Your Maine Coon Guide

Sometimes people think that Maine Coon cats are expensive and they ask why. They could ask the same question about any purebred cat although there is some variation between them in terms of price. For example, the first filial Savannah cats are far more expensive than any other purebred cat. And within the Maine Coon cat breed you will see a variation of prices. Why should the price vary; sometimes considerably? Why are Maine Coons expensive? Are they?  The price of purebred cats including Maine Coon cats depends on market forces essentially. And the better the quality of the Maine Coon cat the more expensive they are. Because market forces dictate the price, the price is always right! It is always correct. 🤔👍Anyway, what are you measuring the price of a Maine Coon against? Of course, there are expenses to cover for a breeder. They have overheads to meet which provide a baseline above which they can start to make a profit. That said, nearly all Maine Coon breeders are hobby breed...

There are a couple of ways of looking at this. In terms of genetics and biology there is no barrier in getting a Maine Coon to mate with a Savannah cat as they are both domestic cats - the same species of animal. Just remember though that male F1-F4 Savannah cats are sterile. Also note that the Savannah cat is a wild cat hybrid hence the term F1-F5 which means first to fifth filial (generation from the wild cat). In terms of the cat association breed standards neither TICA which recognises the Savannah cat nor the CFA which recognises the Maine Coon (as does TICA) allow these breeds to mate with a different breed. 'Outcrossing' is not permitted. This is to ensure that the distinctive appearance of these breeds is maintained and not diluted. If they were mated the resultant offspring would have greater genetic diversity and benefit from hybrid vigour. The Maine Coon x Savannah cat hybrid would be healthier but a moggie as they would be unregisterable. Cats associations would not...

The experts including cat show judges sometimes refer to the Maine Coon as a 'natural breed' but this descriptive phrase is an oxymoron as all cat breeds are unnatural as they are the products of artificial selection which is the opposite to the method by which new species are created: natural selection. In case you don't know the word, an oxymoron is a phrase in which the words conflict. In this instance the word 'natural' conflicts with the word 'breed'. There is nothing natural about cat breeding. It is all very contrived and unnatural. It is quite brutal in many ways; keeping studs in cages all their miserable lives and procreating from time to time and doing nothing else. And the females forever pregnant. All organised and managed by a person. All Maine Coons originate from moggie barn cats in Maine and the east coast of the US. The forerunner of the Maine Coon were not breeds. They were your standard random-bred cats imported from England with the Euro...

Firstly, the tufts of hair sticking out of the top of a Maine Coon's ear flaps are named after the lynx wild cat as they have them in abundance. The tufts of hair on the lynx wild cat are believed to have a function but we don't know as yet what it is! Perhaps a communication tool via body language. They are likely to be functional to improve survival as almost everything that evolves is designed to improve survival. Maine Coon lynx tips on the ears are purely decorative. Image: MikeB But for the Maine Coon cat these impressive tufts of hair are decorative . They enhance the ear. They decorate the ear as if decorating a sofa with cushions 😎💓. Same thing. There is a rules-based reason: the breed standards insist on them. I've quoted the CFA breed standard in the infographic on this page. The standard allows for breeder discretion which is why you see large variations in the length and density of lynx tips depending on the breeder. The breeders create them over generations ...

The answer to the question in the title comes from Google's AI computer Bard. Here it is. It is flawed. There are errors which I mention below the answer. For those of you who I have never heard of Bard, it is Google's version of an artificial intelligence chat box. You can ask it questions and it provides a good answer, written in good English at the moment.  Fictional depiction of Google's Bard. Image: DALLE E. It is in a developmental stage but it can be used as you can see on this page. It is going to change the way Google presents its search results. It is an attempt by Google in fact to take more control of the Internet in my view and I have questioned whether this development is fair and right in another article which you can read by clicking on this link . Bard's response to the title question Whether or not breeding Maine Coon cats is cruel is a complex question with no easy answer. On the one hand, Maine Coons are a relatively healthy breed with a lifespan of ...

