in homes without air conditioning are going to be in some difficulty if the temperature outside reaches the high 40s which it is, for example, on the Greek island of Skyros where a record 44°C was achieved.

Long-haired cats

All longhaired and medium-longhaired domestic cats whether they be purebred or non-purebred have origins in various places and one theory is that the Vikings brought them to Scandinavia centuries ago. They were first imported into Europe perhaps from Turkey.

At one stage, in the early years of the cat fancy, the founder of the cat fancy, Harrison Weir, and the organiser of the first cat show in 1871, said that, "40 or 50 years ago they used all to be called French cats, as they were mostly imported from Paris" in respect of long-haired cats.

Back in those days, there were several varieties from: Russia, the Angora, the Persian and Indian. The Angora came from Turkey. To that list, you can include longhaired cats from China.

But they were all developed or evolved at a time when the planet was cooler. And they perhaps evolved in places within those regions that were cooler because of the elevation above sea level.

The temperatures this July globally are likely to be about 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial levels.

Lion cut

Some people question whether it is wise and sensible or even cruel to give a Maine Coon cat a 'lion cut' as they are called. This means shaving the hair down to the skin except for the tail, neck and head areas and the paws. I've decided that if it can be done without anaesthetic (which is inherently dangerous to health) then it is a good idea to help keep a Maine Coon cat cool during these boiling days.

Administering a general anaesthetic to a Maine Coon cat in order to achieve a lion cut is, I would strongly argue, unwise because there is, on my research, upwards of a one in 400 chance of the anaesthetic harming a domestic cat.

There has to be a sufficient reward to the cat when putting them under a general anaesthetic and that would mean an operation and perhaps, on some occasions, to clean their teeth which also requires a general anaesthetic.

Irony

It is ironic that people love the Maine Coon partly because of their glorious coat but we have to shave it all off in hot climates thanks to global warming.

P.S. Of course, what I have said her applies equally to all long-haired non-purebred cats.