Your Maine Coon Guide

A Maine coon kitten has gone viral on social media after her owners caught her unusual playtime behaviour on camera. Well, this whole story is a fabrication really.  Sorry to be a killjoy but I like reality. The internet has run out of ideas so it makes up stories. Normal. The news media describes this cat as a Maine Coon and, frankly, I don't see that this cat is a Maine Coon cat judging by its appearance. The appearance of this cat is of a standard calico cat. If the cat is a Maine Coon cat it is non-standard and would not pass the breed standard in my view. Secondly, although slightly unusual, it is not very rare for cats to pant like dogs. It happens all the time but often we don't notice it. Perhaps it is the comparison between cats and dogs which makes a cat panting look unusual and rather strange but in truth it is not. MORE: Cat panting - click for more on this . And lastly, the video hasn't gone viral. It's attracted some attention but nothing special because i...

The world, now, understands that you can teach domestic cats to play fetch so never think that you can't train cats to do things that dogs do. Beware of what you might be getting into.  That's because they can enjoy it so much sometimes that they want to do it at a time of their choosing which will often be in the middle of the night; a time when cats can be fairly active and certainly far more active than their human caregivers. This is not Meatball but a fictional Maine Coon playing fetch in an image created by AI. Thanks AI (DALLE). This is the problem described by Eve who said that she always wanted to live with a Maine Coon cat. She tried to find one at a shelter but it is near impossible for the obvious reason that there are very, very few Maine Coon cat owners who abandon their cat to a shelter. She was told by her sister that Maine Coon cats need mental stimulation as they get bored easily. Comment: this would apply to any domestic cat by the way. But in response to tha...

Well, this video is from the respected and loved (💓) Ben the Vet. He is good. He's very sensible and honest. It can be hard to talk about the cat breeds in a very honest way and not dress things up as a lot of website do.  My style to present truthful information as best I can in the interests of buyers. They need to know what to expect. I don't like the video 😓. But the information is useful I hope.  This is Zak, a Maine Coon that used to live with Helmi Flick a cat photographer. I took the picture in my bedroom at her house. Handheld. He's cute isn't he? Great cat. So nice. He looks like he has a nice character and he did. The pic was taken around 15 years ago so he must be dead by now. RIP. The video says that the average life of the random-bred cat is around 14 years. The Maine Coon lifespan is 11 years according to this video which I am sure is based on a study that Ben has read. There are a lot of studies on the cat breeds and many on medical issues and touching...

It is not a video masterpiece! But if you are thinking about adopting a Maine Coon or are curious about this cat breed, which in the top three most popular, this short TikTok video may amuse you for the 11 seconds that it plays. 😀. They are gorgeous Maine Coons. They get on really well which may indicate that they are siblings. Although I am not a TikTok fan or a fan any social media platform, you will see a lot of Maine Coon cats paraded on that social media website which is useful if you are thinking of buying one.  Particularly if you are a first time buyer. And note you you'll have to buy a Maine Coon from breeder rather than adopt one from a rescue centre. They can cost upwards of $5,000 for a top quality cat  in the USA. My unusual choice of cat breed for the first-timer buyer is the Havana Brown! You might not have heard of the breed. Take a look at the article which I have just published: Which cat breed should a first-time owner pick ? Here is the Maine Coon video. I...

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 ...

Boby Flay and Nacho. Image: screenshot from the video on this page which is from Twitter. Here is a nice little video which is on Twitter X of the celebrated and much loved, ginger Maine Coon, Nacho , who recently passed over the rainbow bridge. His caregiver who survives him is Bobby Flay who is as celebrated - or more so - than Nacho. Mr Flay was devastated . The celebrity chef and entrepreneur founded his premium cat food brand in 2021 and named it after his beloved Maine Coon. RELATED POST:  American celebrity chef Bobby Flay named his pet food business after Nacho, his ginger tabby Maine Coon . There are a couple of points worth making at this time: Firstly, Nacho was the tender age of 9 when he died - the average lifespan of cats of this breed is 11 years . Nine years is about half the lifespan of a standard moggie cat. I have not seen the reports on the cause of Nacho's death as yet. If you have, please leave a comment. If not, I will speculate and say that it was almost ce...

A lot of Maine Coon social media starlets are featured for their rapid growth and enormous size when fully grown. Oliver is another impressive example. He is a gorgeous snow-white Maine Coon. He's also another Maine Coon with an impressively calm and balanced character. I see this a lot on social media. Image: MikeB These big Maine Coons come across as lovebugs with calm dispositions. You could not ask for more from a cat companion. There is nothing that I can see on his TikTok page which tells me that he is deaf. A high proportion of all-white domestic cats are deaf because the gene that creates the pigment-free coat also affects the inner ear rendering the cat deaf (see Cornell's assessment below). Link to his TikTok page . Also, the pigmentation can be removed from one of the eyes rendering it blue due to white light refraction through the eye as blue light is scattered more than light of the other wavelengths. Researchers found that only 17 to 22 percent of white cats with ...