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...

In the world of purebred cats, the Maine completely dominates in suffering from hip dysplasia. No other breed or non-breed comes near in terms of prevalence. The right hip is more likely to be diseased compared to the left. The disease can make Maine Coons aggressive and lose interest in human attention (presumed due to the persistent discomfort) which is sad as this cat is calm and friendly when healthy and well cared for. The disease was first mentioned in 1974. This article sets out information about a large number of Maine Coon cats which suffer from hip dysplasia. I will present the information in bullet form below: There were 2732 individual cat participating in this study of which 99.9% were Maine Coons (2708). The youngest Maine Coon cat with feline hip dysplasia (FHD) was four months of age. The oldest was 60 months of age. Of the 2708 Maine Coon cats with hip dysplasia, 2548 had non-borderline symptoms which meant it was full-blown hip dysplasia. Hip dysplasia was more common...

According to a Maine Coon cat breeder, Debbie, in The Netherlands, developing within the cat fancy and among Maine Coon breeders, there is a 'new-style' Maine Coon. This is unofficial. It is in breach of the breed standard or should I say breed standards because there are several leading cat associations with their own breed standard but with respect to this breed, they are similar. Siamese cat But the concept of "new-style" compared to "old-style" comes from the Siamese cat. The Siamese cat has many different appearances from the "Applehead" (more cobby features) to the "old-style" (more classic looking) and the 'Modern Siamese' (super slender) as I have referred to it . There is also the Thai cat which is also a Siamese cat which is meant to be the same as the original version. Push boundaries The point I'm making is that breeders tend to go their own way and push the boundaries of the breed standard and go beyond those boun...

Stunning flame coloured Maine Coon. Photo:  Катерина Силантьева. Bred in Russia. What are the ethical standards like in Russia? Any different to anywhere else?  This is a provocative question and a statement that implies that all cat breeders are bad people. This is incorrect and unfair. It is generalizing far too much. Breeders including Maine Coon cat breeders are not bad people. If you met one - usually a middle-aged lady - you'd probably like them and get on just fine. They are just people who normally don't see the problem with cat breeding in terms of the following two overarching issues: When you breed an individual cat such as a glorious Maine Coon kitten which will be bought by somebody, in effect you take away the possibility of adoption of one rescue cat in one shelter somewhere. That is somewhat theoretical but the equation is obvious. A person adopting a Maine Coon cat might have adopted a beautiful, large rescue cat with medium-length hair instead, that's been...

I think that it is always useful to go to science to examine the behavioural traits of any single cat breed. In this instance, a Finnish study titled: 'Breed differences of heritable behavioural traits in cats', looked at 5,726 individual cats through a questionnaire given to their owners.  Ginger tabby and white Maine Coon chilling. Image in public domain. Maine Coons participated in study as did other breeds and non-purebred cats. They were looking at whether selective breeding of Maine Coon cats and other breeds controlled to a certain extent the cat's character. And they found some correlations between genetic inheritance and behaviour. I have always said that in any chosen breed you can't say that all the individual cats are going to have the same character. That is impossible and it doesn't make sense. That's because there are two influencing factors: inherited character and environmentally altered character through experiences. Also, there are many breede...

It sounds as if interior decoration is being discussed. 'Furnishings' normally means the furniture, fittings, and other decorative accessories such as curtains and carpets, for a house or room.  But in the great family of cat fanciers, it means ear hair 😊 and Maine Coons have lots of it. Sticking out of the top of the ear (lynx tips) or sprouting from inside the ear and fanning out like water sprinklers on a football pitch. Cat fanciers love it. I like it too but I find it strange because for humans it is the opposite. Men ask their barber to shave the inside of the ear to remove their ear hair. Well, the barber asks first and the client always says 'yes'. After all ear hair is unattractive 😎. So why is it attractive when it is on domestic cats? Maine Coon ear furnishings. Image by MikeB Well, I can think of one reason but there might be others. Cats are covered in fur, millions of hair strands. How many hair strands are there on a domestic cat? I tried to count them ...

