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Do Maine Coons need special food?

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Maine Coons do not NEED special food but there is an argument that they might BENEFIT from a special food such as made by Royal Canin, a large pet food manufacturer based in France, which has jumped on the bandwagon of Maine Coon health concerns which have been thoroughly documented on the internet.  Image: Royal Canin (annotated by MikeB). This is the point: Maine Coons suffer from hip dysplasia - a lose joint between the socket of the hip and the ball of the femur; a joint problem. And patella luxation - a knee cap that moves from its normal capping position. RELATED: What can a Maine Coon owner do to help their cat with hip dysplasia ? To use this inherent weakness in this popular cat breed Royal Canin make a product called "Royal Canin Maine Coon Adult dry cat food" which is "especially formulated for adult Maine Coon cats; King Size kibble encourages longer chewing, with glucosamine and chondroitin for healthy joints". So, there you have it: a special cat food ...
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Reasons Maine Coon breeder switched from raw to commercially manufactured wet and dry

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I have just read an interesting blog article written by a Maine Coon breeder in the UK about feeding Maine Coon cats and indeed any domestic cat. Her experiences, of course, relate to Maine Coon cats. Her breeding cattery is called Rudycats Maine Coons Ltd . One kitten from Rudycats Maine Coons Ltd. Image by them. I believe that it can be very useful to listen to cat breeders because they have more direct first-hand experience than most people in raising cats. And it is strongly in their interest to raise healthy cats. Their business is dependent upon it. UPDATE : This breeder has been accused of being cruel and callous in her breeding. That is the allegation. It does not directly affect what she says about cat food, but you should know. Click this link to read about this allegation . Therefore, they should be trying very hard and using their best efforts to create healthy and strong kittens. Nutrition is a major way to meet that goal. I don't know the name of the breeder but perha...
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Is 'Royal Canin Maine Coon Kitten Dry Food' genuinely formulated for Maine Coons?

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Although the pet food manufacturers do a lot of good work, they tend to be criticised by critical thinkers because understandably their primary objective is to maximise financial profit. It is totally normal in a capitalist society, obviously.  One way for a pet food manufacturer to maximise profit is to extend their product lines. The more products they produce, the greater their sales and profit follows. Image: Royal Canin and Pets at Home. That's why you see foods that are stated to be made for specific cat breeds. Royal Canin Maine Coon Kitten Dry Food is one of them. On my reading of the information accompanying the product on the Pets at Home website (which I presume has been written by a Royal Canin employee) this product has been made for kittens generally . This is bound to be the case as Maine Coon kittens are like any other kitten in terms of their digestion. There is nothing in science which indicates that Maine Coons have weak or sensitive stomachs. They are typical ca...
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Do Maine Coons need a special diet?

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A Maine Coon (MC) owner on the mumsnet.com website says: "Cat food confusion! Maine Coon (year old)". She believes that her cat needs a MC diet, but in general they don't. Some individual MCs might need a special diet to meet their individual health needs but that applies to all domestic cats. Please read on. Update: Obese MCs are more prone to developing HCM and therefore a diet to control weight would be useful . She has a young Maine Coon (MC) who's bigger than the adult cat next door and wants advice on the mumsnet.com website about buying cat food for her MC. Her cat likes dry cat food as most domestic cats do because the manufacturers add tasty fats to it. It can become slightly addictive. But just because cats like it does not mean that it is good.  Do Maine Coons need a special diet? Image in the public domain. Like most cat owners who've studied cat food I believe that the less convenient high quality wet cat food should be the default food because it c...
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Maine Coon has an unusual way of asking for more food

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His human caregiver says that 'he always asks for more'. He clearly has his own individual way of asking (see video below). It is very cute. There are a couple of interesting points. Firstly, there is some food left in the bowl so he could have finished the bowl before asking for more.  Why didn't he? In my experience cats tend to leave a bit of food in the bowl even when hungry. It may point to the fact that they have poor near range eyesight and depend on their sense of smell to detect food. As there is very little left the smell is slight. They think the food has run out. Screenshot. He has way of asking for more food. The second point is that he is being fed with Royal Canin Maine Coon dry cat food. So, what is this? Why do Maine Coons need special cat food?  You might have guessed that this is all to do with the Maine Coon's inherited health problems.  RELATED:  Maine Coon Health Problems . They inherently suffer from hip dysplasia and patella luxation. The form...
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Why Royal Canin Maine Coon adult cat food may help your cat's health

