Have a Maine Coon cat?

J

JBR

Senior Member
Location
Southern Canada mtn. valley, tad west of Rockies
My wife and I have always liked cats. Our current one is not a pure-bred, but when he was pretty young the vet identified him as a Maine Coon. He's intelligent, inquisitive, quirky, playful, and extremely affectionate. A good mouser, too. And always checks out first-time visitors to our home, "up close & personal", to learn if they like cats. He tends to charm people.

What I'm curious about is whether other people who have or have had Maine Coons find that they more or less fit this description. ??
 

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katlupe said:
I had one and she lived to be 22 years old. She loved to ride in cars and if anyone left their windows open on their car, she'd be up in the back window. A real talker. But scared to death of thunder.
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Ours does well with thunder, unless there's a lightning strike quite close by and the thunder sounds like a bomb.

But your mention of riding in cars... In his first couple years, he'd seek any opportunity to get into a vehicle! Some guys are here to do some fence work with us, and thy were hauling a tool trailer behind the vehicle. The cat (Smitty) got into the trailer because the door had been left open, and luckily we knew his habit by then. We got him out before the door was closed and the trailer (& Smitty) got driven 15 miles away. Of course, our guess was that the guys would have been scratching their heads wondering where he was from & how he got in.
 
SeaBreeze said:
Never had a Maine Coon, but have seen them at cat shows, beautiful!
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I've never been to a cat show. But I suspect that the ones you've seen at cat shows are probably what is considered to be a pure-bread. From what I've learned, those cost a lot of money from "breeder" sources. We brought ours home in a small box as a nine-week-old, and we got the title guy for free from neighbors three properties away. He was just a friendly kitten.
 
JBR said:
I've never been to a cat show. But I suspect that the ones you've seen at cat shows are probably what is considered to be a pure-bread. From what I've learned, those cost a lot of money from "breeder" sources. We brought ours home in a small box as a nine-week-old, and we got the title guy for free from neighbors three properties away. He was just a friendly kitten.
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They were definitely pure bred. At the end of one show, an owner has his Maine Coon lying sprawled out on the table, he was huge. When I started talking to him he said to feel free to pet him, he was very friendly and his coat was so lush!
 
They are such beautiful cats! Very sociable dispositions. I love that long, silky fur - and those gorgeous fluffy tails!!

Most of my past cats were 'mutts', but I've noticed the purebred ones really seem to behave true to their different breeds.

We have a stray that adopted us that I've ID'ed as mostly or all Egyptian Mau. Everybody else keeps insisting he's a Bengal or a Savannah, but he is definitely a Mau. I think it's because very few people have ever seen one; they're apparently very rare, especially in the U.S. But his conformation and behavior - he is very mellow around people, unlike most of my other (now gone) cats - fits the breed.

His walk is also very distinctive - Maus are described as having a "mincing" or "prancing" walk, like they're walking on their tiptoes. It's because their hind legs are slightly longer than their front legs. They don't 'hop' like Manxes do, but they walk like a wild cat does - their hind paws step exactly where their front paws stepped. It's cute to watch - they do prance rather than slink like most cats!

He may not be purebred, but until I get around to having a DNA test done, I guess I'll have to keep guessing, LOL :unsure:
 
The cat in my avatar was my beloved domestic medium hair/Maine Coon mix rescue.

Yes, he's all those things you describe, but I can add that he loved making this wonderful chirping sound sitting in the window. Well, wonderful to me, prolly not so to the birds. 😉

Mondo Kitty passed from kidney failure when he was 14. At his largest, he was 24 pounds. Not fat, he was just a huge cat. My gentle giant. Sweetest cat I've ever met. ❤️
 
At nine years old, Smitty is still so spontaneously frisky. Every other day, it seems, at some point he'll simply hop straight up in the air, or maybe spin around on the kitchen linoleum. Or dart through the main floor of our house... for no apparent reason, just pure joy of living, it seems.

I've run across online mention of the Maine Coon breed characterizing them as "clowns".
 
I never have but if that is the cat you want, get one. However personalities are so different.

After Chloe died, pictured here at 16. No cat will surpass her.

chloe16.jpeg

I got this thing off Craigs List and got totally punked. :D She's nothing like Chloe. Of course I still love her to bits but it's her tabby sister I favor.
t2.JPG
 
JBR said:
My wife and I have always liked cats. Our current one is not a pure-bred, but when he was pretty young the vet identified him as a Maine Coon. He's intelligent, inquisitive, quirky, playful, and extremely affectionate. A good mouser, too. And always checks out first-time visitors to our home, "up close & personal", to learn if they like cats. He tends to charm people.

What I'm curious about is whether other people who have or have had Maine Coons find that they more or less fit this description. ??
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i had a mix of maine coon and tiger stripe. he was protective and lovable and followed me all over the house. had to sit on the counter while i washed dishes. if i didn't let him he'd start climbing my pant legs. lol! we never really had company and when we did he hid kinda like mama LOL!
 
JBR said:
My wife and I have always liked cats. Our current one is not a pure-bred, but when he was pretty young the vet identified him as a Maine Coon. He's intelligent, inquisitive, quirky, playful, and extremely affectionate. A good mouser, too. And always checks out first-time visitors to our home, "up close & personal", to learn if they like cats. He tends to charm people.

What I'm curious about is whether other people who have or have had Maine Coons find that they more or less fit this description. ??
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Yup, my namesake, Fuzzybuddy, was a Maine Coon. It turned out he was a breed reject, so I got him for $3. The "M" on his forehead wasn't up to breed standards for cat shows. Apparently, they get carried away with exact breed traits. He was a warm, friendly, lovable cat. Your description is pretty much a description of Fuzzybuddy.
 
RadishRose said:
I wish I could have a Maine Coon cat.
Their cost is prohibitive for me plus I have a small, old dog.
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Feeding & caring for pets can be expensive, I know. Our cat is not a pedigreed MaineCoon. We got him for free, at about 8 weeks of age, from a neighbor. He was identified as a MC during an early (still kitten-stage) visit to the vet.

Reading online, after he'd matured, about the characteristics of MaineCoons, we realized that his exuberant & eccentric playfulness, gregarIousiness, ceaseless inquisitiveness, not to mention his rainproof quality and his almost doglike palsy-ness were all said to be rather common among MaineCoons.
 

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