Your Maine Coon Guide

This is a quite a cool video from TikTok as it shows us the range of coat types that can surprisingly be seen in kittens when their parents have different coats to their kittens. The video comes from PNW.Whiskers Cattery [ link ]. The mother is white. They breeder says that the mother is black but the presence of the W gene masks the black rendering the cat white. Click this to see a page on cat with white coats . You probably know that there is a good chance that a white cat can be deaf. It depends on various factors. I have a page on that too if it interests you. Click here to read the page . And why are cats with blue eyes deaf? Click this to find out . Note: white cats often have blue eyes. White cats have light-coloured eyes in shades of blue, gold, green, and copper This accounts for the white and black kittens. The 2 ginger tabby kittens come from their father's side as he is a ginger tabby. Ginger tabbies are nearly always males. Here they are. The white kitten at the front...

In a show of strength and contempt for the Russian invasion of Ukraine VivatCoon a Maine Coon breeder in Kharkiv, Ukraine is still inviting potential adopters of their cats to visit the cattery despite The Guardian newspaper in the UK reporting that "Two women have been killed and 10 wounded in a strike on a museum in Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region." Perhaps she just can't get around to amending the home page which would be understandable. Larysa Bekuzarova, a Maine Coon breeder in Kharkiv, Ukraine is according to her website continuing as normal. Image: Bekuzarova  I'd expect under normal conditions she may well receive visitors from abroad. There'd be none at present and I wouldn't expect any from within Ukraine either. Not a good time to adopt a cat in Ukraine which is sad. Fighting is ongoing around Kharkiv and this lady is still operating her cattery seemingly as normal.  I wonder if she is and how the war as affected her. She is a breeder of huge, Europe...

I've just been watching an episode of The Hunger Games . A good series of films. The episode I watched is part one of the Mockingjay series. I noticed what I immediately recognised as a Maine Coon cat in the film. A ginger tabby Maine Coon to be precise. The best! I thought I would write about him. Ginger tabbies are nearly always males and therefore I can presume that Buttercup is male. Buttercup the Maine Coon in The Hunger Games. Image: Screenshot from the film series and in the public domain as assessed. Ear-tipped Having found a photograph of him on the internet, which is presented on this page above, I noticed that his left ear has been 'tipped', a sign that he has been through a TNR program. A further sign that this cat must've been a feral cat for a while or a stray cat more precisely.  This would indicate that he was abandoned or he voluntarily returned to the wild. I think this an important and interesting part of the Buttercup story because you just do not s...

This is a very short video on the TikTok website by 'sir_jacoon'. It has caught the imagination of people because it's been seen about 1/2 a million times which is not bad for TikTok! I'm not sure why it is so popular to be perfectly frank, but it is probably as simple as this: Maine Coon kittens particularly ones with a very strong muzzle and a ginger tabby coat are very popular. And the expression on this kitten's faces priceless. But I don't like to see a kitten who is anxious and this one is. I'm not sure it's a good idea to make a video like this of an anxious little kitten but I understand the reason why because it's going to be popular. One month old ginger tabby Maine Coon kitten is melting hearts. Screenshot. The video is presented twice below: once as an embedded video from TikTok and the same video uploaded to this page. The former is better quality, but it might disappear which is why the other version is here! ✔️👍. @sir_jcoon Guarant...

This is a rather strange TikTok video of a ginger Maine Coon cat being held by one of his owners while the other owner videos their cat. And for some reason this Maine Coon pulls a funny, scary face. It is a temporarily aggressive face, let us put it that way. And it's been turned on artificially because this cat is unaggressive so the question is why did the cat pull this face? Sweet, scary looking Maine Coon cat but this is just pulling a face. This is a screenshot by the way. And I think it is something to do with the wind and the way he is being held. There is quite a strong gust of wind blowing into this cat's face and eyes while he is being held in an uncomfortable way. I see this a lot. People should not hold their cats like this. Did they generate the wind deliberately to provoke this facial expression? But because of the scary face, the video has gone viral on TikTok and it is being talked about. It's been seen 19.8 million times but let's remind ourselves that...

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! 

  Picture of a red tabby Maine Coon with a combed ruff and a big muzzle. Picture: Pinterest. It is a good photograph and a beautiful cat. The cat is very typically Maine Coon, bred slightly to extreme I would argue because the muzzle is very heavy and 'square', more so than you see on the winning Maine Coon show cats on the CFA website. The CFA show cat winners look more delicate than this individual (see below). Nonetheless this is a great cat. I don't think, personally, that Maine Coon owners should comb their cat's ruff as MCs should be natural, like barn cats and not too coiffed. Below is a Maine Coon show cat winner from the CFA website for comparison. RELATED:  What kind of Maine Coon wins competitions ?

