Your Maine Coon Guide

You might ask a wider question rather than just looking at the beautiful Maine Coon cat and ask whether all small cats have similar tails. The answer is that they don't. And I'm talking about the wild cat species as well as the cat breeds and the moggies. I think this is 'Oscar' an Australia Maine Coon and what a tail. Perfect. Image assessed as being in the public domain on social media.  There is a variation among wild cat species in tail length which is due to evolutionary pressures such that, for example, the snow leopard has a beautifully long rope-like tail to aid balance while it chases prey (blue sheep) on 40° escarpments high up in the Himalayas while the American bobcat has a very short tail as has the lynx because they don't want their tails to drag in the snow ! That's the suggested reason and the underlying reason is always evolutionary pressures in order to boost survival. The typical domestic cat has a standard looking tail of medium length but t...

The title comes from the social media website: Reddit.com, where they have a thriving forum about the 'MC' which is how Maine Coon afficionados refer to their cats. This young MC has perfectly tufted paws as per the breed standard. One of the signs of a genuine Maine Coon cat. They are a badge of honour! Image: Reddit user: u/Freeflybudgie The answer to the question will be YES for genuine Maine Coons as 'well tufted' paws are part of the CFA breed standard. In other words, MC breeders affiliated with the CFA have to create cats with tons of 'toe hair' as this Reddit user calls it. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) breed standard for the MC's feet: "LEGS and FEET: legs substantial, wide set, of medium length, and in proportion to the body. Forelegs are straight. Back legs are straight when viewed from behind. Paws large, round, well-tufted . Five toes in front; four in back.2 You probably know that the breed standard is the breeding guideline on a...

You may have noticed that I refer to the breed standards of purebred, pedigree cats all the time because they are the guidelines under which breeders create cats. The breed standards describe the appearance of the cat breed in question. This is a summary of the breed standard mainly in layperson's terminology. The standards can be quite technical because they use cat fancy language. Pic: copyright Helmi Flick. A superb tabby Maine Coon Most valuable pieces of anatomy! The first point to note is that the most valuable part of the Maine Coon anatomy in terms of scoring points at a cat show when competing with other Maine Coon cats is the coat. The judges score out of 20 the quality of the coat to which you can add 15 points in respect of "body colour and pattern". The shape of the body accrues 15 points in maximum. And the shape of the head accrues 15 points as well if it's a perfect head as per the breed standard! Rugged working cat The standard makes it clear that as ...

Tabby Maine Coon at a cat show. The judge is typical of cat show judges. As well turned out as the cats. I believe that the photo is in the public domain. I can tell you what type of Maine Coon cat would be disqualified from a cat show that took place under the auspices of The International Cat Association (TICA). The breed standard for this cat breed under this cat association's rules state that the following aspects of a Maine Coon cat's appearance would disqualify them from a cat show: Non-permissible colors. Blue or odd-eyes in any colored cat other than solid white or with white. Fine boning. Cobby body. Tail fault. Tail length significantly out of balance with body. Significantly too small for age or gender. "Non-permissible colours" appears to refer primarily to modified colours such as chocolate, lilac, cinnamon, fawn and caramel. These are non-dominant black-based colours which are not allowed under the breed standard. What is allowed in general is "all ...

We know that the Maine Coons has hairy feet. They have tufts of hair sticking out between the toes. It varies between the cats but you will see some extraordinary photographs of very long hair tufts poking out through the paw pads going downwards. This means that the fur is between the floor and the paw pads when they walk. The Maine Coon cat must have hairy feet as per the cat breed standard of all the cat associations. RELATED:  Maine Coon has the most amazing 'tufted paws' that you'll ever see . The Maine Coon cat's hairy feet are wonderful. Image: Mon Balon. This is a neat topic for discussion. Do you trim them? If a Maine Coon owner has a hard floor which are quite common these days and if that floor is shiny because it is well polished, there may be a slight risk of a Maine Coon cats slipping and sliding on it because their hair tufts are in between their paw pads and the floor. More hairy feet! Image: Facebook. I think that's a fair assessment.  It is based u...

