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Aficamten for the treatment of HCM in the Maine Coon and other cats

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Aficamten for the treatment of HCM in the Maine Coon and other cats. Image: MikeB A study - referred to at the end of the article - concludes with the words below in testing a new drug called aficamten  for the treatment of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in cats of which the Maine Coon is perhaps the best known cat breed to suffer from this inherited disease. "A single dose of aficamten significantly decreased LV systolic function and improved LVOTO, both of which are harmful aspects of this disease process that contribute to the pathogenesis." The sentence above describes the effects of this medication called aficamten on a condition that causes abnormal function in the left ventricle of the heart which is how HCM is manifested in cats and people. The left ventricle becomes enlarged and malfunctions. Here's a breakdown: A single dose of aficamten significantly decreased LV systolic function: Aficamten reduces the pumping ability of the left ventricle (LV) to a noticea...
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Read this before giving Librela or Solensia to Maine Coons with hip dysplasia

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Both of Librela and Solensia are solutions for injection to be given subcutaneously (under the skin) for cats or dogs. They are used to alleviate pain caused by arthritis.  However, a business concerned with canine rehab and hydrotherapy say that pain relief and supplements for dogs suffering from hip dysplasia can be given Librela which is injected into the mouth. The drug is effective in reducing pain caused by hip dysplasia.  Arthritis and hip dysplasia are similar in that they both affect the joint and both can and do cause pain depending on their severity. Don't authorise your vet to use this on your Maine Coon suffering from hip dysplasia until you are completely satisfied that it is safe and will not cause severe side effects. Image: DALLE. This is a fictional image. Maine Coons are well-known to suffer from hip dysplasia. The Maine Coon is synonymous with hip dysplasia (HD). Now for the last piece in the jigsaw. Another website (Yahoo Finance) tells us that the manufac...
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Do Maine Coons have a temper?

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Do Maine Coons have a temper? This is a question asked on one of the top Maine Coon websites which Google favours. And I've got to say that it is a slightly stupid or misleading question. That might sound arrogant of me but I will explain myself. No domestic cat has a bad temper unless they are ill. Although they might be suffering from audiogenic reflex seizures or other environmental problems. I'll look at illness first.  Pain When a cat feels pain inside their body, they may be quiet about it. They might go quiet. They might sleep more than normal and find a quiet corner in the home. But you don't really know what's going on at least initially. So, you pick up your Maine Coon to give him a cuddle. They are very cuddly. Your Maine Coon companion cries out and strikes out at you as if in retaliation. You don't understand. You might think that your cat has suddenly developed a bad temper but he hasn't.  He/she has simply responded to feeling pain when you picked...
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Ramipril an ACE inhibitor does not benefit Maine Coons with HCM without congestive heart failure

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Maine Coon photo copyright Helmi Flick. This is very much a 'normal' Maine Coon not bred to extreme. Introduction I am not a veterinarian I am good at research I am good at understanding medical/scientific studies I can summarise them into plain English --------------------- Ramipril is an ACE inhibitor. ACE stands for "Angiotensin-converting enzyme". ACE inhibitors such as Ramipril are medications that help relax the veins and arteries to lower blood pressure.  Key point: ACE inhibitors prevent an enzyme in the body from producing angiotensin II, a substance that narrows blood vessels.  Alternative names for Ramipril include: Lopace, Ramipril, Triapin, Triapin Mite, Tritace (British Heart Foundation). The study I am referring to is: The Effect of Ramipril on Left Ventricular Mass, Myocardial Fibrosis, Diastolic Function, and Plasma Neurohormones in Maine Coon Cats with Familial Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy without Heart Failure. Link to study abstract:  https://doi.o...
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What can a Maine Coon owner do to help their cat with hip dysplasia?

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We know that hip dysplasia is fairly common in Maine Coon cats at around 23%-30% of the population getting it, which is a bit shocking when you think about it. Breeders can do more to prevent it. And it can develop at an early age.  This implies to me that your Maine Coon cat companion may be suffering from hip dysplasia for a substantial part of their life. Although the symptoms may not be visible until the cat is adults or even elderly. Is there something you can do about it? Can you ease the discomfort and difficulties that it presents? Well, I've been digging around for an answer to those questions. I sense that there is not a lot that a Maine Coon cat owner can do that is very effective, regrettably. Michigan State University, College of Veterinary Medicine, rather confidently state that most cats with hip dysplasia respond to non-surgical management. That's a reference to a combination of "environmental changes, physical therapy, drug therapy, or weight loss". H...
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Mavacamten is slated as a possible new drug for HCM in Maine Coon cats

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We know that about 30% of Maine Coon cats have a genetic mutation which makes it likely that they will develop hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), a thickening of the muscle walls of the heart. It leads to heart failure and other complications. It is an inherited disease in Maine Coon cats, one of several. It is a shame that this highly popular cat breed, which is increasing in popularity, has the stain of inherited diseases against its reputation. RELATED:  Gene mutation troponin-T (TNNT2) implicated in HCM in Maine Coon cats . HCM in cats. Note thickening of heart muscle and decrease in lumen size of the ventricle. Gif: CVCA. Mavacamten (MYK-461) is a drug which is about to emerge as a treatment for HCM in humans. In 2020 MyoKardia was purchased by Bristol-Myers Squib for $13.1billion. The price was based in part on this new drug which has been shown to improve heart function in 37% of humans suffering from HCM compared to 17% who improved taking a placebo. In 2014 MyoKardia with ...
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Maine Coons developed severe facial ulcerative dermatitis when used as test subjects for a human acne drug

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I will have to keep this brief because I am working off an abstract of a study which is a summary. I've seen similar studies where scientists have used Maine Coon cats to test drugs that are used on people suffering from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). I guess the scientist wanted to see whether these human drugs work on cats and Maine Coons are predisposed to developing HCM. Maine Coons developed severe facial ulcerative dermatitis when used as test subjects for a human HCM drug. Image in public domain. On this occasion they tested a drug called Spironolactone (SPIR) in America. As mentioned, they tested it on Maine Coon cats with familial HCM i.e. inherited HCM. They wanted to see whether this drug improved diastolic function and reduced left ventricular mass in these cats. The conclusion is that it did not work. They tested the drug over four months. For me, a disturbing statement in their summary is this: one third of cats treated with SPIR developed severe ulcerative facial...
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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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