Posts

Showing posts with the label obesity

Physical attributes that might indicate that your Maine Coon cat is predisposed to HCM

-
Image
As a Maine Coon cat caregiver you almost certainly know that the breed is genetically predisposed to developing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). In my view, this disease, which can start early in life, is the reason why Maine coon cats have, on average, a shorter lifespan than they should otherwise have. One study says that their lifespan, on average, is 11 years .  It's a great shame that through suboptimal breeding, this majestic cat breed is so predisposed to this serious disease. Omar an overweight Maine Coon cat who's probably predisposed to HCM. Image: Screenshot from a YouTube video. Omar lives in Australia. The study that I'm referring to observed certain anatomical characteristics of Maine Coon cats that were predisposed to HCM. They decided this because the Maine Coon cats in their cohort (group) of 63 cats that had HCM commonly had these anatomical characteristics. They are as follows: Older: This is to be expected. Older Maine Coon cats are more likely to hav...
Post a Comment
Read more

Heckin' Chonker Maine Coon Floyd impresses at a veterinary clinic

-
Image
This is 'Floyd' a Heckin' Chonker Maine Coon cat at Alicia Pet Care Center. Image: screenshot. This is 'Floyd' a Heckin' Chonker Maine Coon cat at Alicia Pet Care Center. The funny phrase 'Heckin Chonker' was made up by someone at the vet clinic I believe. That's where the video comes from. Floyd weighs 28 pounds. He looks a little bit overweight which is why they described him as a Heckin' Chonker!  Above is a screenshot from the video which emphasis his enormous size. It is fun to see a domestic cat this big at the vets. It must be like treating a medium-sized dog.  One important point to make is that all the large Maine Coons I've seen in videos have behaved impeccably when handled. Not a murmur of dissent from them. They seem to accept it all and take it in their stride. We don't know why Floyd is at the vet but it is possibly to do with his hip joints but I am guessing as he might be entirely fit and well.  RELATED: Why do Maine C...
Post a Comment
Read more

Is my Maine Coon fat?

-
Image
Sometimes, nowadays, concerned Maine Coon owners are aware of the domestic cat obesity epidemic and are vigilant about the weight of their cat. A good thing. On social media they ask if their Maine Coon is fat. One such lady asked users of the Mumsnet.com website that very question and she posted a photo: Is this Maine Coon fat? No, is my answer. Image: Mumsnet.com. And she said: My (not so) little Ollie is 7 months old (100% Maine Coon) and his vet today told me he is too heavy for his age and to restrict food. He is 5.1kg. He doesn't seem overly round and he is still growing and very active... I've always been told not to restrict the food of kittens. I am sure that you'll agree that he is not fat although more photos would help the assessment. But you can see the thigh bones sticking up at the rear. He looks quite 'boney' which is good for a Maine Coon as they are 'rangy' and a little slender underneath that copious coat of fur.  Check This is an easy wa...
Post a Comment
Read more

Obesity and 4 other factors may influence development of HCM in Maine Coons

-
Image
I realise that this is a bit technical which can be boring but I think that it is important that people in the cat fancy which includes cat association administrators and cat breeders get a handle on inherited diseases in Maine Coon cats. Why are they accepted? They spoil an otherwise great cat breed. What about the cat? They are sometimes destined to die young of HCM. It's not nice of humans to bring into the world an animal for sale that will be breathless and dying well before their time. Beautiful young Maine Coon. Image in public domain. Below is a 'translation' from the very technical language of a Maine Coon study into the body size and metabolic differences in Maine Coon cats with and without HCM. It looks at things that it seems to me can be done by the breeder to help lengthen lifespans. HCM is caused by an inherited gene mutation but it can be exacerbated it seems by the factors mentioned. RELATED:  How do I check if my Maine Coon has HCM? Hypertrophic cardiomyo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Maine Coon is middle-ranking in terms of developing Type 2 diabetes in purebred cats

-
Image
The table on this page in my view ranks purebred cats in terms of their prevalence to developing diabetes mellitus. The scientists have compared the incident rate to the number of cat years at risk which I find a bit strange but they did look at a cohort of 504,688 individual cats insured in Sweden. So, the data comes from insured Swedish purebred and non-purebred cats and claims made on behalf of those cats by their owners over a total of 1,229,699 cat-years at risk. So, based upon these insurance claims they concluded that the Maine Coon cat is middle-ranking which I take to mean that this extremely popular cat breed is neither predisposed more or less than the average purebred cat. The table also tells us that Maine Coon cats are less predisposed to Type II diabetes (another way of describing diabetes mellitus) then standard random-bred cats. This I think is a good thing. RELATED:  Can feline diabetes be reversed ? As an aside, the breeds: Burmese, Russian blue, Norwegian For...
Post a Comment
Read more

Popular posts from this blog

The extreme Maine Coon face

-
Image
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...
Read more

Maine Coon Size - this is a huge one!

-
Image
  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...
Read more

No part of a Maine Coon cat should be exaggerated

-
Image
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...
Read more

Comparison of a black smoke Maine Coon at 6 weeks and 6-years-of-age

-
Image
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...
Read more

Eerie picture of a Maine Coon sitting like a human on a chest of drawers

-
Image
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...
Read more

Difference between Maine Coon and domestic long hair

-
Image
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...
Read more

Tortoiseshell Maine Coon with split-face

-
Image
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...
Read more

Black smoke Maine Coon Richie with a black face and diamond eyes

-
Image
Black smoke Maine Coon Richie with a black face and diamond eyes. Photo: Instagram. OMG, this is a Maine Coon with an amazing face. His full name is "Richie du Mont d’Even". I think he has a black smoke coat which has created this black face with the assistance of other genes (polygenetic influence?) and ears with piercing, diamond eyes. This is a very special cat. Richie looked very interesting but relatively plain as a kitten. Image: Instagram. His paws are balls of fluff. He has a mane that goes over his head like a halo. He's angelic and other-worldly. The lynx tips on the end of his ears are smoky grey which makes them stand out. They are a bit like the opposite to the black lynx tips of the wild caracal.  He lives in France with his human: Adriana Piraino. He was born on 7th November 2020. He is still very young. They say Maine Coons reach adulthood at around the age of 4. He is going to be enormous as well. Richie with Adriana. Photo: Instagram Richie was bred b...
Read more

Average lifespan of Maine Coon cat

-
Image
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 ...
Read more

2 top Russian Maine Coon cat breeders which ship internationally

-
Image
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 ...
Read more