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Showing posts with the label Patella Luxation

Is orthopaedic hindlimb pathogenesis in Maine Coons partly due to their gait?

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The title is a little bit complicated, but it is based upon a study which is even more complicated 😢😎! Researchers asked the question as to whether the well-known hindlimb health problems of the Maine Coon cat namely hip dysplasia and patella luxation were due in part to the way the Maine Coon walks i.e., their gait and the forces encountered. Polydactyl paws- Maine coon Tootsie. Image by Valley Girl on Flickr. We know that these diseases are inherited because, I would argue, of sloppy breeding practices which are accepted by the cat associations. But are they exacerbated by the gait of the Maine Coon? The researchers compared the "ground reaction force" and ancillary forces of Maine Coon cats with those of regular domestic cats.  "Ground reaction force" (GRF)means the force applied to the feet of cats by the ground on which they walk. Or "the force exerted by the ground on a body in contact with it." As I understand it GRF changes as the cat walks. More...
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Success rate of corrective surgery for patella luxation in Maine Coon cats

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Veterinary surgeon. Image: Pixabay (modified). As the Maine Coon is genetically predisposed to acquiring patella luxation it is useful for caregivers to have an idea of the success rate of rectification surgery for this condition which is recommended by veterinarians for grade 2-4 patella luxation.  The patella is the kneecap and 'luxation' means its dislocation. Basically, the kneecap has moved away from the front of the knee to the side. Grade 1 patella luxation means that you can manually push the kneecap out of his groove, but it will return to his normal position once the pressure is removed. Grade 2 patella luxation means that the patella will sometimes pop out of the groove on its own, but it moves back to its original position when the leg is rotated and extended. Grade 3 patella luxation describes a situation whereby the patella is out of the trochlear groove most of the time but it can be pushed back into the groove with manual pressure. And grade 4 patella luxation d...
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Do Maine Coons jump on counters?

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Omar using his enormous length (and therefore height) to go effect to scrump some tasty food from the kitchen counter. Omar is one of the world's largest domestic cats and he lives in Australia. Pic in the public domain. Yes, just like any other domestic cat, Maine Coons sometimes jump on to counters but it depends upon the individual cat. And it depends on their owner letting them and on the cat's health (see below). But there is a difference between the Maine Coon and other domestic cats: their size. I have seen numerous pictures of Maine Coon cats reaching up to kitchen counters to grab some food on the surface. Sometimes they don't need to jump onto kitchen counters to get what they want. The picture below highlights this in an amusing way. The caption is: ' I finally found out who’s been stealing all the steak🙀.' Maine Coons can sometimes reach up to the counter rather than jumping onto it to get what they want. Photo: u/MilosH18 on Reddit.com Athletic by some...
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Orthopaedic hind limb disease in Maine Coon cats not caused (or exacerbated?) by size or gait

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We know that the Maine Coon (MC) suffers from a high incidence of orthopaedic diseases of the hind limb (hip dysplasia, patellar luxation). Thirty-seven percent of MCs suffer from feline hip dysplasia (FHD) . The question posed by a group of scientists was whether this had something to do with the size of the breed and/or their gait (the way they walked). MCs have a longer stride length and paw contact area than standard domestic cats. Plus they are nearly always heavier. Heavy-set MC. Photo in public domain. They compared ground reaction force measurements in a population of domestic shorthair and Maine Coon cats. All the MCs evaluated were not lame. They evaluated parameters such as peak vertical force (PFz), vertical impulse (IFz), time to PFz (TPFz), step length (SL), paw contact area (PCA), stance phase duration (SPD) and symmetry index (SI) for the fore- and hind limbs. Complicated and precise stuff. Although the vertical force and vertical impulse were higher in MCs than for ...
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Surgery for patellar luxation in Maine Coons can result in a favourable outcome

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Patellar luxation can sometimes be found in Maine Coons and non-purebred cats but Maine Coons are at a higher risk for the condition (source: Harlingen Veterinary Clinic ). This increased risk is inherited genetically (source: Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Aspects of Purebred Cats ). Pre and post op for patellar luxation in a cat or dog. X-ray: Animal Medical Center of Southern California. Okay, your Maine Coon is more likely than normal to have this disabling condition. The same is said about hip dysplasia which affects 37% of Maine Coons (a higher level of prevalence than for patellar luxation I believe). ASSOCIATED: Maine Coon Health Problems . Patellar luxation describes the knee cap of those cats affected sliding to the inside of the leg rather than remaining in a groove as it should. It causes mild to acute lameness. Maine Coons who have the condition try to pop the knee back in place by extending their limb. What can be done about it? I am sure that many caregivers consi...
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Maine Coon Cat and Patella Luxation