Strange huge Maine Coon with abnormally small ears with no lynx tips. Image: Instagram This should be an interesting picture to Maine Coon aficionados. When you look at this enormous Maine Coon who is very impressive it gradually dawns on you, I hope, that there is something dramatically wrong about the cat's appearance if you are into this cat breed and know a bit about the breed standard. The ears are inordinately small on this individual cat and very positively not in line with the breed standard. And it does not matter what breed standard we are referring to because all of them require that the ears are large and triangular and at the tip of the ear flaps there should be tufts of fur sticking out which are called "lynx tips". The phrase as you probably know comes from the lynx wild cat species which has tufts of fur sticking out from the top of their flaps. But just look at this beautiful Maine Coon cat with a very strong muzzle which is in line with the breed standar...

I am or was slightly bemused by this Maine Coon video. She is a beautiful Maine Coon cat and she is kneading a fluffy cover of some sort. The cover is made of a white fabric probably fleece. Fleece doesn't normally come loose.  Maine Coon has the most amazing 'tufted paws' that you'll ever see. Screenshot. I say that because this female Maine Coon has so much fur on her feet that it makes me almost believe that she has picked up some of the fabric from the cover that she is kneading. I don't know but have you ever seen so much fur on the feet of a Maine Coon cat?  We know that the Maine Coon is known to have a lot of fur sticking between their toes. It is one of the signatures of this popular domestic cat breed. But if you look at the video carefully you will see an inordinate amount of it the stuck to her feet which does not seem plausible. I don't see how it can be like that. It seems impossible. But she is a hairy Maine Coon cat! And that is the reason why sh...

What is the rarest Maine Coon colour? Image: MikeB This is a bit technically and I'd say an example of a cat fancy nerd navel gazing! I'm being a bit cruel. But there is not much point in knowing the answer. But perhaps the question has been asked with an eye on adopting the ultimate status symbol. My guess is that the 'dilute calico smoke' is the rarest coat type and colour. I explain why later in the article. I don't have a photograph of a dilute calico smoke Maine Coon because they are vanishingly rare :). This is where I have to make a confession. I don't know the answer. But I won't be alone. I am positive that the author on any other website providing an answer to question in the title will be guessing. That's because there's no available information on this from the cat associations. If we had access to the list of Maine Coon registrations at the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) for the past five years (plus the same from the other major as...

What's the purpose? Why do Maine Coon breeders go out of their way to create cats with abnormally large and "square" muzzles. They are unnatural. They are more like dog muzzles. Why do breeders create Maine Coons with big, square muzzles? What's the purpose? Image: MikeB. Not common The first point to make is that Maine Coon cats with these kinds of extreme and heavy muzzles are relatively rare. They are quite common on the internet (social media) but on the ground in the "real world" - among the Maine Coon pets - they are much less common. One can be misled by the internet. And the Maine Coon show cats are not like this. They will have heavier than usual muzzles but not the type that we see on social media. The show Maine Coon have slightly heavier and squarer muzzles than normal because they should look natural (see below). Standard guides and encourages But the reason why breeders focus on the muzzle as a defining appearance aspect is because the breed st...

Firstly, the tufts of hair sticking out of the top of a Maine Coon's ear flaps are named after the lynx wild cat as they have them in abundance. The tufts of hair on the lynx wild cat are believed to have a function but we don't know as yet what it is! Perhaps a communication tool via body language. They are likely to be functional to improve survival as almost everything that evolves is designed to improve survival. Maine Coon lynx tips on the ears are purely decorative. Image: MikeB But for the Maine Coon cat these impressive tufts of hair are decorative . They enhance the ear. They decorate the ear as if decorating a sofa with cushions 😎💓. Same thing. There is a rules-based reason: the breed standards insist on them. I've quoted the CFA breed standard in the infographic on this page. The standard allows for breeder discretion which is why you see large variations in the length and density of lynx tips depending on the breeder. The breeders create them over generations ...

