Share Your Maine Coon Photos...

[sabian]

@ileen Tell him to contact this guy! The biggest cat in NYC. Just google search and you'll find all kind of info. I may get a cat from the same breeder!
biggest cat in nyc - Bing video

 

[FaBEAR]

I forgot I started this thread!

Tiger today (that's a jumbo size tennis ball)

 

[FaBEAR]

 

[mightyboosh]

(that's a jumbo size tennis ball)

Phew, I was going to say we have a miniature Maine Coon here.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

I forgot I started this thread!

Tiger today (that's a jumbo size tennis ball)

FaBEAR - Excellent photo, and I smiled at the, "jumbo size tennis ball," narration. Still, I think it would have been hilarious if you'd deadpanned, "that's a soccer ball, by the way."


.

 

[FaBEAR]

FaBEAR - Excellent photo, and I smiled at the, "jumbo size tennis ball," narration. Still, I think it would have been hilarious if you'd deadpanned, "that's a soccer ball, by the way."


.

Nah, here's the soccer ball!

 

[sivyaleah]

Goodness this thread went dark!

I didn't know about it since I didn't have a Maine Coon at the time it was created nor last it was accessed but I do now so I'm going to throw photos up here!

A lot of members already know Luna Moonshadow. She will be a year old next week on the 21st. We got her a few days shy of 16 weeks from a more or less local breeder (she's in South NJ, we are in the north area).

First one is a few days ago. Her new favorite hang out spot is our back sliding door because she's discovered it's prime bird/squirrel/rabbit watching from there.

The second one is an artful endeavor; was playing around with one of my phone apps. I caught her in a good pose but there was a lot of stuff in the background which was distracting from her image. Turned out fairly ok but took a lot of work!

FYI I'd love to hear from other purebred MC people about their cats as far as health, growth, eating etc.as we've had some struggles in these areas with Luna. Please, only purebreds, not crosses lovely as they may be. There are differences between the two and there are unique health concerns and other needs specific to purebred Maine Coons which are not pertinent to a mixed breed cat. Thank you!

 

[mightyboosh]

Ah, the beautiful Luna.

I've said this before on here somewhere but if you didn't see it..............

I got Oliver when he was ten yrs old so I missed his growing up issues (if any). I managed to speak to his breeder once and she said that her priorities were to breed for health and temperament first and looks were whatever they ended up like. I thought that was good ethics and I could tell she meant it. His looks are outstanding anyway IMO but I'm in love and biased it must be said. His pedigree has grand champions and international champions in it so she was pretty safe with the looks anyway I suppose.
He came with a bag of the food he was already on so I carried on with that and everything was fine for a year or so.
He then started to have runny poos and random instances of pain where he would cry out for no apparent reason.
The vet diagnosed pancreatitis and advised that I switch food to Hill's prescription Digestive Care i/d food.
He took to it straight away and has been fine since (touch wood).
It's mega expensive from the vet but I found an alternative source - zooplus. It's still more expensive than normal food but I don't mind, anything for the little fella.
I free feed him and he hovers around the 20lb mark. He lost a couple of pounds when his problem started but gained it back on his new food.
I'd love to give him treats and vary his food but I cannot. If he eats anything else, he's back to runny poos. The most I can give him for a treat is a cm2 of tuna or chicken. He goes crazy for it and it's so sad when he begs for more but I can't risk it.
He's 13 yrs now and seems healthy and happy (touch wood again). His fur is a bit greasy along his back but I think he'd rip my arms off if I tried to bathe him. It's not too bad though.
His favourite pastimes are sleeping in boxes and cosying up to me which I love.
Aren't Maine Coons amazing.

View attachment 334994

 

[sivyaleah]

mightyboosh I love Oliver! I do remember your backstory on him. Thank you though for giving out that food/health info again.
We're not sure what's up with Luna yet. All her labs came back normal other than an elevated white cell count but, we brought her in for loose stools and fever so it could have been that causing it - plus, she gets really stressed going to the vet/being there too.

