Your Maine Coon Guide

Trey is given a super Maine Coon kitten by breeders Mermazing Maine Coons. Screenshot from the video. Breeders 'Mermazing Maine Coons gifted a gorgeous Maine Coon kitten to a nice young man in this video on TikTok. It was unexpected. He really wanted a Maine Coon kitten and was prepared to pay in instalments. He had $300 but needed around $3,000. A lot more. He has been a good guy all his life and it has not been easy for him. The young man's name is Trey. He is a gentle guy it seems to me; ideal for cat caregiving. He'll understand his cat companion and be protective. His mother recently died of cancer we are told and Trey lost his Doberman recently too according to the news media reports. So it has been hard for him. The breeders must have been touched by his story and decided to be very generous and give him a beautiful smoke kitten.  I have a strong feeling as I am sure others do that he'll be an excellent care caregiver. I hope it works out for him and his cat. He ...

NEWS AND COMMENT: this is not hot off the press but the numbers are astonishing. This was a very large operation by an American Maine Coon cat breeder. I would doubt that there are many if any as big in the US. At the time of the cats' rescue from this breeder there were 110 kittens and cats. They were all rescued with the assistance of a cat rescue organisation called Cat's Cradle in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States. Believed to be Executive Director Sherri Heishman of Cat's Cradle with one of the cats. Image: Cat's Cradle (believed).  Before the breeding facility was closed down they had received 50 Animal Welfare Act violations in just 12 months. The violations included a failure to provide veterinary care and adequate housing.  We don't have the name of the breeder which I think is unfortunate because it would be nice to know in case they restart! I don't know whether anything has been done to prevent them restarting but I hope it has...

Red and ginger The title refers to 'ginger' coated Maine Coons. Firstly, the word 'ginger' means 'red' in the cat fancy. The word 'red' is used by the cat fancy and 'ginger' or 'yellow' is used by owners! Both the solid red coat and the red tabby coat are listed under the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) breed standard and are therefore both accepted by this premier cat association in the US.  Red (ginger) tabby Maine Coon. Image in the public domain. Breeders So, it's just a question of finding a breeder who is breeding solid red or red tabby Maine Coons from foundation cats that are red tabbies. And in searching for such a breeder it might be true that there are few breeders creating red Maine Coons.  I don't know how many breeders are breeding the red and red tabbies. If there are very few then the answer to the question in the title is that they are rare! But it will only be because breeders don't want to breed them. Ho...

On many social media websites, you will see people asking whether their cat is a Maine Coon cat. Many people have the idea that the standard brown or gray tabby cat is a Maine Coon cat because they associate the tabby pattern with Maine Coons. In fact, you see people advertising cats for sale as 'Maine Coon mix' that are not half-Maine Coon as they are just mixed-breed tabby cats. They want to sell the cat at a higher price. And it's true that the classic tabby pattern looks very good on a Maine Coon cat. That's because the historical ancestor of the Maine Coon cat is the barn cat living in the state of Maine and in other places along the east coast of America. And these barn cats are normally tabby cats. But just because a random-bred domestic cat ('domestic longhair' or 'domestic shorthair') is a tabby cat does not mean that they are a Maine Coon. You need a lot more. Also, you can't just rely on the appearance of the cat. You have to have the pape...

2 gorgeous, slate grey Maine Coon kittens. Image in the public domain. A Reddit.com user on the Maine Coon group on that website tells us that she is getting "my boy in a few weeks but was just offered another from a litter that previously wasn't opened". It seems that things have changed and the breeder from whom he is buying the kitten has offered her a second one and is asking whether two kittens are better than one. She added: "Not just for wants, but would it benefit my other kitten long term? I am home 24/7 so my current boy would never be alone." I think the last point is very important. Pretty well all the experts would say that if you are in a position to afford it, and if you have the mindset to look after two cats, then purchasing two Maine Coon kittens is better than purchasing one Maine Coon kitten PROVIDED that you absolutely know that they will get along. You normally don't know whether cats will get along and often times you have to introduc...