The Maine Coon is often described as a 'gentle giant'. And sometimes you see the breed described as 'quiet'. For example, the Daily Paws website says that "These big cats are surprisingly quiet—they do love to communicate and vocalize to their humans, but their soft voice may take you by surprise." This Maine Coon illustrates the CFA page on the breed: He/she looks pretty normal, doesn't he? Not gigantic. No extreme muzzle or super-sized ears with massive lynx tips sprouting from them. This is the norm for Maine Coons. Quiet? But one Maine Coon owner on Twitter says that her cat is noisy. She says: As a Maine Coon owner I disagree with this post. I mostly put focus on the breed of my cat to warn others though. They are - noisy! And big and fluffy, which is how he survives my wrath, which I obtain by him being noisy! Who are we to believe? Neither provides us with the right or complete information as there will be variations between individual cats. They pr...

The answer to the question in the title comes from Google's AI computer Bard. Here it is. It is flawed. There are errors which I mention below the answer. For those of you who I have never heard of Bard, it is Google's version of an artificial intelligence chat box. You can ask it questions and it provides a good answer, written in good English at the moment.  Fictional depiction of Google's Bard. Image: DALLE E. It is in a developmental stage but it can be used as you can see on this page. It is going to change the way Google presents its search results. It is an attempt by Google in fact to take more control of the Internet in my view and I have questioned whether this development is fair and right in another article which you can read by clicking on this link . Bard's response to the title question Whether or not breeding Maine Coon cats is cruel is a complex question with no easy answer. On the one hand, Maine Coons are a relatively healthy breed with a lifespan of ...

The presentation of hip dysplasia in Maine Coons is gradual with subtle behavioural changes such as inactivity or aggression, lack of response to human attention, reluctance to go up or down stairs, and resistance to handling. Here is a video I made to change the way I discuss these issues. They are very important issues. It surprises me that people discuss them more or hardly at all. Health is more important than appearance at the end of the day. That's what I think but it seems that I am out of step with almost everyone else!  The video that I have made, boring though it is, is the first I've seen on how hip dysplasia has a negative impact on the cat's character. In the video, I mention that people don't talk about this disease affecting character. What I mean is that the owners on TikTok proudly show off their cats which is understandable but they don't mention this important health issue. They wouldn't because it is a negative but it is important. @mikej...

The CFA breed standard guides breeders on the appearance of the breeds registered with that association. It is the same with the other breeds and associations. They award points for each aspect of the appearance with the overall total being 100. This allows judges to give an overall figure which is a percentage. The MC has a double coat of downy undercoat and a top coat but the coat is made up of three types of hair strand: down hairs (wool hairs), bristle or awn hairs and guard hairs . Technically there is a fourth type of hair: the whiskers. Maine Coon coat is the single most important part of the cat's appearance. Image: MikeB The aspect of the Maine Coon appearance (anatomy) to which is attached the most points in the coat. A show cat can be awarded a maximum of 20 points (20% of the total) for their coat in comparison to 15 for the head shape and 15 for the body shape. This 20% figure does NOT include body colour and pattern. The coat is therefore the most important single as...

I recently wrote about white cats being bad mothers ! The reasoning is straightforward: white cats are often deaf and being deaf they cannot respond in a timely way to their kitten's cries for attention. This is a barrier to being a good mother. And my mind turned to a photograph by Helmi Flick, a very well-known American show cat photographer, of a white Maine Coon cat. As I recall it was one of her first assignments as a professional cat photographer. She peached it and got a great result. It is as if the cat is floating like a cloud against a deep blue sky. She used an Olympus camera. She uses Canon nowadays or did. She lives in Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas, Texas. I'm told that this cat was or is (if still alive) deaf. That would have to be expected. The chances of being deaf depends upon whether the cat has two blue eyes, odd-eyes i.e. one yellow and one blue or both yellow.  A high proportion of all-white cats with two blue eyes will be deaf because the cochlea of the inn...