The illness was temporary and seemingly only lasted that one day. She was given an antibiotic, fluids and put on a probiotic. I was asked to monitor everything she's eating for about 3 weeks to make sure she's getting enough calories also. We also found out, that one of her dew claws had grown backwards into her so that too, *could* have some bearing on all of this. We'll attend to that once I confer with the vet in about a 1-1/2 weeks. If she gained weight back, I'm sure we'll schedule a surgery to have that removed. I had wanted to during her spay, but the vet felt it was just going to add cost and since we normally bring her there to have her claws trimmed (I can do it but now that she's so LONG it's like holding a toddler) it was always under control - but then Covid hit and we weren't able to bring her there in a time frame to prevent that from happening. The dew claw, I can not manage at all to trim

Anyway, she's sort of an erractic eater, always has been since she was spayed. Sometimes she will eat a whole can (3 oz) and other times pick at it. She tends to graze also, so we have to keep the food down for like 2 hours to ensure she's eating it. Eats very little kibble, typically only about 1-1/2 ounces if that daily (and I'm pretty sure our other cat is nibbling on that also). In the last 10 days though, most days she's been above 300 calories or darn close to by all means she *should* gain weight back. It's all grain-free, quite low carb other than the kibble which isn't the worst out there. She's never experienced any other episode of loose stools, vomiting or anything since we've had her so this really was out of her norm.

Having said all that, there's apart of me that thinks it may be (and I hate to term it this way) a little bit of neglect on the part of my husband. Not on purpose at all. He's been the one at home with the cats 24/7 prior to me working from home due to Covid. Now that I'm home and see what his daily schedule is like I'm aware that he has a tendency to get wrapped up in his own stuff and...forget about the cats a LOT. So, I am wondering if he just wasn't feeding her enough? Or pulling food up too fast because she grazes on it for hours and he thought she was finished? Or didn't try to give her something else if she wasn't interested in what he did feed her?And easily the first month of me working from home I was too wrapped up in that so I just assumed he was taking care of them. But the longer I was here, the more I realized that wasn't working at all for the cats so I started to do all the food prep and paying attention to their needs.

No point in making an issue of this, done is done if that is what it is but suffice it to say that for the last weeks I've been really on top of making sure both cats get everything they need, despite my work schedule. And clearly Luna eats it's just on her own timeframe. I also adjusted the foods, have found some things I can count on her finishing almost always too.

Anyway, again many thanks. It always help to hear from other MC people and hear their experiences. Sorry that your boy has had some woes. Luna too, has had a few things here and there not related to the above; she most likely has the feline herpes virus which caused a big issue with dry eyes for a while but that's pretty much controlled now. And she HATED being groomed and that, is a long story in itself but we've worked through that as well and she's now mat free and fairly cooperative as long as I catch her when she's sleepy!

 

[sabian]

sivyaleah I don't have an MC at the moment though, I'm dying to get one. I'm having some health issues at the moment but hopefully I can get one soon.

I have had MC's in the past in the past and they all ate like pigs. Tama would lay down at the bowl and wrap his paws around it and just pig out. He drank water the same way. All the breeders I know in my area or talked to recommend free feeding and let them eat as much as they want. Since they grow for 4 to 5 years they need to eat especially the first couple years. I've always free fed my cats dry food and given them wet food at night as a treat and never had any weight problems with them. Just putting it out there. Oh, I don't know if you've watched any video's of Samson NYC's biggest cat but, in one video, if I'm not mistaken, he said Samson eats 6 cans of wet food a day as well as dry food. That cat is a monster!

As far as the poops. Tama had a bad case of the poops as a kitten
The breeder I got him from wanted me to feed him IAMS and I could afford it at the time so, I got some cheap cat food and he got the runs so bad he couldn't control it. The doc said it was the dye's in the cat food. Like mightyboosh they recommended Hills Science Diet. It stopped the runs but it was pricy. A friend recommended Purina One and I didn't have any problems. I've been using it every since with no problems. I feed Manny Purina One dry food but, he doesn't like their wet food. He loves IAMS, Natures Choice, and Fancy Feast in that order.

