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Yorkshire Pudding

Maine Coon advice - UPDATE - I'm getting one (eventually!)

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I have a real 'want a maine coon' thing going on :roll: . Perhaps it's seeing some of the beautiful pusses some forum members own, but I am seriously considering buying one.

 

Those that have them, could you tell me how different they are to regular moggies - I have had cats all my life, but never pedigrees - always common or garden moggies and mostly rescues. Spending several hundred pounds on a kitten would be a whole new experience for me so I wouldn't do it without proper consideration and research - and this forum is the best source of advice I know!

 

Do they need any special care, and do you let your Maine Coons outside? - I'm not sure I would want a cat that I had to confine to the house since in summer (ie march to October!) we spend most of our time in the garden.

 

Also (and this is a critical one), how do they get on with children, chickens and guinea pigs?

 

All advice gratefully recieved!

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I will be watching this with inetrest - they are absolutely stunning arent they? i love the idea of having a really big cat :D

 

A lady at work has two and she feeds them special food especially made for the breed which costs her over £60 a month apparently but then she always has to do everything better than anyone else so I am guessing you can feed them cheaper! we don't even spend that on food for all of our animals put together.

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ok - I dont let my Maine coons out though I know other forum members do. It depends on the breeder but I have signed a contract saying that mine will be indoor cats. Mine have an outside run where they go in the summer because I also like to have doors and windows open when it is warm :D

 

I feed mine normal cat food as well as the Maine Coon biscuits - whatever I can find as long as it is good quality. They dont care! They just get through more than other cats because they grow bigger :D

 

They are great with kids - mine have never met the chickens but I would not leave them with a guinea pig unless it was in a cage - they are just wild cats from the east coast of America after all, although they do get on with the dog. They have normal cat traits but they also like water and they "Talk" so much in really cute trills and chirrups.

 

The reason I have pedigrees is that you "know" what the traits of the cat will be and what sort of temprement you will get. I know that my friend always breeds outgoing, bold, healthy kittens who settle in anywhere and are mostly bombproof! I am sure that if let outside my cats would not bother about the chickens, in fact none of my cats, or the neighbours, bother with chickens - they are terrified of them!

 

Please feel free to PM me if you want to chat more - and have a look here

 

http://www.maine-coon-cat-club.com/

 

:D:D:D

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Sorry - once I start I cant stop! This is from the Maine Coon Cat Club website - it is so true!

 

Maine Coons are the clowns of the cat world, with a rather quiet but extrovert personality. They normally adapt to new surroundings with the greatest of ease, taking one stopping". They are in general, highly intelligent, but a dripping tap can turn them into idiots, as they happily spend hours catching drops, without realizing that they're slowly starting to resemble a drowned rat. The great mystery of "Where does melting ice go to?", is another problem they try to solve - without much success! The Maine Coon is a very affectionate creature. He adores happily be loved by any member of the household, he does tend to choose one particular person, on whom to bestow most affection. Also known for sleeping in the most weird positions and places (probably originating from the days when he slept rough in barns), perhaps the most unique thing to the Maine Coon is the noise he makes. Rather than the standard meow, this cat "chirps", a noise which is difficult to describe but one heard is never forgotten!

 

So what are the pros and cons of choosing a Maine Coon as a pet? Well, advantages include a highly intelligent, affectionate, and not overly demanding cat which adapts animal, with very few defects. The coat is relatively easy to maintain, and because of the colour and pattern combinations, no two are ever the same.

 

There is one major disadvantage to living with a Maine Coon - one cat is never enough, and before long you'll be looking for another one!

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Hi Yorkshire Pudding:

just to give you an idea of what is possible (and involved!)- our Finn is a Norwegian Forest Cat ("Norwegian Forest Cat, also known as Skogkatt, or Wegie, first longhaired breed of cat from Norway, similar to the Maine Coon Cat" http://aboutpedigreecats.com/cat%20breeds/norwegian%20forest%20cat.htm ). Not quite as big as a Maine Coon cat, but we got him from the Cats Protection League!

