Your Maine Coon Guide

A person on social media asked: "Why are Maine Coon cats so friendly?" They asked that question with confidence. I can think of a few topics to discuss in response to the question. Socialisation Maine Coon cats are purebred cats. Purebred cats are bred by cat breeders. Cat breeders know that they have an obligation to make sure that their kittens for sale are fully socialised to humans. This means that they will be friendly towards humans from the get go. The breeder achieves this by making sure that the kittens that she has created in her breeding programme are underfoot in her home, meeting members of her family and even strangers. In this way the kittens become acclimatised to being around people. This means that when they meet their new owner, they get along with them and are not frightened of them. That's why Maine Coon cats are so friendly. It is down to the efforts of the cat breeder and socialisation. Unfriendly Maine Coon? Sometimes a Maine Coon cat might not be ...

Maine Coon cats generally are not bred to be great with dogs if that is what you are looking for. However, if the Maine Coon (MC) breeder from whom you buy a cat has a dog or dogs and she makes sure that her MC kittens mix with the dogs and play with them and sleep with them etc. they will be good with dogs in their new homes. This is because they will be socialised to dogs.  Ernest and Hemingway I have a page on a Maine Coon called Earnest in a very close relationship with Pitbull Hemingway. Here is the picture and click this link for the video and story . Maine Coon loves his dog companion and vice versa. Screenshot. Socialised to dogs and vice versa And socialisation is the way to ensure that MCs get on with dogs. It all starts in the first precious weeks of live when kittens can learn that dogs are fine, and they will relate to them as other cats and as part of their family. So perhaps if you are thinking of buying a MC and you have a dog, you should ask your selected breeder ...

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...

This is a warming video. A family have a couple of gorgeous Maine Coons and they decided to adopt a fluffy puppy (8 weeks old Maltipoo puppy, Leyla). The take pretty bold but sensible steps to introduce the puppy to the resident Maine Coons. Within a day there is acceptance and no hissing or objections it seems from the Maine Coons. A great result in football parlance. RELATED :  Tip on introducing a new cat to a resident cat . I like the way they used a large indoor cage for the puppy to allow the cats to get used to the smells and presence of their new canine friend. I don't think you can ever be sure how resident cats will get along with a newcomer, cat or dog, until it happens. The outcome must be dependent of two possibilities (1) the cats are already socialised to dogs, so probably no problem or (2) the character of the cats is great for accepting a new dog. They have placid personalities which seems to the case in this instance. Mutual play is a great way to socialise a newc...

Google tells me that people are searching for an answer to the question "Are Maine Coons friendly?". To be brutally honest, it's a silly question. It has to be a silly question because Maine Coon cats are just like any other well-integrated domestic cat. It seems that I have answered this question before 😕. I will press on nonetheless. Maine Coon love-in. Photo: Pinterest. The central point that has to be made is that Maine Coons are purebred cats. They are created by cat breeders running hobby businesses. Part of the job of a cat breeder is to make sure that their kittens are ' raised underfoot '. This means that they are raised with people around them during the first weeks of their lives. The purpose: to socialise the cats and make sure that they are well-integrated into the world of humans. And ideally, they should also be integrated into the world of dogs and other pets. So from the get-go, Maine Coon cats are being trained or indoctrinated into being fri...

Maine Coons like dogs if they are socialised to dogs just like any other domestic cat. By "socialise" I mean that they have been raised with dogs during the first seven weeks of their life. That's the basic, standard method of ensuring that any domestic cat gets along with dogs throughout their adulthood. In fact, socialisation is at the root of all domestication. Without a newborn kitten being socialised to people and other pets they would end up being feral cats. Domestication has to be 'trained into them' through socialisation. Maine Coon is irritated by a snappy little pain in the bum terrier. Screenshot from video below. The video shows a Maine Coon who is socialised to dogs and a dog who is socialised to domestic cats in general: So, in this regard Maine Coons are no different from any other domestic cat either purebred, pedigree and random bred. When they're young they have to be familiar with dogs. They have to be around them, interacting with them, le...