Olivers is looking healthy and happy as usual mightyboosh . I didn't realize he was 13 yrs old. I didn't know all the back story on him but, that must be why he has the more tradition/ classic look to him. I think you should try and bathe him and video tape it!!!

 

[mightyboosh]

And she HATED being groomed and that, is a long story in itself but we've worked through that as well and she's now mat free and fairly cooperative as long as I catch her when she's sleepy!

Oliver used to be OK for grooming but he's not happy with it now for some reason and will stick a claw in me after about 30 secs. I have to do it in spaced - out 30 sec episodes. How did you manage to work through that problem?

I think you should try and bathe him and video tape it!!!

I could try I suppose. If I did, all I can say is that I'm glad we have free medical treatment over here.

 

[sivyaleah]

sivyaleah I don't have an MC at the moment though, I'm dying to get one. I'm having some health issues at the moment but hopefully I can get one soon.

I have had MC's in the past in the past and they all ate like pigs. Tama would lay down at the bowl and wrap his paws around it and just pig out. He drank water the same way. All the breeders I know in my area or talked to recommend free feeding and let them eat as much as they want. Since they grow for 4 to 5 years they need to eat especially the first couple years. I've always free fed my cats dry food and given them wet food at night as a treat and never had any weight problems with them. Just putting it out there. Oh, I don't know if you've watched any video's of Samson NYC's biggest cat but, in one video, if I'm not mistaken, he said Samson eats 6 cans of wet food a day as well as dry food. That cat is a monster!

As far as the poops. Tama had a bad case of the poops as a kitten
The breeder I got him from wanted me to feed him IAMS and I could afford it at the time so, I got some cheap cat food and he got the runs so bad he couldn't control it. The doc said it was the dye's in the cat food. Like mightyboosh they recommended Hills Science Diet. It stopped the runs but it was pricy. A friend recommended Purina One and I didn't have any problems. I've been using it every since with no problems. I feed Manny Purina One dry food but, he doesn't like their wet food. He loves IAMS, Natures Choice, and Fancy Feast in that order.

Olivers is looking healthy and happy as usual mightyboosh . I didn't realize he was 13 yrs old. I didn't know all the back story on him but, that must be why he has the more tradition/ classic look to him. I think you should try and bathe him and video tape it!!!

sivyaleah I don't have an MC at the moment though, I'm dying to get one. I'm having some health issues at the moment but hopefully I can get one soon.

I have had MC's in the past in the past and they all ate like pigs. Tama would lay down at the bowl and wrap his paws around it and just pig out. He drank water the same way. All the breeders I know in my area or talked to recommend free feeding and let them eat as much as they want. Since they grow for 4 to 5 years they need to eat especially the first couple years. I've always free fed my cats dry food and given them wet food at night as a treat and never had any weight problems with them. Just putting it out there. Oh, I don't know if you've watched any video's of Samson NYC's biggest cat but, in one video, if I'm not mistaken, he said Samson eats 6 cans of wet food a day as well as dry food. That cat is a monster!

As far as the poops. Tama had a bad case of the poops as a kitten
The breeder I got him from wanted me to feed him IAMS and I could afford it at the time so, I got some cheap cat food and he got the runs so bad he couldn't control it. The doc said it was the dye's in the cat food. Like mightyboosh they recommended Hills Science Diet. It stopped the runs but it was pricy. A friend recommended Purina One and I didn't have any problems. I've been using it every since with no problems. I feed Manny Purina One dry food but, he doesn't like their wet food. He loves IAMS, Natures Choice, and Fancy Feast in that order.

Olivers is looking healthy and happy as usual mightyboosh . I didn't realize he was 13 yrs old. I didn't know all the back story on him but, that must be why he has the more tradition/ classic look to him. I think you should try and bathe him and video tape it!!!

