Maine Coon Cat Picture
Another fine Maine Coon cat picture by Helmi Flick. She’ll be a show cat and her informal name is “Mama”. The majestic Maine Coon; royalty amongst the cat breeds! It is a matter of personal taste, but I reckon the majority of people will agree.
This a large, lovable, lanky and long cat breed. They are sweet cats; a bit independent minded, I’ll agree. But that is a good thing, in my opinion. They are predisposed to having more than the usual number of toes. I guess we know that. That is said to be the case because the ships cats that landed at Maine were chosen by British sailors and they preferred polydactyl cats. They thought they were better mousers and sea farers!
In today’s world, it is size that counts and this breed is the largest and longest purely domestic cat (excluding the F1 wildcat hybrids). The Ragdoll is a similar size. This, though, is a more popular cat. That is possibly because it is an all American cat – if you forget the fact that it came over with the pilgrims from England in the early 1600s (MC history). That happened 400 years ago so I think it is fair to say that the Maine Coon is America’s long haired domestic, purebred cat.
The Maine Coon is probably being one of the oldest natural breeds in the North America¹.
And, no, there is no connection with the raccoon! They are just domestic cats that came from Europe and evolved in America. It is as simple as that. It is hard to believe, but at one time the popularity of the Maine Coon waned in favour of the Persian. Persians reigned supreme for a while in the USA in the mid 1900s. But the breeders overdid the Persian, breeding to extreme and thank God, the Maine Coon still looks natural and beautiful.
Maine Coon cat picture — Notes:
(1) Medical, Genetic & Behavioral Aspects of Purebred Cats by Dr. Clarke. Page 113.