Maine Coon sociability towards other cats and humans

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This is a very short note based upon a study which I'm currently reading on the cat breeds. In one part of the study they assessed breed differences in respect of sociability towards cats, sociability towards humans and activity/playfulness.

The Maine Coon performed as follows:

Sociability towards cats: the Maine Coon is in the bottom four under this criteria. It is below average in terms of sociability towards other cats. How does one interpret that? On a strict sense one must be driven to the conclusion that Maine Coon cats are less likely to make friends or be friendly with other domestic cats in a multi-cat home. I don't see this trait having a big effect on caregiving. Another possibility is that this breed may be more hostile than average towards strange cats coming onto their home range.

Sociability towards humans: the Maine Coon cat does slightly better under this heading as they are near the midpoint of all the breeds in terms of sociability towards humans but a little bit below the average. This would imply that they are a little more independent than your average cat breed which actually squares up with what Gloria Stephens has said in her book Legacy of the Cat, a book that I know very well and on which I rely quite often.

Activity/playfulness: under this category, Maine Coon cats are once again below average meaning that they are a little less likely than the average to be playful and active. In short, they are in the bottom third of the cat breeds for activity and playfulness. Comment: I wonder whether the inherited disease hip dysplasia is a factor in this assessment. I have no idea but obviously a cat with hip dysplasia is going to be less active and playful because it hurts. Hip dysplasia affects a high percentage of Maine Coon cats and it creates lameness. Lameness equates to less of a desire to be playful and active.

Study: Mikkola, S.; Salonen, M.; Hakanen, E.; Sulkama, S.; Lohi, H. Reliability and Validity of Seven Feline Behavior and Personality Traits. Animals 2021, 11, 1991. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11071991

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