Thanks for this

We give her food constantly - I got educated about kitten needs early on, especially for MC's. We always have high protein kibble available to her to free feed from and she gets fed wet food 4x a day still to this day. She rarely will eat an entire 3 ounce can though, she likes to graze, so we leave it out for 2-3 hours and then pick it up if not finished. She also gets good high protein treats from Orijens which are pure protein, along with a few other treats which are only pure protein. She's also allowed very small amounts of plain people food such as chicken/salmon and lately a tiny bit of goats milk or plain Greek yogurt too which she loves. I've been keeping track of her intake now for nearly 2 weeks and she average about 275-325 calories a day, and it's about 8-10 ounces of food a day. Overall it sounds like she's eating enough and yet, she lost weight. She's not a begger type of cat, so sometimes it's hard to know if she actually even wants to be fed so we just stay on schedule with her.

In the interim since I've been keeping track her eating has gotten a lot better and IDK if it's because I'm paying more attention to getting her to eat or if she's feeling better from something that was bothering her. But I'll take it.

Unfortunately now, our older girl has decided that some of Luna's new food is A-OK for her and that's become an issue because of Luna grazing. We can't sit in the kitchen and hope she'll finish her food, nor can we lift it because we don't know when she'll want more. And Cocoabean has been seen ignoring her own food to go eat Luna's instead. And she, is way too heavy already so it's an issue for us.

As for Luna it's either 1 of a few things that made her lose weight. First, is she's burning up more calories than she's taking in although I don't think that's it. Now that she's 1 years old (tomorrow!) she spends a lot more time cat-napping like an adult cat. Not as quite high energy as a kitten anymore. Second, is there is something medically wrong which we haven't figured out yet. Lab work was clear for blood and urine, her stool sample was negative also. This was the first time she ever had tummy trouble - her poo is always perfect.

So that rules out a ton of things. But there are always other issues which can't be tested for that easily like IBD for one. But I do not think it's that either as she has no other symptoms of any kind to speak of. She looks fantastic, her coat is lovely, she's bright eyed, spunky and happy, plays hard and sleeps hard lol. There's no stress at the house either. I do wonder if the dew claw she has growing under her right now might be part of the problem? And last as I mentioned above, it could also be that my husband wasn't being as good about keeping her fed for a while there, tending to get involved with his own things during the daytime and I've witnessed him myself forgetting to feed them now that I'm home all the time (again, good thing because I've taken over cat care for the most part).

She goes back to the vet in about a week to get weighed and see if she put back on any weight. If she does, great, then it was a passing problem and hopefully that's the end of it. But, if she has not gained, that means we're going to have to start thinking about what else might be going on with her.

 

[sivyaleah]

Oliver used to be OK for grooming but he's not happy with it now for some reason and will stick a claw in me after about 30 secs. I have to do it in spaced - out 30 sec episodes. How did you manage to work through that problem?



I could try I suppose. If I did, all I can say is that I'm glad we have free medical treatment over here.

Oh goodness, it comes down to a lot of patience and learning who she is and what she can tolerate. And when.

I'll try and make this short, but doubtful that will happen LOL.

Ok, so she had developed really bad mats. Severe ones on her belly. I didn't even realize it had happened until it was too late. She never liked being combed/brushed from the moment we got her even though I know the breeder was doing it - especially because she used to be a groomer and still enjoyed doing it just...because. She gave us instructions when we picked Luna up, exactly what tools to use, etc. But Luna would fight it all the time and when she was really little, she was not one of those uber fluffy MC's you see on Instagram by a long shot. She was kind of scruffy looking, like a messy dark gray cottonball lol. And her fur never tangled at all, there wasn't enough of it so we let her dictate to us how much we'd groom her and honestly, it became a bad habit of ours to allow her to fight us. I remember going to the vet once and bringing all my tools with me because it was the only place she ever would sit still at due to her innate fear of being there (she hates the car/being at the vet as nice as they are to her

So onward. Once i realized those mats were so dense and solid I figured she was going to have to be shaved down. I looked for a local groomer but not a one is near me - or none I'd trust after reading reviews and speaking to one on the phone. So, the vet said they could shave her, made an appointment , dropped her off and within 1/2 hour they were calling me to get her because she FREAKED OUT completely and got really fractious with them. Ugh.