Here is the video. It's me. Sorry as I am a little bit passed by sell by date but still kicking. I thought I'd do this a different way for a change to avoid boredom! It is very short as the answer to the question in the title can be short. There is no need for interminable waffle which is what we see on some sites. The truth is that no domestic cat is truly hypoallergenic, even the Siberian despite breeders claiming that they are. And even the hairless cats are not allergen-free because it is in their saliva and they lick themselves like any other domestic cat.

Viewers are drooling over him and his oversized, multi-toed paws. When you compare them to the relatively dainty paws of a conventional domestic cat his great snow shoes look enormous.  You may know three things about polydactylism in Maine Coons: Back in the day when European settlers brought ships' cats over to Maine, they favoured polydactyl cats as they believed they could keep their balance better on deck! Or something like that. Perhaps that's a myth but it is an often stated one. It is why: It is believed that around 40% of early Maine Coons on the east coast of the US were polydactyl but: The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), America's premier cat association does not like polydactylism. As a consequence, Maine Coon show cats can't be polydactyl. If they are they are disqualified. This must have led to breeders selectively breeding the inherited condition out of the breed. There is a lower percentage today. 22-pound polydactyl Maine Coon with paws as big as a...

I am reliant on a lady who sounds very nice and sensible who's made a series of three videos on what it is like to live with Maine Coon cats. Of course, what she says about the Maine Coon applies to all domestic cats in varying degrees. There must be an overlap.  She is an excellent cat caregiver with perhaps one shortcoming. Her home needs more 'catification' (Jackson Galaxy's word to mean environmental enrichment). And let's not forget that in her video she does not mention the inherited health issues which are likely to come. Three well cared for Maine Coons. Screenshot. This is a nice video and I think it will interest those wishing to adopt a Maine Coon. Here are the 14 points she makes.  I plan to address the other 2 videos in subsequent posts it you don't mind. I am working backwards! I have lived with Maine Coons for about 3 weeks which does not really qualify me to write on this topic which is why I am relying on this lady. Good travellers - it is remar...

From baby Maine Coon to massive monster in 15 seconds in a video. Cool. The time lapse video makes the cat wriggle, writhe and expand like THE INCREDIBLE HULK, the silver screen green giant. A very cool video by the master of Maine Coon media on the internet: Robert Sijka. I don't expect this video to stop working but if it does, I am sorry but I don't control its existence on TikTok (see note below). @robert_sijka From baby to adult in 16s #mainecoon #kitten #cat #felisgallery #robertsijka ♬ original sound - Felis Gallery by Robert Sijka Here is a still image from screenshots. Not only is the video very clever, the cat is damned amazing. The adult is nothing but awesome. And interestingly the coat colour has changed as he grew up. It goes from a steel grey tabby to a ginger/brown tabby. It looks to me like a torbie coat - a tortoiseshell tabby. A fairly rare form of tabby coat. I've just noticed that you can actually see the hint of red orange fur on top of the...

This video is nicely instructional for people interested in adopting a Maine Coon. Here we have a very nice little video. It shows an Australian lady (an amusing woman) interviewing an Australian woman who is a Maine Coon cat breeder. The interview appears to have taken place at a cat show where this beautiful 10 kg (22 pounds) male Maine Coon cat has won two titles that day at this cat show.  RELATED: Here's a list of Maine Coon breeders in Australia and some extra information . And as is so typical of Maine Coon cats he sits there completely chilled out minding his own business while they talk about him. This is a strange place to this cat but no problems. He just wants to sit down and chill. Australian Maine Coon breeder talks through the breed in an interview at a cat show in Australia where this cat won twice. Screenshot. How many times have we seen Maine Coon cats chilled and super-calm like this? I've seen them all the time. And it must point to a personality for this br...

Fast Eddie a great looking cat show Maine Coon. Screenshot. Fast Eddie, a superlative ginger-and-white Maine Coon show cat impresses at a CFA cat show. I think Fast Eddie came second in this CFA cat show in the United States to a copper-eyed, pure white Persian but he has been the best cat in other shows. I think he was the best Maine Coon at the show.  If you want to know what a great Maine Coon looks like as per the CFA standard, this is your boy. He's purrfect.   It is nice to see what the top cat association thinks the Maine Coon should look like. Potential adopters can get a little distracted by the huge Maine Coons on social media. The show judge makes a nice remark as she talks through the judging of Fast Eddie (who's anything but fast as he is incredibly calm and static which is great at this juncture of the show). She says that Maine Coons should have a balanced body conformation. They should not be extreme as some Maine Coons are. The character of the Main...

When Helios jumps onto the bed chasing a cat tease, he looks like a bear chasing a salmon in a stream. He is enormous. Without wishing to be insensitive you can see that he is a little overweight. That's why he has lost that natural Maine Coon rangy appearance. Maine Coons are big but they are long as we all know which gives them a rangy (leggy and long) appearance. The longest domestic cat ever was a Maine Coon called Mymains Stewart Gilligan (aka Stewie) at 123 cm (48.5 in) long.  Isn't it always a danger for Maine Coons to become little overweight? What I mean is they have to be full-time indoor cats. Doesn't this place an added obligation on the cat caregiver to keep them happy and occupied. And it not they can become bored. Some cats comfort eat as far as I can tell. It is partly why too many over overweight. It's no big deal for Helios but I think he should lose a bit. All the big Maine Coons I have seen are just big and not fat-big. The real issue for Helios is t...