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Pattela luxation is a slipping kneecap. The word "pattela" is the scientific name for "kneecap".  "Luxation" means dislocation in medical language. Maine Coon cats are genetically predisposed to the condition. The kneecap is anchored by ligaments. It slides in a groove that is in the femur. When the groove is too shallow the kneecap slips out when the knee bends. In cats, the kneecap most often slips out to the inside of the knee joint - called "medial luxation". Maine Coons with patella luxation will be lame to a certain degree and skip. Vets can diagnose for pattela luxation through expert manipulation. It is not advised to try yourself. The OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) keeps a register of cats that are free of this condition. Screening for hip dysplasia an associated condition can be carried out by the OFA. Treatment involves weight control and surgery if needed. Arthritis can develop if it is not treated.
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The extreme Maine Coon face

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This is an example of extreme breeding. This is a Maine Coon but this cat is an extreme and rare example of this breed. This is not the way they look normally. This face is almost like an aggressive robot with the piercing eyes and the huge muzzle.  Or like a lion's head. The head looks enormous and very heavy. It looks unreal. But it also looks very impressive.  And purchasers like impressive-looking domestic cats. But this not the face of a Maine Coon that wins cat show competitions as it does not fit the breed standard as accurately as the more moderate winners (see below).  In fact, the CFA standard is clear in that the cat should have a balanced appearance although this cat was not bred under the CFA breed standard as I understand it (see below).  Click here for more on the kind of MC which wins at shows . Maine Coon selectively breed to have an extreme face. Image in the public domain. And the Maine Coon is meant to be a large cat, the largest domestic cat b...
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Maine Coon Size - this is a huge one!

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  Enormous Maine Coon with a head bigger than the person holding him. Pic: in public domain. Maine Coon size is very important to both breeders of this cat and the public. I sometimes think that the public is more obsessed with Maine Coon size than the breeders are. The bigger the Maine Coon the better. There is a fascination about it and I confess that there is nothing much more impressive than a huge Maine Coon. They've been bred like this through selective breeding but please remember that they weren't always like this. The original Maine Coons were regular farm cats in the state of Maine in 19th-century and before. They were robust, rugged, medium-longhaired moggy cats but impressive nonetheless. Their impressiveness led to breeders deciding to breed them which in turn led to the breed being accepted by the cat associations and then to win cat shows and become perhaps one of the most famous breeds in the world. The breed standard for the Maine Coon as provided by e.g. Cat F...
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Average lifespan of Maine Coon cat

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How long do Maine Coon cats live for? What's the average lifespan? Do they live shorter lives than the average random-bred family cat? These are difficult questions to answer accurately. In fact, I don't think we can answer them accurately because nobody has been counting. Nobody has a database or carried out a full-blown survey and therefore you will read anecdotal evidence i.e. statements by breeders or people who think they know the answer and these answers get repeated on the Internet. I am not sure that they are accurate. Picture of a Maine Coon who looks like a middle-aged man. Photo: Pinterest. My research indicates that people believe that Maine Coon cats live between about 10 and 15 years old. Some may live longer than that and some may live shorter lives. One well-known Maine Coon, Rubble, lived for 31 years and was at one time the oldest domestic cat in the world. But there will always be exceptions and this article is about the mean or the average although these ...
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Comparison of a black smoke Maine Coon at 6 weeks and 6-years-of-age

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This is a cross-post as the image is so damned good. It is amazing because the cat is amazing. To put the same cat at different stages of their life in the same photograph is a nice idea especially with this Maine Coon (MC) who has an amazingly heavy face. It is so mightily masculine to be almost unbelievable. He has a priceless expression on his face too. Very serious compared to the innocence of his face when he was 6 weeks old. He looks a bit coy when 6 weeks old and a slightly grumpy middle-aged man when 6 years old. Comparison of a black smoke Maine Coon at 6-weeks and 6-years-of-age. Image in pubic domain. No doubt he is huge too. You get a clear sense of that in the image. There is a serious and less impressive side to this image. It's the backstory that people don't really want to read about and discuss or in fact do anything about: heart ( HCM ) and joint disease. The bigger and heavier the MCs are the more predisposed to heart disease they are. Here is the posts on...
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Are Maine Coons illegal in some countries, states or territories?