So. Vet prescribed Gabapentin so i could dose her and bring her back the next week loopy and cooperative. But, I decided I'd rather try doing it myself at home - wasn't like I'd never groomed a cat before. We have a domestic longhair who LOVES being groomed so I do know what I'm doing. Vet agreed I could drug her at home and see how that goes.

First time, I gave her only 1/2 dose which wasn't enough but I did manage to start tackling the mats and got a few out. A few days later I gave her a full dose and OMG. She was out like a like for like 2 hours, more than enough time for me to pretty much work out the bulk of the problem. I chopped up her coat but good, it looked really funky but at least most of the mats were now gone. Used the Greyhound comb, 2 different mat cutters, and blunt tipped scissors. She barely moved the whole time.

I still needed another go at it though because her britches were a mess. Tried one more time with just under a full dose (honestly, seeing her so out of it did make me a bit worried). Got more out but not enough since she woke up faster than I thought she would.

The change around came when I then "met" a professional groomer I found on Instagram - she's kind of local - who was kind enough to give me one-on-one advice via an app similar to Facetime. She was really helpful in a) showing me ways to hold Luna to get to areas where she wouldn't let me b) brainstorming how I could tackle this by paying attention to Luna's cues c) told me to only use my hands to work the knots out along with the tip of the Greyhound comb to untangle top to bottom, resorting to mat cutters only if necessary and c) instilled more confidence in myself that I COULD do it if I put my mind to it without resorting to drugs.

So...I started working on her every single day, at the same time every single day which was when she would come into the room I'm working from and take a nap. Like clockwork between 2-3pm every day she'd fall asleep on the guest room bed behind my desk. I started combing her mainly on her head, under her neck and upper back at first because that she handled pretty well. I'd be really quiet, and go really slow, stroking her in between combing. Eventually she would always turn over, and she does allow belly rubs when sleep, so I'd just start slowly finding the tangles that were still there and by hand, work them out while she was drowsy. She practically never reacted to this at all. I was shocked.

This led each day into combing new areas, acclimating her to the comb and other instruments. If I hit a spot she didn't like, I'd stop. More than anything I was aiming for her to understand that I wasn't there to hurt her. Eventually, week by week she allowed me to get to more areas on her until I was able to nearly entirely comb her coat out - except....her britches. This is her no-no spot and has been the most difficult to achieve. But here we are now a couple of months later, perhaps a bit more, and I am able to get to that area also and now there are no more mats on her. Still a few tangles here and there, they seem to form overnight but hey, she's a Maine Coon with that undercoat and all. But it never will get as bad as it was before, that's for sure. She now will sleep peacefully through me doing her entire body, turning herself over and on her back so I can get every spot.

She actually seems to enjoy it to some degree now, other than that hind area LOL. But I'm over the moon happy that we were able to push through her annoyance with the process. And, she looks SO much better, instead of a curly tangled mess of a coat, she is sporting a more flowing appearance and her pantaloons are nice and fluffy. It was stressful for both of us, killed my back doing it several times but worth every moment to get where we are now.

Combed out britches!

One years old tomorrow!
And this, is typical of her passing out on my desk. Very easy access to grooming!

 

[mightyboosh]

sivyaleah Thanks for that. That was quite a job you did there and such admirable patience you had.
Oliver has never got matted as such but he develops individual knots here and there. I too try and tease them out but I also snip them but it's not noticeable amongst his other floof.
I reckon kittens and young cats get more problems in that area because they're nuts and zoom around a lot. I think the previous owner may have had the matting problem when Oliver was a hyper little monkey. Now he's a mature gentleman (lazy geezer) and looks down on the youth of today with their silly zoomies, as if possessed. Consequently it's not anywhere near as bad as what you had to contend with.
His britches are a definite no go area also. I love those britches.