The title underneath this video on YouTube is, I believe, misleading. It says "Dad saw his Maine Coon son for the first time and was shocked!" I don't see a shocked father but an inquisitive dad who wants to be involved. You see the father licking his "son". And the mother then comes in onto the scene and they recognise each other as parents and then things carry on as normal. The newborn is male because nearly all ginger tabbies are male. There is one remote possibility that the kitten is not the offspring of the cats we see in the video! That's not been mentioned or discussed. But I will presume that they are. The father's coat is a beautiful dilute red tabby. The mother seems to be a silver tabby and the offspring is a ginger tabby. But the issue is how much involvement does a male domestic cat desire in raising offspring? That's what comes to mind here but the situation is somewhat artificial. The father in this instance is involved to a certain ...

Screenshot montage by MikeB. It is nice to see newborn kittens growing up instantly to 12-week-old adults and this TikTok video allows you to do that. Of course, it's very popular because people love Maine Coon cats, and they love kittens. It kind of combines all the elements of what we like to see in domestic cats. You probably know that Maine Coons grow to be full adults slower than other breeds. Is this correct? I sometimes doubt it. But that is the now 'cast in concrete' fact. Is there any anatomical reason why Maine Coons should take longer to reach adulthood (3-5 years)? There shouldn't be as in this respect they are regular domestic cats like any other. Humans reach adulthood at around 20 years which is around one quarter of their lifespan. If Maine Coons live to 15 on average, reaching adulthood at the age of 5 represents one third of their life. Strange? Inaccurate? For me, the music sucks to use an American expression. It is horrible and intrusive. Below is an...

This is another cute video of a Maine Coon and one which once again touches on the tiny voice of the Maine Coon. They do have cute vocalisations. When you combine the cute sounds that they make with their impressive stature and size and their beautifully shaggy medium-longhaired coats you have this exotic combination which is so attractive to many people and which is why you see so many videos like the one on this page. The video comes from the TikTok page of  🌻Bri🌻 (@briandmilly) TikTok | Watch 🌻Bri🌻's Newest TikTok Videos . Enjoy and thanks for making the video. The quality could be a bit better 😎. Please note that TikTok allows their videos to be downloaded to your desktop and therefore they allow them to be uploaded to websites such as this one. I am doing nothing wrong. If I embed the video using TikTok code it is likely that in due course the video will disappear if and when the video on TikTok is removed or TikTok changes their policies and convert embedded videos on t...

This is a video of a ginger tabby Maine Coon getting younger! No idea why it was done this way but it does provide viewers with a comparison over a relatively short time frame of 10 weeks to 7 months. The cat is polydactyl which is not uncommon in Maine Coons as you are probably aware.  What is remarkable is that this video has been viewed almost 11 million times. Not worth it. The video does not deserve that number of viewings 😎.  My personal viewpoint, obviously. But TikTok artificially increase viewings by playing the video as soon as you bring it up and their videos are on a loop. Because of these tricks to boost viewings what would have been a couple of views becomes five. Click on the play button 2x please! 

This is a nice video of a good-looking Maine Coon enjoying the cream on top of a cappuccino coffee at a Starbucks' drive-through. Maximus is the name of the Maine Coon and he had a thoroughly enjoyable visit. As you can see in the video, he asked for more and he got it no doubt.  Maine Coon enjoys a cup of Starbucks' cappuccino cream. At the end there was cream all over his chin, evidence of what he had been up to. I would doubt whether many Starbucks' employees had seen a Maine Coon sitting in the front seat of a car in the drive-through before. Dogs, yes! But I doubt whether they had seen a cat and certainly not such a beautiful cat as Maximus. The way to play a Google Blogger video is to click the play button in the middle of the video and then the button that is bottom-left! It sounds complicated but it works for me. You might find it works for you by simply clicking the button in the middle! As you might expect, it was all about the cream on top of the cappuccino which...

Iris and Thula sleep together. Photo: ITV. For me, and for many others, there is nothing more delightful than a therapy cat working their magic with an autistic child. And the magic they weave allows autistic children to bloom and enter into day-to-day life. It is a kind of magic as they tease out from the autistic child the ability to express themselves and enjoy life more fully. In this instance the therapy cat happens to be a Maine Coon.  Iris and Thula in the bath. Photo: ITV. Interestingly, the child's mother believes that Maine Coons like water. I do not think that that is true if I'm being honest. Some domestic cats accept and some even like water but Maine Coons are not known to like water. As it happens (fortunately) Thula does like water and you see them having a bath together. And you also see them in the swimming pool together. That's wonderful. And they do everything together. Note: Gloria Stephens (Legacy of the Cat) a past cat show judge and breeder state...