Kesha is an American singer and songwriter. Her full name is Kesha Rose Sebert. She has the usual social media websites. She has a very good photographer who might be her partner, Brad, or somebody else because her Instagram pages are littered with really excellent photographs of a wide range of style-types.  Kesha lives with two Maine Coons and a Siamese cat. I believe that the Siamese cat Mr Peeps has been presented twice in the montage above. Wrong? Please tell me in a comment. Montage: Kesha Twitter feed. She is clearly a cat-lover because on her Twitter feed there is a photograph celebrating Pet Appreciation Day (2018) of her three cats, two of which are Maine Coons. Their names are Charlie and Queso. She also lives with a Siamese, 'Sir Mr Peeps'. It is said that she rescued Sir Mr Peeps from outside a strip joint in Russia. True? The photograph on this page shows four cats in a semicircle around Kesha and her partner Brad who are both holding the two Maine Coon cats. I...

This is a ginger marble tabby Maine Coon. As most ginger tabby cats are male cats I have decided that this is a male cat. In fact, about 80% of ginger tabby cats are male because females have to inherit two copies of the "ginger gene" ( O ). Red classic tabby male Maine Coon cat. Photo in the public domain The marble or classic tabby is also called the "blotched tabby". The geneticists or breeders write down the genotype as A-B-D-mcmc . It differs from the mackerel or striped tabby with the addition of the mcmc allele. The ginger tabby is sometimes called the red tabby. To the best of my knowledge, breeders normally refer to these cats as 'red'. The reference to "ginger" is normally a layperson's description as is marmalade or yellow - see link below. RELATED:  Orange, red, yellow, ginger or marmalade cats . Once again, the pattern may be either mackerel, blotched, spotted or ticked tabby. The hair strands of the coat are coloured by minute...

I am having a bit of fun but I believe my assessment is correct. In this picture we have the parents of a kitten. They are beautiful ginger tabby Maine Coons. The mother is on the right hand side, the father is on the left and their kitten, is snuggling up to the woman. I believe that this photograph was taken in Russia and therefore the woman is Russian. She actually looks Russian to me by the way. I suspect that she is the breeder of these beautiful cats. It's a great picture on Instagram. Mr and Mrs Maine and kitten plus Ms Human who looks after them. Photo: Instagram.

You won't get a better example of a Maine Coon with "long, full, shaggy belly fur" than this pretty ginger tabby with the extra long whiskers, beautiful golden eyes and ginger lynx-tipped ears. I am sure that she is female but I am guessing. She looks directly into the camera in the sweetest way. But you can't help but look at her chest and then you move down to her belly which brings to mind The International Cat Association's breed standard for this most popular cat which insists on that shaggy belly fur Pretty ginger female Maine Coon with shaggy belly fur. Photo: Pinterest. The relevant section of the breed standard is in quotes in the title. The Maine Coon coat as per the TICA breed standard should be uneven and shorter on the shoulders but gradually lengthening down the back and sides. As mentioned, the belly should be shaggy and the fur should be long and full. They should have what is called "britches" which is longer fur on the thighs of the hin...

Here is a clowder of Coons. The phrase has a certain ring to it which is why I chose the title. There is no doubt in my mind, although I've not been told, that these are siblings. It looks certain. They all have the classic Maine Coon face, which includes a strong muzzle and those large, lynx-tipped ears. They are ginger tabbies. Ginger tabby cats are nearly always males because the O gene which gives them their coat is sex-linked. RELATED:  Orange, red, yellow, ginger or marmalade cats Clowder of Coons. Photo: Pinterest. These are siblings I am sure. The origin of the word "clowder" should be mentioned in this short note. I'm told that it comes from the early 19th century. The origin is in the word "clutter" and it is probably related to the word "clot". It seems that clutter came out of  'cludder'. The Free Dictionary states: Clowder, Cludder, Clutter - kendle or kindle of cats, 1801; a group of cats. Sometimes words evolve because they ...

This is another cracker of a Maine Coon kitten from Russia. There is the hint of a human face which adds a bit of glamour and glitter to this cat. Ginger tabbies always look good and if you believe it, they always have nice characters too (subject to being raised properly underfoot). The breeder is Viktoria Vyacheslavovna Terskaya who I believe is Russian or who lives in one of the former Russian satellite states. This is a typical European Maine Coon well bred in terms of appearance . I have no knowledge whatsoever of the cat's health. That's an important topic which is often overlooked. But Maine Coons have serious inherited health conditions to which adopters need to pay attention when buying. ASSOCIATED PAGE: 15 facts about hip dysplasia in Maine Coon cats Male ginger tabby Maine Coon kitten dazzles. Photo: Viktoria Vyacheslavovna Terskaya. I can see that the photographer has used ring flash for the photo. You see the reflection in the eyes. This lighting is soft and shadow...