No, Maine Coons do not like to be left alone just like any other domestic cat companion. There is no difference between the impressive Maine Coon cat and any other domestic cat including moggies. To stress: they are all the same in terms of their underlying character and character traits. This means that they are all essentially quite sociable nowadays . The concept that the cat is entirely independent and solitary is incorrect. Over 10,000 years of domestication they have learned to become sociable and they much prefer their human companion being around in the home. Obviously, the owner should be a decent person and sensitive to their cat's needs for cats to like them being around, but I hope that goes without saying. Image by  Anna Sulencka  from  Pixabay . All Maine Coons are socialised to people because they have been selectively bred by cat breeders and part of their obligations and duties is to ensure that their cats fit nicely into their new homes. They can only...

You can answer the question from two standpoints (1) the statements of Maine Coon cat owners of which you can find many on the Internet and (2) the statement of a well-known cat show judge, Gloria Stephens. Huge ginger tabby Maine Coon being cuddled and enjoying it. Picture in the public domain (believed to be a screenshot from a video). Those that live with and love Maine Coons Anecdotally, and their evidence is completely believable, Maine Coons like to cuddle. They are like any other domestic cat in terms of their personalities and characters. They live in the human world and provided their human companion and caretaker does a good job, even an excellent job, the Maine Coons in their charge will want to cuddle up and be close to their human.  Of course, it depends upon how well socialised the cat is but all Maine Coons should be well socialised because it is part of the work of a good cat breeder. All Maine Coon cats have been created by a cat breeder. I am referring to pureb...

This is not about individual cats of the Maine Coon breed being scared of everything. Maine Coon cats are just like any other domestic cat. They are not scared of everything. If they are properly raised underfoot and socialised then, just like any other properly raised domestic cat, they are not scared of everything. That said, domestic cats in general can be a little bit anxious about many things because they are, after all, living in a human world. We should not forget that. My Maine Coon is scared of everything? Image: MikeB based on images from Pixabay and a Instagram. The Maine Coon in the background is not 'scared of everything'! So, if a person visits the Internet looking for advice because their Maine Coon cat is 'scared of everything', they need to look at three things (1) how their cat was socialised by the breeder from whom they purchased the cat or (2) if they adopted the cat from another person whether that person mistreated their cat or allowed their ca...

I believe that you can answer the question in the title in two ways. Super-looking young Maine Coon. Photo in public domain. Not all cats of one breed are the same There is the general feeling that you can brand all individual cats of one particular breed with the same character. I don't believe it. There may be a slight predisposition towards having a certain character within a cat breed but there will be big variations between individuals due to all kinds of factors including environmental and genetic. How the kittens are raised underfoot counts. In other words, how they are socialised. And although cat breeders use selective breeding to fix the appearance of their cat they don't focus on behaviour characteristics and this is not a science in any case. So, under this heading, you will find that some Maine Coons are lap cats and some aren't due to individual preferences. The conventional viewpoint I have two books I can refer to including the Internet. The general mood ...

The question is not great in my opinion because it presupposes that some cat breeds get along with dogs and some don't. That is incorrect or at least misleading or inaccurate. Maine Coons are domestic cats and like any other domestic cat, purebred or not, whether they get along with dogs or not depends whether they are socialised to get along with dogs. The question is whether the breeder of the Maine Coon in question socialised her kittens to get along with dogs during their first 7 weeks of their lives. That rule applies to all cats including any breed of cat. Confident and relaxed Maine Coon gets along with dogs. Photo in public domain. Any website which purrs about all Maine Coons being great with dogs is bullshitting. They are feeding information to people that they want to hear. And they want Google to rank their page highly so they get hits. That said the other factor - but much less of a factor - as to whether a cat gets along with dogs is whether they are confident, lai...

There are two reasons why a Maine Coon cat might or might not get on with dogs. The first concerns selective breeding. This is a friendly cat breed but then again all of them are. But if breeders selectively breed for a particularly friendly character and socialise their cats then they will get along with dogs more so than others potentially. Maine Coon in The Netherlands. Photo: Dani. The second factor is socialisation which I have referred to above. If a breeder of Maine Coons allows the kittens to share plenty of time with a family dog during their early years i.e. the first 10 weeks of life lets say, then they will forever get along with dogs. The primary reason why a Maine coon cat might get along with dogs is because they are socialised to dogs. And this aspect of rearing a cat applies to any breed or random bred cats. It doesn't have to be a cat who is a member of a cat breed to benefit from socialisation. MAINE COON PERFORMS DOG-LIKE TRICKS So if a website says all Maine...