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Showing posts with the label feline hip dysplasia

The prevalence of hip dysplasia in Maine Coons is very similar for all geographic regions

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A study found that no matter where the Maine Coon was born they have a very similar chance of developing hip dysplasia. Here is the chart: What does this tell us? Well for me it tells us that around a quarter of Maine Coon cats develop hip dysplasia (Feline Hip Dysplasia - FHD) anywhere in the world. The same genetic problems exist in all these regions. The breeders are making the same errors in all countries. It is possible to stop the inheritance of FHD; you remove foundation breeding cats from the blood line if they carry the genetic mutation which produces offspring with the disease. But the breeders won't do it because it would change the cats' appearance detrimentally as per the breed guidelines (the standard). Here is a quote from the study mentioned which is: "Demographics of hip dysplasia in the Maine Coon cat". The overall prevalence of FHD was 24.9% (635/2548), and was slightly higher in males (279/1023 [27.3%]) than females (356/1525 [23.3%]) (P = 0.025)....
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Hip dysplasia in Maine Coons is not caused by the extra weight of the cat

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I have to keep this very brief. Scientists decided that the health problems associated with Maine Coons concerning the hind limbs namely hip dysplasia and patellar luxation are due to inheriting defective genes and not due to the extra weight of this cat breed which I decided years ago is the biggest domestic cat breed. In the words of the scientists: The authors therefore conclude that genetic or other causes may be involved in orthopaedic hind limb pathogenesis seen in MC cats more often than in other breeds. The word 'pathogenesis' means in this case the development and persists of diseases affecting the hind limbs of the Maine Coon. As you see they conclude that inherited genes cause the problem. They also meekly refer to 'or other causes' but there are none that I can think of and which would be plausible. Separately if hip dysplasia affects both legs it it worse. And bigger Maine Coons have worse cases of hip dysplasia. This may be because as the problem develops ...
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Hip dysplasia surgery for a domestic cat may cost upwards of $20,000

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Depending on whether the operation is bilateral (both hips), the exact nature of the operation and the quality of the veterinary surgeon, surgery to rectify hip dysplasia (both hips replaced) may cost upwards of around $20,000. Lesser operations in the in US costing $1,500 to $3,000 per hip is the norm As I understand it, the alternative to a surgical treatment for advanced hip dysplasia is a lifetime of pain-relieving medications and supplements which has a way of adding up financially. Maine Coon hip replacement surgery is very expensive. Image: MikeB Pet insurance was discussed in The Sunday Times today. The authors mention the £24,000 cost of a full hip replacement for a dog in the UK. This is not dissimilar to the cost of the same operation on humans. You'll definitely need health insurance for that  unless you are very well off. Or a second mortgage on your house. You know why I have mentioned the exorbitant cost of pet hip replacement. It's because a lot big dogs and b...
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Hip dysplasia in Maine Coons is common and it can make them aggressive and harm their character

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The presentation of hip dysplasia in Maine Coons is gradual with subtle behavioural changes such as inactivity or aggression, lack of response to human attention, reluctance to go up or down stairs, and resistance to handling. Here is a video I made to change the way I discuss these issues. They are very important issues. It surprises me that people discuss them more or hardly at all. Health is more important than appearance at the end of the day. That's what I think but it seems that I am out of step with almost everyone else!  The video that I have made, boring though it is, is the first I've seen on how hip dysplasia has a negative impact on the cat's character. In the video, I mention that people don't talk about this disease affecting character. What I mean is that the owners on TikTok proudly show off their cats which is understandable but they don't mention this important health issue. They wouldn't because it is a negative but it is important. @mikej...
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Is hip dysplasia in Maine Coon cats painful?

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The question in the title is important for Maine Coon owners because this condition is present in about 30% of cats of this breed at various stages of their lives. It needs to be managed by their owner and the options are limited in respect of preventing or treating feline hip dysplasia. The Cornell Feline Health Center tells us that this inherited condition is, indeed, painful . For example, it causes the avoidance of physical activity. The reason why is because it is painful to engage in these activities. If the hip is touched by their owner, the cat may give a clear indication that it is painful. A Maine Coon cat might persistently lick or chew at the hip area. Another sure sign that the area is painful. That answers the question. Why painful? The pain emanates from bone-on-bone contact. This occurs because the cat inherits a malformation of the ball-and-socket joint which connects the cat's thigh bone (femur) to its hip. The socket (acetabulum) is in the hip and the top of the ...
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Percentage prevalence of hip dysplasia in Maine Coons by region and country

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The dreaded FHD in MCs. Image: MikeB Here is a chart that may interest some Maine Coon aficionados. It shows the prevalence among Maine Coons of that well know inherited disease: hip dysplasia in various regions and countries. The result? It is pretty much the same everywhere. Finland comes out worst at 28.3 per cent while 'all others' come out the best. What can we take from this? The study scientists came to this conclusion (summarised and reworded): "Feline hip dysplasia (FHD) is a common condition in cats, particularly in certain breeds such as the Maine Coon. This study found that the overall prevalence of FHD in the OFA (Orthopedic Foundation for Animals) database was 24.9%, with a slightly higher prevalence in males (27.3%) compared to females (23.3%). The percentage of bilateral (affecting both hips) FHD was 56% of the total cases, and the dysplasia was more severe in bilateral cases. These findings should be interpreted with caution, as they may not necessarily ap...
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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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