There are at least 2, possibly three and more,  core Maine Coon features. It depends on your point of view. The three I have chosen are important. The third - the feet - are important to me because the Maine Coon (MC) is famous for polydactyl feet and they are part of the history of the breed which makes it very odd that the CFA do not accept polydactyl show cats. Polydactyl cats are great. Fortunately, TICA does accept them. TICA is more open minded and less stepped in tradition than the CFA. Polydactylism is benign. It is said that the ships' cats that were brought over with early immigrants to the USA were often polydactyl because the sailors believed that they could maintain their balance with greater certainty than non-poly cats. A reason why they were chosen as ships' cats. As I said it is an important part of the MC history and should be featured. The Boston area on the east coast of the USA is famous for a preponderance of polydactylism in domestic cats. In addition to ...

I have seen some very misleading articles on this from leading websites including Maine Coon Central. 'Ear tufts' refer to the long, stiff hair strands that sprout from the tip of the ear flap. It is hair outside the ear flap and therefore plays no part in preventing dirt and debris from entering the ear canal as stated by Maine Coon Central.  Fantastic ear tufts on a young ginger tabby and white Maine Coon. Photo: Facebook (believed). Debris is stopped by what the cat fancy call 'ear furnishings' which is the hair inside the ear flap.  Ear tufts are purely decorative for the domestic cat and the Maine Coon. All domestic cats have ear tufts but for nearly all of them they are very slight and hardly visible sometimes. So why do Maine Coons have enlarged ear tufts? It is because the breed standard insists on them. Here is the CFA breed standard: EARS : Shape: large, well-tufted, wide at base, tapering to appear pointed. Set: approximately one ear’s width apart at the base...

Malocclusion is the imperfect positioning of the teeth when the jaws are closed. There are various versions of it. The lady who cares for this extreme-bred, ginger Maine Coon says her cat has an underbite. It is hard to see in the photo. It means that the lower jaw protrudes further out than the upper jaw. It looks relatively slight in this cat. Ginger Maine Coon with underbite (malocclusion). Cause? Probably inbreeding. Photo: u/jourdanlc  She writes on Reddit: Vet thinks he’s around 4 or 5 years! Yeah, he was dumped out in our neighborhood last Christmas 🥺 we’re in Alabama so tbh it’s not surprising. The animals laws here are practically non-existent. I’ll look that up! He’s definitely been a great kitty! She doesn't have a great regard for animal welfare in Alabama 😉. I am sure that she is right. Imagine dumping a genuine Maine Coon. And one with a great character. Really careless and callous I'd say. And rare too. Very few Maine Coons are abandoned. But what about the u...

How long will this Maine Coon kitten live? More than 11 years? Image: MikeB from images in the public domain. The question whether the Maine Coon cat is inbred is very important. I have just written a couple of articles, one about inbreeding depression and how it's caused and its effect on health, and the other an article about the lifespan of domestic cats comparing purebred cats with non-purebred cats. These are important and both affect the Maine Coon. Please click on the links to read them: Inbreeding depression cause and effect Lifespans of some purebred and random-bred domestic cats UK (some startling stats) When I did that research I came across a study and presentation, the results of which you can see by clicking on the second link above , which came to the conclusion that the average lifespan of the Maine Coon cat is 11-years-of-age. I found that statistic shocking.  The Abyssinian's average age is 10 years while the Bengal cat is 7.3 years according to this study. P...

