People love huge Maine Coon cats so what are the downsides?
In terms of status symbol and pure delight the huge Maine Coon, an example of which is seen in the photo below, is very desirable. There is no doubt that, in general, people like big purebred domestic cats and the Maine Coon is the biggest. Although cats of this size are very rare. The Maine Coon is a large domestic cat but not normally the size of a Canada lynx!
Huge Maine Coon. Picture in the public domain.
There has to be some downsides. Everything is scaled up: the teeth, the jaw muscles and the claws.
If you are playing aimlessly with your gargantuan Maine Coon and he casually nips you on the hand. Whoops. Or one of his huge claws nicks your finger. Whoops. Unless you have trimmed those claws. But I am not sure I’d like to try and trim the claws of a Maine Coon this size unless he was trained to accept it from a young age.
And the food bill is going to go up sharply. Playing devil’s advocate there may also be some inherent health issues with Maine Coons this size. The breed is known for hip joint issues (hip dysplasia). The joint is not strong. This is an inherent issue due to inbreeding. Indeed some individuals develop degenerative joint disease.
The larger size would probably exacerbate this problem. We don’t read about it. We are in awe of the majestic size of these gorgeously impressive Maine Coon cats. But it would not surprise me if the cat in the picture suffered from a health issue linked to Maine Coons and his size later in life.
Another downside is that you are under threat of losing your cat to thieves. You could never let you huge Maine Coon wander around outside – free roam. That puts pressure on you to create a really nice indoor (confined) indoor environment. Every climbing condo would have to be scaled up. Perhaps tailor made. How many cat owners create truly feline environments? Not many and the type of person who owns an impressive cat like this is probably going to be concerned with status and be house proud. House proud people create homes for people and which look good to people. This means they are not so great for cats.
It is a bit like owning a serval, a medium sized tame wild cat in terms of some basics. Their claws are large and if they swipe you it hurts. This is why the irresponsible humans who own them have them declawed. Not good. Actually it is a bit of human madness.
I love huge Maine Coons like anyone else but there are potential downsides.
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Hi, I have a friend who had a Maine Coon. We had a larger cat scratching post made for him which I have now. I know it has been recovered by my husband over the years. Horsie was magnificent. We all miss him to today. He or his mother was stolen one time. I’m not remembering the full story. But you prove accurate in all counts except him harming anyone.
Thanks RM. I don’t a very large MC to hurt their human companion but if they did inadvertently scratch of bite it might be worse than normal.