Maine Coon cat is predisposed to mast cell skin tumours (MCT)

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Neoplasia is the uncontrolled abnormal growth of cells or tissues in the body and can be benign or malignant. It is the fourth most common cause of death in cats according to veterinary records in England, UK. The disease accounts for up to 25% of deaths in the older cat population. This information comes from a study about skin tumours called: "Retrospective study of more than 9000 feline cutaneous tumours in the UK 2006-2013".

The word "cutaneous" means affecting the skin.

The scientists looked at 219,083 feline samples. 4.4% of the sample had cutaneous tumours. The four most common types of cancerous growths in the skin were basal cell tumours, fibro sarcomas, squamous cell sarcomas and mast cell tumours.

Mast cell tumours


These are tumours consisting of mast cells. They are very common in dogs. The most common malignant skin tumour and dogs in fact. Mast cell tumours contain granules filled with substances which can be released into the bloodstream and potentially cause systemwide problems.

FYI - mast cells are found in connective tissue throughout the body in almost all the organs. It is a resident cell in connective tissue containing many granules rich in histamine and heparin. I won't describe what heparin does because it is too complicated! 😌Sorry but it's not worth describing. Anyway, is not important. This article is about understanding the possibility of a Maine Coon cat developing cancer in the skin.

The conclusion


The conclusion of the study is that it confirmed "a number of breed predispositions [to
mast cell skin cancer]: for example, the Siamese, Burmese, Russian Blue, Ragdoll, Maine Coon, Oriental [SH] and Havana [Brown] breeds appear to be predisposed to developing MCTs".

So the scientists are saying that these breeds appear to be predisposed (increased risk) to developing mast cell tumours in their skin based on their findings, to put it another way.

They also found that "just over half of the masses [the skin neoplasia] in this study were considered histologically malignant".

That means that just over 50% of the skin tumours were malignant cancers as opposed to non-malignant or benign cancers.

Overall predisposition to skin cancer


On my understanding of the study, taken overall, the Maine Coon had neither a greater or lesser chance of getting skin cancer in general compared to other breeds and non-purebred cats.

Caveat


Maine Coon cat owners shouldn't be overly concerned about this in my opinion. I'm writing this article because I want people to know all that can be known about the Maine Coon cat breed. 

And a lot of what is not spoken about on the Internet coming from the books about Maine Coon cats and coming from breeders or judges about the Maine Coon cats concerns hidden health problems which I like to unearth. 

Adopters i.e. buying customers who might spend up to $5000 on a beautiful Maine Coon cat need to know the health issues because they can be expensive to treat. Forewarned is to be forearmed as the saying goes. I'd expect most Maine Coon caregivers to take out a health insurance policy for their cat.

The Maine Coon cat does inherit certain diseases. This breed is sadly associated with certain inherited health conditions and potential owners should know about them so that they can budget accurately in providing excellent caregiving to their beautiful Maine Coon cat.

Study referred to


Retrospective study of more than 9000 feline cutaneous tumours in the UK: 2006–2013. Link: https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X17699477 - Please check out the study. 

I am not a veterinarian. Neither am I a qualified scientist. I do understand most of what is written in studies on cats.
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Please excuse the occasional typo due to preparing these articles at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I don't have a proof reader.

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