Tabby Maine Coon mother and her kitten. Image: MikeB The basic M.O. (modus operandi) or method when you want to purchase a Maine Coon kitten is to visit the breeder from whom you are going to make the purchase. I know that a lot of people don't visit the breeder. They might purchase online and ask the breeder to ship the kitten, sometimes over a long distance. But it is always advisable to visit the breeder. This is a big purchase for the lifetime of the kitten. And if you do buy online DON'T send money upfront unless you are absolutely certain that the seller is not a scammer . So having visited the breeder to select a kitten, the following advice is provided by the Maine Coon Cat Club in the UK: Ask questions Ask questions. Obviously, you will ask them politely but you should ask all the questions that you want to ask and a good breeder will be pleased to provide answers. I am just trying to think about the kind of questions you might ask. You might ask about the foundation c...

I thought I'd check out some Maine Coon catteries. This may help adopters/buyers. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) operate a two-tier approval programme: CFA Approved Cattery and CFA Cattery of Excellence. Image: Myzticcoons. Note : the name in the certificate above is slightly different to the name I have referred to. I suspect that this is because the cattery changed it. Or the CFA got it wrong! Don't be concerned by this. The certification lasts for a year and has to be renewed which is good, Location I'm looking at the CFA catteries of excellence in this article. One of those is Myztic Coons and as mentioned they are based on the island of O‘ahu, Hawaii, USA. Hawaii is a US state. Double registered They are actually a double registered cattery both with the CFA and The International Cat Association (TICA). They are a "closed cattery" meaning I guess that you can't just turn up and have a look at it. You have to make an appointment to visit but they ...

A bold and confident Maine Coon breeder located in Ukraine is advertising online that they'll ship two Maine Coon kittens to Hong Kong for $600! The cattery is KINGCOONS*UA. It is bold and what about the risks of shipping a kitten from Ukraine, where the war is still raging in the east and south and the long flight 7 hours and 15 minutes.  I guess it works out but it seems risky to me. There is also the issue of pet passports. What is Beijing currently saying about the importation of animals into their country?  USDA provide a useful page on this. It is complicated . Click here to see it . The breeder says (please excuse the English grammar but this is verbatim): If you want to buy Maine Coon kitten to China, it is possible delivery of Maine Coon kittens from Ukraine to China by courier or by cargo. All our kittens are purebred, registered, have the pedigree, veterinary passport, microchip. Delivery of 2 kittens from Ukraine to Hong Kong cost 600 $. For communication about th...

This applies to all domestic cats. Maine Coons probably have slightly shorter life spans than moggies. And their health is compromised by inherited diseases which are been well documented. These probably affect their effective breeding lifespan. But in short, the general answer to the question is a very long time. Male cats have been known to produce offspring at the advanced age of 16 years. This is something like a human being in his 70s. Maine Coon family. Image copyright Helmi Flick. Female cats have been known to give birth when 12 years of age. There is a recent story on the Internet about a 30-year-old cat giving birth! That obviously is an exception (unique actually) and the cat was not a Maine Coon. In fact, I can't recall any Maine Coon living to the age of 30. That would be an incredible rarity. A 12-year-old cat is probably the equivalent of around the mid-60s for a human female. There is a story on the Internet of a woman giving birth at the age of 70. So there seems t...

In a show of strength and contempt for the Russian invasion of Ukraine VivatCoon a Maine Coon breeder in Kharkiv, Ukraine is still inviting potential adopters of their cats to visit the cattery despite The Guardian newspaper in the UK reporting that "Two women have been killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region." Perhaps she just can't get around to amending the home page which would be understandable. Larysa Bekuzarova, a Maine Coon breeder in Kharkiv, Ukraine is according to her website continuing as normal. Image: Bekuzarova  I'd expect under normal conditions she may well receive visitors from abroad. There'd be none at present and I wouldn't expect any from within Ukraine either. Not a good time to adopt a cat in Ukraine which is sad. Fighting is ongoing around Kharkiv and this lady is still operating her cattery seemingly as normal.  I wonder if she is and how the war as affected her. She is a breeder of huge, Europe...