This ginger-and-white Maine Coon is all ears and paws surrounding a strong muzzle. Well, that is what I see when I look at the photo. It is an unusual Maine Coon photo. It is like two very tall ears with a ton of 'ear furnishings' (hair in cat fancy language) at one end and large paws at the other. In the middle is cat face with an exaggerated muzzle. Every part of this young, male Maine Coon that makes him a member of this cat breed has been exaggerated through careful artificial selection (selective breeding).  Maine Coon is all ears and paws with a strong square muzzle in-between. Photo: Pinterest. The breeder has taken the breed standard, highlighted the bits which distinguishes this cat from the others and said, 'Let's makes those elements stronger and more noticeable'. And they've succeeded. The ginger gene ' O ' is sex-linked, so I know that this is a male cat. There are some female ginger tabbies (all gingers are tabbies) but they are sterile....

Orange cats seem to feature in films more than other types of domestic cat . Is it because they have good, balanced characters? I am discussing the possibility of a link between coat type and color and character. A big call. A longshot. But possible. I discussed it in another post - click here if it interests you .  So, we love orange cats. They are undoubtedly one of the more popular cat coat types. And that is one reason why this Maine Coon is so damned attractive. What a combination: the size and presence of the Maine Coon, the world's largest domestic cat breed , and the orange tabby coat ( the friendliest cats? ) A mightily beautiful orange Maine Coon. Photo: Pinterest. I think this sort of domestic cat is the most desirable. You would be hard pressed to adopt a better cat but the best ones to adopt are the unadoptable, elderly, black rescue cats languishing in a shelter somewhere . A bit about the orange cat Cat breeders tend to refer to orange as red. The general public r...

Well, I love this cat picture. This swirly girly Maine Coon looks as if she is made of water and is going down the plug hole in a vortex. Cats do like sinks because they press against the sides of the body which cats find reassuring. She is a nice tight fit. More side pressure. Maine Coon swirls as if going down the plug hole in a vortex. Picture: Pinterest. One outstanding feature of the Maine Coon is the plumed tail. She certainly has one and it makes this picture work. I am convinced that she is female as judged by her face. I think she is a special ginger tabby with faint smoky markings; I think she has a smoke coat. READ MORE ON THE MAINE COON - A BIG PAGE FOR A BIG CAT .

Another stupendous Maine Coon. We are seeing lots of them these days. Are breeders making them bigger and bigger? When will it stop? They are going to be as big as Labradors soon. There is a cup in the background. Is this an award for the biggest Maine Coon on the planet?! I've seen Maine Coons as big but not many. This is a very rare cat. He is a ginger tabby. If you believe that personality can be linked to coat type, you'll believe that ginger tabbies have good, reliable characters. They are popular. This cat was born to lead. Huge ginger tabby Maine Coon. Photo: Twitter. So why is he so big? Answer: selective breeding. You can create large cats by breeding large cat with large cat. It takes time and careful selection of foundation cats. It is inbreeding but done carefully to maintain health as inbreeding can negatively impact health . The gene responsible for the ginger cat is symbolised by the letter O and it is known as 'orange'. The cat's pigment physiolo...

Omar is a beautiful ginger tabby-and-white Maine Coon cat living in Melbourne, Australia with his human companions and a calico cat called Strudel (a.k.a. Ru). He is a celebrity cat, which is unsurprising because he looks like a celebrity; a glamour boy. He is made for celebrity status but then aren't all the huge Maine Coon cats that we see on the Internet? They have this presence which immediately catches the eye. His caretakers have a fantastic Instagram informational slide show which allows me to provide some details about his life. "Leaning into those ear scratches! Omar LOVES having his head petted. He leans right into it, he purrs, he drools and sometimes if you’re not petting him he will shove his head into your hand and force you to pet him." - words from his Instagram page. He was born on 21 September 2013. He weighs 14 kg and his approximate length is 120 cm (nose to end of tail). He has four siblings. Two brown tabby sisters and two red brothers. Omar'...

To the first part of the question the answer is Yes. To the second part of the question the answer is No. To the third part the answer is Yes, by grooming your cat which will thin out the fur and take away some of the fur that would have been shed naturally by the cat. I guess you know that already. Maine Coon cats are just like any other and that they will shed fur.  Maine Coons shed fur like any other so grooming your cat should be a daily ritual that you both enjoy and which will improve the bond. The Maine Coon is a medium-longhaired cat and perhaps it is fair to say that cats with this hair length tend to shed more or the shedding is more apparent because the hair is longer! That sounds a bit daft but I think it's true. Glorious Maine Coon photographed with a ring flash - look at the reflection in the eyes. Picture in the public domain. It shouldn't be a problem to groom your cat because they normally love it provided it is done with gentleness and plenty of love. In fa...