What's it like having a Maine Coon cat as a pet?

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If you love cats living with a Maine Coon cat is great. They have an impressive appearance and an attractive personality. Please read on...

If you asked a hundred different people living with a Maine Coon cat what it's like you will probably receive a hundred different answers because each of those individual cats will have their own character. And this is the point: Maine Coon cats are like any other domestic cat in many respects. 

You could say that 90% of a Maine Coon cat's character is the character of the domestic cat while the remaining 10% will be the character selectively bred into Maine Coon cats by breeders. And the overarching factor is, as mentioned, each individual cat's character.

What's it like having a Maine Coon cat as a pet?
Image copyright Helmi Flick.

I'm not going to describe the general domestic cat character because this page really is about the Maine Coons cat character; at least partly because another aspect of living with a Maine Coon cat is their size. A third major aspect is their shaggy coat and the amount of hair that they have engulfing them! A fourth factor influencing the experience of living with a Maine Coon is their health.

Before I deal with those factors in answering the question, I'll quote some responses from Maine Coon cat owners as to what it is like having a Maine Coon cat as a pet. Personally, I have never lived with a Maine Coon but that doesn't disqualify me from writing this article as I know a lot about the breed after 15 years of reading!

These quotes come from social media

...They are very smart cats. Boris learns things immediately. He knows he’s not allowed in the kitchen, so, even with the door open, he will stay away. If I am in there, he will stay by the door, and look at me, but rarely come in. Things change when it’s wet food time. Try to keep him away if you can! They have lovely personalities. Playful, sweet, loveable. He can play for hours, so much that I feel I get tired only by looking at him. He will play with anything. They have great, soft and squishy fur. Boris has the softest fur. He sheds a lot, so I need to brush every other day. He’s not a fan of cleaning himself, so he gets a bath every month. . They’re not lap cats. Both hate being held, and they tolerate it for me, but not for long. Maine Coons hate being alone. They are not very talkative, but have a distinctive chirp, very cute, and soft. They communicate with each other like that. They have to be around their human, so closed doors promptly panics both of my cats. - Yildiz Bolat.

My Maine Coon is the most demanding cat I’ve ever owned, and I have owned several other cats in my life. Fur is everywhere in my house. Teddy gives himself hundreds of baths a day. Sometimes chunks of fur get stuck in his mouth. He lets me remove them. Teddy sits by me and sleeps on my chest or next to me. He doesn't like me to hold him but wants to sit next to me. He sits and stares at me when he’s hungry. - Michael Fitzjohn

He is scared of the front door so he will hide under the couch. Once I call him or whistle, he will come out to see everyone. He lets you know when he wants wet food. Since he is a Maine coon, he is a large cat. He will stretch himself from the floor up to my hip and meow and purr. - Ciara Mulligan

I brushed him every morning in the garage. I would say come on Gus and when he saw the brush, he would follow me to the garage. He slept with me for naps and at night. Such gentle loving creatures they are. - Rita Birdsong

My beloved gentle giant passed last year at 23 years of age. He was awesome! He was a giant ball of fuzz that would do crazy cat things all the time. He walked with me everywhere even going as far to follow me to a local bar and jumping on the table as I was ordering a cocktail. His personality was something else. He loved cartoons. It wasn’t uncommon to come into my home and spongebob was playing so the cat could watch TV. He had a ton of hair; I could make a new cat every time I combed him. - Jennifer Miller

Relaxed and easy-going, Maine Coons generally get along well with children and dogs, as well as other cats. They are people-orientated but they are not over dependent. They don't demand attention all the time like to hang out with their owners. They don't want to be held necessarily but they like to be close to their caregiver. They have a tiny voice and an imposing appearance. "My present Maine Coons, an altered female, is a calm, collected cat controlling the household with a mere glance of the eye." - Gloria Stephens in Legacy of the Cat. 

Character

In reading about the Maine Coon cat, I think it would be fair to say that if there is a thread running through their character it is their calmness and their pliability. I mean that they are flexible in their behaviour and don't complain. They have a good demeanour in general I would suggest and therefore they make very good companion cats.

I've mentioned that the character of the Maine Coons is partly inherited through breeders selecting good foundation cats and then selectively breeding to a high standard to create well-rounded balanced Maine Coon cats both in terms of the character and appearance.

Of course, the character of any cat including Maine Coons depends at least partly on how they are raised by the breeder and how that nurturing is carried on by the owner. And the environment in which the Maine Coon (MC) cat lives will dictate to a certain extent the character of the cat.

In a calm pleasant environment with rhythms and routines the true Maine Coon cat character will come out and they will be a beautiful cat companion. But if the environment is stressful for any cat including MCs their behaviour will be adjusted accordingly. They might become defensively aggressive for instance. They might not be quite as calm as normal. Perhaps the environment is making them anxious or stressed. These all impact their behaviour which also impacts whether they are nice cats to live with.

We have to stress that the human creates the environment in which the cat lives and therefore if a cat is misbehaving the human caregiver should look at themselves first rather than blaming the cat.

Size

Perhaps the biggest distinguishing feature of the Maine Coon cat is that they are bigger than any other domestic cat! This must have an impact upon the amount of food you provide Maine Coon cat compared to any other purebred cat including mixed type and breed cats. You will need more food and therefore its more expensive. And they occupy more sofa space etc. And if they sleep on your bed, you'd better get a super-king sized double!

Fur

One Maine Coons cat owner said that their fur is the worst thing about them. It gets everywhere and you're going to have to brush them regularly to help reduce some of that shedding which inevitably takes place and goes everywhere in the home.

Click here for articles on Maine Coon cat health

Health - insurance

And lastly, another factor influencing what it's like living with a Maine Coons cat is that you will probably have to take out a pet health insurance policy to deal with some of the well-known inherited illnesses which afflict the Maine Coon cat breed. I would urge anybody to read about them which can do so by clicking on the following link. Owning a Maine Coon cat is going to be more expensive, I would suggest, than owning a standard moggy for at least two reasons one they eat more and you will need pet insurance almost certainly if you want peace of mind.

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