A little bit of imagination is needed to see the hint of gargoyle in this majestic, tabby Maine Coon with the floppy ear furnishings, but it is there, and I have created a montage to help you. I hope I am not being disrespectful of the Maine Coon and of this individual cat. I am having a bit of fun and making a statement that breeders should not breed to extreme - please. Maine Coon with a hint of gargoyle. Image: MikeB based on (left) Amazon image and (right) Tomaso Gargoyle costing £109.99 on Wayfair.co.uk. So why is there a hint of gargoyle in this Maine Coon (if you agree with me)? It is all about extreme breeding which is what it says on the box. Breeders, through selective breeding, alter the anatomy of the Maine Coon to create 'extreme' more pronounced facial features. In essence without wishing to be unkind, the breeder distorts the cat's facial anatomy and exaggerates it. The gargoyle always has exaggerated features. That's what they are. And they are a bit gru...

All of us admire the statuesquely impressive massive Maine Coons made famous by the internet's social media websites. They sock you in the face with their sheer size and lion-like, or human faces. Yes, we have seen those extraordinary human-faced Maine Coons from Europe. The MC (Maine Coon) has developed into the top 3 most popular cat breeds. I would expect the breed to be the world's most popular in coming years. Super, human-faced Maine Coon bred by a Russian but at what cost to health? Image credit: see image. Alright, let's enjoy humankind's creation of the MC. Yep, they are a human creation. When you see the stunning MC internet celebs you are not seeing the original MC that happily lived on a farm on the east coast of America. They were tiny and ordinary, almost dull by comparison to today's monsters. The MC cat show winners look rather sad compared to the huge MCs we are used to seeing . You are seeing a 'product' of human ingenuity which is designed...

On the left is GC, BWI, DW NEKOLAND XOXO XANDER BRIGHTMAN from the 2019-20 cat show season: International: Best of Breed. A brown tabby & white, male Maine Coon Cat. A top-quality MC. On the right is a cat from Pinterest which has probably be bred in Eastern Europe or Russia. I have mentioned this before as you might know. Extreme Maine Coon muzzle versus CFA International Best of Breed muzzle. Image on left: CFA. On right: Robert Sijka. The difference is reflected in the different approach to selective breeding in the US and in Eastern Europe. Or perhaps this 'extreme' Maine Coon was bred in the US which the objective of creating a European style Maine Coon. And the difference is very clear. The muzzle should not be as unnatural as we see on the right. Naturalness must count for a lot in breeding. The Cat Fanciers' Association make this clear in their breed standard: MUZZLE/CHIN: is visibly square, medium in length and blunt ended when viewed in profile. It may give t...

A lot of websites are answering the question as to whether Maine Coon cats are good with dogs, and it is a question which looks at half of the issues that need to be dealt with. There are two players, the cat and the dog. There's no point having a cat that gets on well with dogs if the dog they live with does not get on well with cats. 😎. That's the first point. And, further, whether a cat gets on well with dogs it is normally not breed specific. It is about individual cats. This is not something that you can guarantee that breeders breed into the kittens that they create. By this I mean it is not something that is always created through inheritance unless the breeder has selected a foundation breeding pair of Maine Coon cats both of whom are known to have characters predisposed to getting on with cats and a supressed prey drive to chase cats. That's the second point. Are Maine Coon cats good with dogs? It depends. Image: MikeB A dog friendly cat and vice versa is normall...

Maine Coon slips into the water for a bit of fun. Screenshot. The video on this page supports the words of the title. But is it true that all Maine Coons do not fear water? I almost feel like leaving that decision to you. There is no science on this and all you will find on the Internet is anecdotal stories about Maine Coons not being frightened or objecting to being submerged in water.  Perhaps there is a tendency for Maine Coons to be less resistant to being submerged in water but I don't think you can say that all the cats of the Maine Coon breed have the same attitude towards water. We don't know anything about the cats in the video. Or at least I don't. Perhaps they are a bunch of Maine Coons who have made it clear that they like messing around in water and the video maker decided to video it. This video has done very well on TikTok. For all Maine Coon cats to like messing around and being submerged in water the cat associations would have to insist that, through selec...