 

[sivyaleah]

mightyboosh For sure being a kitten has more to do with the fur tangling/knotting. Their activity surely has an impact on that - I watch Luna roll around the floor and all I can think of is I'm the one going to pay for that LOL. Honestly I never knew I had THAT much patience - it was tedious and surgical to work on Luna at times. But I had such an enormous sense of relief and pride every time I'd come out of one of those long grooming sessions. My husband (and the vet/techs) are astonished how far along I'd come with her.

Our older girl, Cocoabean, is like Oliver. Older, wiser (questionable) and mature and she too doesn't develop anywhere as many knots as Luna does. I do remember when we first got her years ago, that it was more of a problem which was probably a mixture of her poor condition at that time (she came to us quite underweight I recall) and from being on the street for a while (or more, nobody knows). She at least, we discovered, loved being brushed SO much that it was easy to start preventing it from happening. She rarely, if ever, gets any mat on her and if she does I've found it's more related to food getting stuck in her bibb area that we didn't notice had happened. But she's easy - one-two-three it can be out of there with zero fuss.

Oliver is so handsome and appears in good condition. You've certainly loved him well through your years with him. I adore that you were able to catch a photo of his "pants" also! Gosh, I just adore these cats so much!

 

[sabian]

sivyaleah I didn't realize you were free feeding her. Sorry, I must have missed that. I can see where having Coco and Luna, with different needs as far as feeding would propose a problem. I wouldn't even know how to address that without constantly supervising them and not letting Coco eat Luna's food. That's complicated! The only thing that comes to mind would be separate feeding areas with cat doors. I think they make cat doors that have sensors so only a certain cat or animal can go through it. I would assume a collar would be involved with a sensor which would/could present another set of problems simply because of the collar possibly being an issue, just getting them to wear them.

I don't think that Luna should be losing weight at her age no matter how active she is. If anything I would think she would just be building muscle instead and still gaining weight. I do remember Tama got up to 25lbs at one time and then he dropped back to 23lbs and remained that way through the rest of his life but, that was around 4 or 5 yrs old when he had stopped growing.

I do hope she is ok! I would keep an eye on her which, I'm positive you will! I think you said you had blood test done. I would think about maybe doing an ultra sound just to be safe. When Tama had cancer his blood test came back ok. It was an ultra sound that in the end diagnosed it and he was in advanced stages. When I tried to schedule an ultra sound there was like a 5 or 6 month waiting period unless I done it as an emergency visit, which I did, at an additional cost. It may have to do with my area but mostly only emergency vets do ultra sounds and apparently it has to be a specific type of ultra sound. I talked to one vet that had an ultra sound but said it wasn't the right kind so he couldn't do it.

If she continues to have the issue I would strongly advise more testing though. Their body's are so small a cancer can spread fast. I hope it's not anything that serious and I wish I could be of more help but I wouldn't rely on your regular vet to diagnose it if it continues. Best of luck though. Hope this helps!

 

[mightyboosh]

I just adore these cats so much!

I must have said that a million times myself but that's still not enough. I'm completely enchanted by the breed. This very second Oliver has his head next to mine on our sofa, cheek to cheek and his purr is reverberating through my head. It's quite loud when he gets going.

 

[FaBEAR]

I must have said that a million times myself but that's still not enough. I'm completely enchanted by the breed. This very second Oliver has his head next to mine on our sofa, cheek to cheek and his purr is reverberating through my head. It's quite loud when he gets going.

Hello Oliver/Mighty Boosh! I've had a hectic time with work and spoiling Tiger I hope you are keeping well. Tiger has turned into a big boy (to me anyway). I think he is 8kg now. Wonderful and definitely an MC! He couldn't not be one with those ear tufts.

 

[FaBEAR]

Bigger than my head!

 

[sivyaleah]

Bigger than my head!

He's gorgeous and I love how deep colored his ear furnishings are