Why Are Maine Coon Babies So Darn Mean?

[MistyDawn]

I dunno if this goes in the breeding forum or here, so, if you guys think this is better suited for the breeding forum, mods, admins, you know what to do, and sorry in advance for giving you more work. I modded a huge forum once and it sucked. I do not envy you.

Now that that's out of the way, I think Diamond is even more playful and rough than Alaska was! I kind of expected this, because torbies tend to be eccentric, but if I'm under the blankets about to go to bed, but messing around on my phone, she will dive-tackle me under the blankets. She's a little wild thing! She is very loving, and has moments where that sweetness just shines through, but when Maine Coon kittens play, they play rough! I was joking to my husband the other day, "I think when MC breeders say that a kitten is 'sweet', they mean that they purr while they play 'The Hand Must Die'," haha.

I can handle it. I've tamed kittens that were feral and actively wanted to hurt me since I was 4. I'm not really complaining. It just seems to be something I've noticed about the breed and am curious as to what makes them this way. I know Siamese can act out due to OCD (It's actually a breed prone condition. Look it up. Strange.) Do Maine Coons perhaps come prone to some form of ADHD, or is it just that they're a high prey drive breed?

 

[MistyDawn]

Not that she isn't loving. She's very affectionate when she isn't tearing into my flesh or biting my face through my breathing hole under the blanket when I'm sleeping, but she is like a little tiger cub when it's play time.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

LOL, well, Maine Coons, although they are considered gentle giants, are active cats, and kittens play rough, so when you have LARGE kittens playing rough...well. There you have it. I mean, all cat play is nothing more than honing the skills needed to hunt/catch/kill prey. Right now, you're it. Try wand toys....make that the prey, rather than you. Hang in there! They do outgrow it, you know. Eventually. Someday. Almost always...

 

[MistyDawn]

When I get that new foster litter, things will be much easier. But I'm gonna be making whole litters of these things, and while I love the sweet cats they grow into, and like I said, their juvenile roughness doesn't really bother me, it's just so odd. They're more hyper and crazy than any babies I've ever seen! Maine Coon kittens come out of the womb ready to wreck something. They're born fighters, so much different from other cats.

I see why myths link them to being related to bobcats. This feels like raising a tiny bobcat.

 

[1CatOverTheLine]

all cat play is nothing more than honing the skills needed to hunt/catch/kill prey.

MistyDawn - Yep - this is it. All the (natural - i.e. landrace) Big Breeds are this way when they're young. They're going to grow into cats that weigh 25 - 40 pounds, and by the time they leave their Mothers' care, they'd better be ready to hunt - and to hunt seriously to maintain their frames.

Coonies, Wegies and Siberians don't much bother with bug-hunting either. They're just like Audrey in Little Shop Of Horrors - "feed me!"
.

 

[amethyst]

I have to agree that Maine Coon kittens, even half Maine Coons are feisty, lol. One of my cats (half Maine Coon) when she was a kitten I was trying to teach the whole no biting hands thing. Well when I yelped and pulled away her eyes lite up and she bit me harder! Now she is a sweet heart and doesn't bite, but as a kitten she was full of it, the whole litter was really. I'm just glad I kept all 4, they could attack each other, most of the time, lol.

I think it has to do with their high prey drive, they are a breed that created itself and survived purely on survival of the fittest. They had to be good at hunting or they would die, so only the good hunters lived to breed. I may be bias because I grew up in Maine but I think hands down if you want a good mouser get a Maine Coon. That same cat I was talking about also killed and ate her first mouse when she was only 4 weeks!!! It was a wounded mouse that her mother brought her, but still. I was so proud of her that I didn't even mind cleaning up the blood, lol. She growled the whole time she ate it, sounded very vicious for such a small creature.

 

[MistyDawn]

This is admittedly one reason I adore the breed so much. They're not like Persians and Munchkins and all of the pampered breeds made for beauty alone. (nothing against them. They just would survive poorly in the wild.) They would actually be strong survivors in the wild, especially once genetic disease is bred out. They're a natural predator. The closest you can get to owning something like a bobcat without ridiculous license. The European look is meant to look wild, but they're all wild really, wild cats made for brave and strong human companionship.

That leads me to wonder... In dogs, breeding for wilder looking traits makes a wilder animal. As you breed wolves selecting for how tamable they are, their looks change. Is this true of cats too? Would the European be wilder in personality than the American?

What would they hunt in the wild? I know some would be normal things, birds, rodents, lizards, but would they take down rabbits? What kind of big prey would they pursue?

I've always been a lover of big cats. I'm a lion documentary addict. I can name you every big coalition in the Sabi Sands and Kruger, and I've thought of getting a Mapogos tattoo. That's why I'm calling my cattery either LionsOfEurope or LeonesEvropa, well, that, and the lion like aesthetic of the Maine Coon that I want to play on and emphasize, within the breed standard of course. A masculine look with a big chin, huge muzzle, massive ruff, and impressive size. Closely x raying for hip displaysia, I want to get up to 30+ pound cats.

I love the duality of what the Maine Coon can do, vs what they actually do. Most could easily kill a regular cat, but they worst they want to do is annoy the hell out of them in play. They have the bodies of conquerors, but the souls of playful forest spirits.