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One Maine Coon website asks if Maine Coons are legal? My initial response was that it is a bizarre question (second thoughts below), but I'll answer it in my way. I say that it is a bizarre question because the Maine Coon is an entirely domestic cat by which I mean NOT a wild cat hybrid and therefore there is no reason whatsoever to declare it illegal in any jurisdiction unless that there is some other fanciful reason to ban the cat (there might be - see below). Are Maine Coons illegal in some countries, states or territories? No, to the best of my knowledge. Image: MikeB I know of no jurisdiction anywhere in the world that bans Maine Coons which makes sense. Conversely a similar sized domestic cat, the F1-F2 Savannah, is illegal in many jurisdictions (states, territories and countries) because it is a wildcat hybrid. The cat has some wild cat DNA which some legislatures consider to be detrimental to human health and welfare and to the conservation of wildlife (if the cat escapes t...
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Tortoiseshell Maine Coon with split-face

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Maine Coon with "split face". Photo: Screenshot. This is a very impressive Maine Coon. As you can see she is a tortoiseshell and as you probably know almost all tortoiseshell and calico cats are female. There are a few male tortoiseshell cats (and this might be one of them). Their sex is caused by a genetic aberration because the genetics of tortoiseshell cats dictates that they are almost always female. About one in 3000 are male as I recall. Also, it is not that unusual to see this extreme pattern on the face which creates the appearance of a "split-face". This is not what is called a "chimera" but a normal variation of the tortoiseshell pattern. Sometimes you do see what some people call "two-faced" cats with this sort of face due to a sharply defined pattern down the middle of the face. But the genetics behind that is different to this normal tortoiseshell variation. This is a particularly extraordinary looking Maine Coon cat. Not all Maine C...
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5 Maine Coon transformations from kitten to adult (video)

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Maine Coon kitten and his adult self. Photo: Robert Silka. This is a series of photographs by the very famous Maine Coon photographer: robert_sijka. I think he presents his photographs too dark as there is not enough information in the photographs for my liking but he takes great photographs of great Maine Coon cats. In this series he photographs a kitten and their adult version. Each individual cat is a wonderful example of the Maine Coon breed. I can count five examples. In my experience, these Google Blogger videos only work if you click the centre play button and then, immediately afterwards, the play button bottom-left! It sounds bad but the short video is worth watching.
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Eerie picture of a Maine Coon sitting like a human on a chest of drawers

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This is a slightly scary picture according to those who've seen it. One social media user said it was the devil and "If I walked into a room and saw that, I would assume some shit is about to go down". There is a ghostly stillness and sinister feeling about the image. 'Eerie' is a better description. This attractive cat appears to be completely at ease and comfortable sitting on top of a chest of bedroom drawers. The lighting from below (deliberate?) enhances the eerie effect. It seems possible that this is a photo-edited image but if so, it has been done with great skill. However, I don't think this is Photoshopped. Rethink: to be honest, the more I look at the picture, the more I feel that this is a photo-edited image. It is just too unnatural to be real. Although some domestic cats get themselves into some very strange positions. Maine Coon calmly sitting just like a human on a chest of drawers. Picture source unclear. Image deemed to be in the public d...
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Picture showing a Maine Coon as big as a child

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Another good example of the size of the bigger Maine Coons. Photo: Reddit.com This is a good photograph from the point of view of comparing size because it is from above and so we can see the full length of this almost totally black Maine Coon with white boots. The cat looks bigger than the child which is possible because I've seen Maine Coons which are positively enormous. I'm sure breeders of this cat go out of the way and bend over backwards to breed the biggest Maine Coon that they can. It's a challenge. They're not meant to necessarily be as big as this, as far as I know. That wasn't the initial objective under the breed standard. The standard does not say that Maine Coons must be enormous. In fact, the Cat Fanciers' Association breed standard, in the opening paragraph provides an overview of the cat and there is no mention that this cat should be very big. It is reproduced below (great cat though): "GENERAL: originally a working cat, the Maine Coon is...
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Should Maine Coons wear collars?

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Should Maine Coon cats wear collars? It's a question posed by the owner of the website Maine Coon Central and I think the question is not a great one to be perfectly frank but it does just about need to be addressed which is why I am writing this article. Maine Coon cat wearing a collar. Photo by Warren Photographic (modified by MikeB) and used with his express permission. You could ask the same question about any domestic cat that goes outside. Cat collars normally contain an identification tag. Cats that go outside might get lost. The ID tag can help them be reunited with their owner without recourse to having to scan for a microchip. The thing is though that it is probably exceptional for a Maine Coon cat to be allowed to go outside unsupervised. Quite rarely people take them outside on a harness and lead to allow them to explore the outside and be mentally stimulated. However, under these circumstances you don't need a collar with an ID tag for obvious reasons (unless they ...
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