The Maine Coon breed

This breed has been raising for more than a century and at the first important American feline exhibition (1881), that took place in the Bunnel Museum of New York, the Maine Coons got the lion's share, and so it was during the following years. The chronicles remind of a wonderful brow-tabby called Cobie, that won the Best Cat prize at the Madison Square Garden in 1895. Since the genetic feature of "nature" cats, their origins strengthen genes that can let emerge manifold typologies. Tha Maine Coon is a cat of massive proportions and can even weighs 14 kilograms; the musculature is powerful. The tail, high-borne as a plume, is provided of soft and fluttering long hair. The big head, with wide and not too sharp ears, and the strong chop complete the formidable air of this wonderful cat. This cat has a very slow development and can be considered full-grown when is 3-4 years old. This breed bears the inheritance of the wild animal it comes from and the voice differs from the usual caterwauling, expressing itself as a squeak that reminds of the lynxs, the squirrels and the forests around the Great Lakes, where the high snow-covered tops are reflected. These cats are intelligent, clever, caring, home lover and great hunter of mice and all the other little animals. They take to the whole family, choosing one person to whom totally devote themselves. They appreciate the space of a garden, but live with pleasure in a flat.

The kittens

They open their eyes after 5 or 12 days from the birth and for about 3-4 weeks they exclusively feed themselves on mother's milk. When they are almost one month old, they have to be weaned with specific foods, appropriately studied for well facing this so delicate stage of the development, so nutritious and easy to digest foods are necessary to a gradual and balanced weaning. At birth the hair looks really short, but after 5-6 weeks it starts getting long and noticeable tufts of hair appear among the toes and on the ears.

The coat

The body of the Maine Coon is not as stiff and tall as the Persian's one, and also the coat is less long. The features are fine, with high chicks, great straight ears, oval almond-shaped eyes, long nose, flat and not very pronounced profile. The neck, the body and the tail are long. The Maine Coon is a vigorous cat, with sturdy paws and powerful muscles. For surviving to the strict winters of Maine, the hair is plentiful and strong, but less longer than Persian's that. Quite short on the shoulders, the hair gradually lengthens till the tail, becoming particularly "tufted" in the rearward, where it is bristling. It is long on the flanks, too. On the tail, the hair is very long and thick. Between the ears, adorned with tufts, the hair sprouts strongly and forms a central bar. The under-hair is not very thick and so easily remains clean; in addition to it, the long hair do not tend to become knotted. Representative kinds of Maine Coon may be found with all the tabby marks and in all the colours of this variety, also white, black, cream, scaled, scaled and white, blue-cream and bicoloured. There are also tabby and white kinds. The eyes may have several shades of green, but also be auburn or golden, without the requirement to be matched with the coat, as is required for other varietis. Blue and bi-coloured eyes are admitted for the white Maine Coons. The nose and the pads have to be co-ordinated with the coat.