 

His fur gets wicked knots in it and since he hates being groomed, this is a 2-woman job with one to hold down the grumpy and grumbling mountain of muscle and fur and the other to wield the brush, comb and - often - the scissors! Mind you he 'free ranges' so I suppose a house cat wouldn't get so lumpy and muddy. He's also blessed with very furry feet (the bottoms I mean, around his 'beans') and he manages to pick up chicken poo in this that we have to pick off! :vom:

 

I know you can't expect to go to Cats Protection and get a pure breed, so bellekatz advice will be more realistic

 

But by the way.... he's TERRIFIED of the chickens even though he's about 3x the size of Willow! And when we had our indoor guinea pig, who free ranged in the conservatory, Finn was a bit nervous of him too although they were fairly friendly and would cuddle up together at the pig's insistence (he lurved cats!). :D

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I do have to wield the brush when they are moulting ( took two of us 3 days and a tranquiliser last summer - long story!!) But generally they are self sorting - if they lived in the wild they wouldnt have a brush and pair of scissors! It tends to be when they moult they need a little extra help :roll: The breed clubs have rescues too, just like for dogs, and some breeds rehome their ex breeding girls and boys as well so it wouldnt have to be a kitten. ( though the kittens are so cute I cant resist unless it happens to be a red boy as I really NEED a ginger Coonie!!!!!) :shh::shh:

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Thanks Jayne and Laurie. I am not put off in the slightest.... even by poo-ey paws. My first cat was a bit of a fighter and suffered from abscesses as a result - he was a big boy and I used to wrap him and drain the stinky abscesses, so chicken poo holds no fears!

 

Oh dear, I spy another Omlet 'must have' - an absolutely massive feline. Another dent in the wallet coming up :wink:

 

Rescues do come up now and again, I suppose, but I don't know if I have the patience to wait for one! I have a real soft spot for gingers too and have never had one yet - black-and whites, one all black and a truly :evil: tortie so far.

 

But there was a beautiful silver tabby girl on Pets4homes....

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I got my Maine Coon last May and she is absolutely enchanting :D She does go outside, in fact 'outside' is her favourite thing at the moment, she hardly ever goes further than her own garden. I concur that they are mad about water, we have a garden pond and I put a plank of wood across it to form a bridge, she spends ages sitting on the bridge playing with the water and trying to catch the goldfish, who are much too quick for her. She likes to be with people and always wants to 'help' in whatever activity is going on, whether it is washing the kitchen floor or cleaning out the chickens :) She is fine with the chickens, when I open the run to sort them out she always comes in with me, she is not scared of them and they are fine with her. When my dog was alive she would weave herself around the dog's legs and try and get her to play. I have my two very young grandchildren living in my house and tbh she runs away when they try and play with her, although this may change as they get older. She is not very good at grooming, in fact she looks a real mess a lot of the time. She gets big matts in her fur and I agree it is a two person job to hold her down and try and tease them out, but she is still a kitten so maybe she will get better as she gets older.

She is not expensive to feed, she gets James Wellbeloved dry food all the time and a small plate of 'wet' food twice a day, I don't use pouch food as it is too expensive, I just give her tinned Felix tuna or similiar. I would love to own another one, but I can't justify it with all the cats banged up in rescue centres :( Go on get one, you won't regret it.

 

Tessa

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If you really do want one the Maine Coon cat club have a list of available kittens by area so you can see what is availble. :)

 

I saw the list - there are a few in Yorkshire. None of the breeders list prices for their kittens though, so I have no idea what is realistic other than the range on Pets4homes which goes from £250 to £400.

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ok - I dont let my Maine coons out though I know other forum members do. It depends on the breeder but I have signed a contract saying that mine will be indoor cats.

 

bellekatz can you expand on that- at first reading it is making me boggle a bit!

How would they know?! And have they ever escaped?! :shock:

 

I've always wanted a maine coon... on my furry wish list!

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I sign a purchaser covenant which basically says:

 

I will not use it for breeding

 

It is to be a pet though it may be shown

 

If I need to rehome I have to contact the breeder first

 

It will be neutered before it is 12 months old

 

It will not be allowed to roam out of the house

 

If i breach any of these then the breeder has the right to reposess the kitten.

 

As it happens I dont want my Maine Coons to roam free - they have the run of the house and an outside run to play in. I have lost too many cats to disappearance and road accidents over the years that I would not put them in that situation. We live in built up area with roads all around and they are happy to stay indoors. I do have cats that go out but they are older now and dont stray much further than the garden. I don't have a problem with it. If they get out we bring them back in but we have the closing doors down to a fine art unless they are out in the run. :wink:

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If it's any help, I paid £375 for Google :shock: Worth every penny :)

 

Tessa

 

 

TBH that's not at all bad for a pedigree - compare that to the £1000 my friend paid for her pug puppy!

 

If you don't mind me asking, did you have to sign a similar agreement to Jayne regarding letting Google go outside? I am not near busy roads and have a large secure garden so I would feel happy to do that.

