Are Maine Coons territorial?

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Maine Coons are inherently territorial with males being more concerned about maintaining their home range (territory they claim as theirs) than females but both genders have home ranges. How strictly a home range is defended from intruders also depends on the character of the individual cat and the circumstances under which they live.

Are Maine Coons territorial? Yes.
Are Maine Coons territorial? Yes. Image: MikeB

For instance, a Maine Coon living indoors full-time with three other cats is going to have a very small amount of territory that he/she can call their own. 

There will be overlapping territories. They'd have to be a lot of give and take. A lot of flexibility and the willingness to adapt to compressed territories and unnatural conditions.

To ask if Maine Coons are territorial is like asking whether Maine Coons walk on their toes (are digitigrades). The answer is yes of course because Maine Coon are the same as any other domestic, stray, feral or wild cat species.

No matter what species of cat or breed (all breeds are the same species: Felis silvestris catus), they all have the same fundamental character traits and one of those basic character traits is to be territorial.

But over 10,000 years of domestication the domestic cat has had to adapt to living with humans in their environment which includes, nowadays, full-time indoors often with other cats and other animals.

That requires a good amount of adapting as the natural amount of territory that a domestic cat (including the Maine Coon) would like to enjoy would be around 250 acres depending on the food source.

As you can see the inside of a home which is where Maine Coons often live all of their lives is very small. It might be a tenth of an acre.

And this is where stresses can build up. It is a known fact that one of the most common causes of anxiety in domestic cats including the Maine Coon is problems in getting along with other cats in the home and a friction point will be ownership of territory. In addition to good old friendliness or a lack of it.

I've just written an article about that:

4 steps a cat owner cat take to help prevent stress-induced cystitis.


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