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Royal Canin Maine Coon adult cat food has been formulated to deal with the known inherited health problems of Maine Coons namely a predisposition towards HCM (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) and a predisposition towards joint disease namely hip dysplasia and patellar luxation.  This cat food ostensibly contains ingredients to encourage a strong heart function. These ingredients are taurine, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). It seems that these ingredients which are types of omega-3 fats encourage a healthy heart and good blood circulation.  They are found mainly in fish and fish oil. But please see a veterinarian about this. Apparently a study found that EPA is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular events. That applies to people but the same will apply to cats including Maine Coon cats but this is the field of qualified veterinarians. This food also contains glucosamine and chondroitin sulphate, two ingredients which support strong bones and...
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Purina allegedly paying to gag consumers who post on social media | PoC

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This is a shocking state of affairs.  Although, it is only an allegation in court documents at the moment, this is a widespread claim on behalf of very many plaintiffs in 15 states across the USA against the defendant, Purina.  You may well have heard about this case.  It concerns a list of dog foods that they produce under the label Beneful.  They often use the word “healthy" within the name of the food. Purina Beneful Healthy Weight, Purina Beneful Original, Purina Beneful Incredibites, Purina Beneful Healthy Growth For Puppies, Purina Beneful Healthy Smile, Purina Beneful Healthy Fiesta, Purina Beneful Healthy Radiance and Purina Beneful Playful Life. The food is alleged to be far from healthy because it contains ingredients which are toxic to animals including arsenic, mycotoxins (fungus in grain), lead and industrial grade glycols.  The glycols are chemicals and the FDA forbids their use in food because of possible impurities in the manufacturing pro...
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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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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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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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No part of a Maine Coon cat should be exaggerated

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It is interesting to read that the premier cat association, the CFA (Cat Fanciers' Association) - the cat association which really dictates (with TICA) how Maine Coons should look - makes it clear that no part of the cat should be exaggerated, and the cat should be "well-proportioned and balanced".  In other words, any form of extreme appearance such as a particularly heavy muzzle or particularly large ears with extra-long lynx tips are not going to be seen as advantageous in terms of winning cat shows or in terms of having an ideal appearance. As soon as I read that no part of a Maine Coon should be exaggerated, I immediately thought of the extremely large, extreme-bred Maine Coon cats that often come from Russia. These cats have very heavy muzzles.  Lion-faced Maine Coon with exaggerated features. Image in public domain now. In fact, their heads look like the heads of lions. I get the impression that breeders have selectively bred their cats over years to look like male...
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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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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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2 top Russian Maine Coon cat breeders which ship internationally

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I am writing this from the West; specifically, near London, UK. There will be quite a few people living in the West who'd like to adopt a Maine Coon cat and they would like to adopt one from a Russian breeder because they do have a certain style.  I sense, although I don't have hard evidence to support this feeling, that the top Russian breeders of Maine Coon cats might be superior to breeders from other countries.  I am putting aside Putin's invasion of Ukraine when writing this article. Some people might object to dealing in anyway with a Russian business on account of that barbaric and illegal invasion. We should remember that Russia has quite a strong cat fancy. They like their cats and they love their purebred cats particularly the Maine Coon. It is in fact a cat breed which is quite naturally suited to the Russian way of life and climate. There's lots of space in Russia with a relatively low population and therefore there are going to be houses with large grounds ...
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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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Difference between Maine Coon and domestic long hair

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The difference between a Maine Coon cat and a domestic longhaired cat comes down to the fact that the former has been artificially bred (selective breeding) whereas the latter has usually procreated according to natural selection. Natural selection is random breeding and therefore the domestic longhair is a random-bred cat whereas, selective breeding produces a purebred, pedigree cat registered with a cat association.  Difference between Maine Coon and domestic long hair. Infographic by MikeB. And because each individual Maine Coon cat is registered with a cat association, if they are in genuine Maine Coon, their appearance should comply with the association's breed standard . The breed standard tells breeders what their Maine Coon cats should look like in order that they can win cat show competitions if they want to enter their cat into these competitions. And so, as the appearance of Maine Coon cats is moulded to the guidance of a breed standard (see a section below from the...
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