Show MC cat. Image in public domain. Are declawed Maine Coon cats disqualified from cat show competitions? A fair question seeing as declawing is so prevalent in the United States despite the cruelty of the multiple amputations. I am faced with an imprecise answer from the two premier cat associations based in America. But Dr Morris, a British zoologist clears up the issue. CFA and TICA - Cat Fanciers' Association and The International Cat Association These are a couple of top cat associations. The top with the GCCF in the UK. Both as expected list the reasons why a cat might be disqualified from competition. In both examples they do not state that they disqualify declawed Maine Coon cats (MCs) or any other breed of cat. They should as it would send a clear message that they are against the operation. Perhaps they are afraid of alienating a large segment of American society. The CFA makes an INDIRECT reference to disqualifying declawed Maine Coons. Here it is: DISQUALIFY: Incorrect...

What can I say? Not a lot unlike some other websites because there is no such cat breed as a Lykoi Maine Coon mix. If it did exist it would be either a purebred hybrid if registered or a moggy if the cat had not been registered with a cat association. But a discussion is rather pointless because this is hypothetical. This is speculative. There is no such cat as a Lykoi Maine Coon mix. Update: please read the comments below. In short, there is a breeder of Maine Coon cats and Lykoi cats on social media (TikTok) who claims to have created this hybrid but the video accompanying this claim does not show what I would have thought would be Lykoi hybrids. So, at the moment, I do not believe that this hybrid exists as yet. The man calls the hybrids 'Lycoons'. Maine Coon breed standard And there won't be such a cat because under the breed standard for the Maine Coon, no outcrosses are allowed to either non-purebred cats or purebred cats. This is to preserve the blood lines and to p...

According to a Maine Coon cat breeder, Debbie, in The Netherlands, developing within the cat fancy and among Maine Coon breeders, there is a 'new-style' Maine Coon. This is unofficial. It is in breach of the breed standard or should I say breed standards because there are several leading cat associations with their own breed standard but with respect to this breed, they are similar. Siamese cat But the concept of "new-style" compared to "old-style" comes from the Siamese cat. The Siamese cat has many different appearances from the "Applehead" (more cobby features) to the "old-style" (more classic looking) and the 'Modern Siamese' (super slender) as I have referred to it . There is also the Thai cat which is also a Siamese cat which is meant to be the same as the original version. Push boundaries The point I'm making is that breeders tend to go their own way and push the boundaries of the breed standard and go beyond those boun...

The Maine Coon x Siamese mix is a popular cat. Or at least it is discussed a lot on the Internet. But these are informal hybrid cats. They are not accepted by the Cat Fancier's Association (CFA), the premier association in the American cat fancy.  It is just breeders or individuals experimenting it seems to me. They like the idea of a hybrid of a cross between them Maine Coon cat and a Siamese cat. And it is quite a nice hybrid. Lynx point Siamese x Maine Coon hybrid. Image: Reddit.com user: u/chance_tyler11 However, it is a hybrid which is rejected by the CFA breed standard. You will note a couple of references to the pointed cat coat of the Siamese in the CFA breed standard which indicates this rejection. RELATED: Lynx point Siamese . Disqualification Firstly, in a paragraph concerning Maine Coon cats that should be disqualified at cat shows it refers to both the kinked tail and crossed eyes . In other words, any Maine Coon cat with a kinked tail or crossed eyes will be disquali...

This is a discussion about choosing a Maine Coon cat breeder and whether the first-time purchaser should select a cat from a TICA (The International Cat Association) registered breeder or a CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association) registered breeder. There will, I believe, be a subtle difference in the appearance of Maine Coon cats registered with these two top cat associations in America.  TICA and CFA Maine Coon comparison. Photo: Helmi Flick. This might interest first-time buyers of this breed particularly if they are researching the breed carefully and have specific requirements. Initially I look at the breed standards regarding the coat from these two cat associations and then I discuss how it might impact the purchase. TICA breed standard for Maine Coon coat "Length: uneven; shorter on shoulders, gradually lengthening down the back and sides. Long, full, shaggy belly fur and britches. Tail fur long, full, flowing. Frontal ruff becomes more develop with age. Texture: all-weather c...