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Ooooooohhh very excited for you Yorkshire Pudding that you are thinking of getting one of these gorgeous creatures. I am very :mrgreen: . I mentioned getting one to OH but he says the two normal cats we have take up enough room on the bed, never mind a baby tiger :lol: . I'll get my way in the end though............I always do :twisted: .

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If you don't mind me asking, did you have to sign a similar agreement to Jayne regarding letting Google go outside? I am not near busy roads and have a large secure garden so I would feel happy to do that.

 

I did have to sign an agreement with the breeder, same as Jayne except for the not going out bit, I would never have bought her if she couldn't go out. Some breeders insist on the clause but luckily my breeder was easy about it. However I am much more protective of her than cats I have had in the past. She is not allowed out once it's dark, and I would never let her out unless somebody was in the house. The other thing the breeder told me was that I had to leave her to somebody in my Will :shock:

 

Tessa

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The other thing the breeder told me was that I had to leave her to somebody in my Will

 

me :D

 

 

joking aside, what a weird request, are these people that still keep cats as Gods??

 

there would be a bunfight at our house for Piper kit :lol:

 

cathy

x

 

I have a queue of people hoping to be the lucky recipient, sorry Cathy :wink:

 

It is a weird request, really all the hoohas you have to go through to get a Maine Coon, I really wasn't prepared for it, I just wanted a stonking great big cat :roll: There is a legal difference in owning a pedigree and a moggie, you can't report a missing moggie but you can report to the police a pedigree. If you run over a regular cat :( you don't have to report it, but if it is a pedigree you do. The rule that really got to me was the one about rehoming a Maine Coon, you have to tell the breeder and give him/her first dibs. I feel I am leasing Google rather than owning her :roll: I am hoping Jayne will correct me if I have got any of this wrong.

 

Tessa

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Not heard the legal stuff before about accidents and the police ( how can you tell if it is a maine coon or a moggie apart from the size??????) But i have signed a similar agreement for my Bengal and Aby as well. I think it is often easier for people within the cat world to find a good home for a cat rather than giving it up for a rescue. I dont think they still think of it as theirs, just that they want it to have a good home. PLus a lot of these agreements are laid down by the GCCF ( feline equivalent of the KC) and they have to agree to the code of ethics before they can register as a breeder ( might be wrong here - Aunty e would know) I definitely feel like I own mine :lol::lol:

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When our cross breed kittens go, I don't make people sign a contract, but I do ask that they call me if they ever find they can't keep the kitten any longer - I did raise that kitten, in some cases deliver it, and I still feel responsible for it. The thought of one of my kittens being passed pillar to post from home to home fills me with horror. I always know people who are looking for a kitten or cat, especially people who want to rehome adult maus, and I know other breeders will have the same list. That's why you have to give them first dibs. I still send both breeders updates on my maus every six months or so.

 

You do have to sign up to the GCCF code of ethics, it includes things like not letting the kittens go until they are 13 weeks old and vaccinated (my cross breeds who aren't registered go at eight weeks though) and the contract is pretty standard for pedigree kits. My mini maine coon is off to live with my mum, but I don't really count that as rehoming - she's still mine, she'll just be living somewhere else.

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I'm sorry but I think it is bordering on deranged to stipulate you cannot let your own cat out of the house, and unfair on the animal.

My cousin lives in Florida and part of her house purchase agreement for the house in the estate is that they won't let cats out. Thats not even from a breeder..........

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I'm sorry but I think it is bordering on deranged to stipulate you cannot let your own cat out of the house, and unfair on the animal.

My cousin lives in Florida and part of her house purchase agreement for the house in the estate is that they won't let cats out. Thats not even from a breeder..........

 

I presume the Florida thing is to stop cats pooing in other people's gardens. I lived in Canada for a few years, it was a very rural area, paradise for cats I would have thought.

Hardly anybody let their cats out due to racoons, coyote and skunk :vom: The cat in the house I lived in spent it's entire life trying to escape :shock: I tend to agree with Rhapsody, I wouldn't dream of owning a cat that could never go out, and I wonder why so many MC breeders insist on this?

 

Tessa

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Not only Maine Coon breeders- the breeder of my Bengal didnt let hers out either :?

 

I think you are really lucky if you live in an environment where you can let your cats out without a worry. I have lost several to the road, two have just disappeared and never come back and have had several abcesses to deal with due to cat fights with other people's cats in my garden. Add to that the risk of viruses, and I am happy not to let mine roam free but give them playtime in an outside run with lots of cat furniture to climb and play on.

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