# Maine **** character traits



## Straysmommy

Hi all,

I'm very interested in anything you can tell me about Maine Coons, just to understand better my recently adopted, former stray cat. I know personality overrides breed and a stray long-hair cat could be any mix of breeds, but the vet says he's possibly a Maine **** and the little info I've been able to find matches him to a t and really helps me make him happier. 

Eg: I read that Maine Coons prefer to chase horizontally than vertically, so I stopped trying to get him to play with "flying" toys so much, and he's now enjoying play a lot more. Another eg: I now know that he's well equipped for the cold, so I don't cover him as much as I used to at night. I used to worry a lot about him getting cold during sleep, but I've also noticed he avoids sleeping in the sun.

Thank you in advance...!


----------



## catloverami

I haven't owned a Maine ****, but the ones I've met have been lovely beautiful cats, physically and temperamentally. There are some CF members who do have MCs so I expect they can give you some information.


----------



## bkitty

Each of the Maine Coons I've owned have had their own strong personalities. Tiggy was an easy going lover of a cat. Loved being mauled by children. Loved anyone who was willing to give him any attention. Loved kittens & raised multiple orphan litters. Could often find him neck deep in the trout stream hunting frogs. Not your typical Tom.
Pixel is a swishy prima donna. Loves being the center of attention and is Daddy's boy. I'm pond scum unless I have food available. Detests small children, small dogs and kittens. Likes to sleep under the covers. 
Tuffy is a DERP. Big & brawny with more hair than brains. Plays way too rough and totally clueless socially with the other cats. Willing to chomp your leg to the bone if you ignore him when he is looking for pets & cuddles. Not mean, just an idiot. Can not be trusted with kids or strangers. Classic DERP. Favorite perch is the top shelf of the cat tree with all 4 legs dangling off.
As far as play goes - try a peacock feather, a laser pointer and a pingpong ball in the bathtub. The one thing you need to watch is making sure they get groomed everyday. Their coats are very soft and tend to mat under the front legs and on the back legs, They get a little oily around the ears and neck area. All our guys get bathed on a regular basis which they do not mind at all.


----------



## Straysmommy

Prince is the sweetest, gentlest being I've known. He never gets angry at me, no matter what. He never demands anything. Yet if I dare touch him below the waist, he swats me, and with a claw added too. So all that fur they have back there - it's all matted looking! (I've only had him 1 month, maybe this will change with time)


----------



## marie73

You should consider taking him to a vet or a groomer and they can shave a potty patch back there. Matted fur can be painful for cats.


----------



## Straysmommy

Now I'm doubting whether the vet is right and he has a lot of Maine **** in him. He looks to me much more like a Turkish Van. What do you guys think? Photos in my profile album...


----------



## marie73

I don't see a lot of Maine **** in him, but I'm not really an expert on breeds.


----------



## Pawsitively Nicole

I don't really see Maine **** in him either. How big is he? I've only had the pleasure of meeting one purebred Maine **** in my life and he was a BIG boy. At first I thought they had let a wild cat into the building lol. He weighed in at a whopping 35lbs and was by no means overweight. Top this with their thick, fluffy coat and he was quite the large kitty. I could see a turkish angora mix. I've heard that they believe all long hair breeds originated from angoras being that it was the original long haired cat. But I'm no kitty breed expert, I just like to play the guessing and figuring out game.


----------



## Straysmommy

Both Turkish Vans and Maine Coons are very large, so size doesn't give me an indication. Indeed, Prince is not yet fully grown and he's the size of a small-medium dog! He doesn't fit on my lap anymore, which we both miss... People have told me in the street "Your dog..." LOL He weights 7 kgs and is not overweight.

I think it'd be more logical if he was a TV, given that we're so far from America here and so close to Anatolia (by land), where the TV is originally from. His face looks a lot like a TV too.

His ruff is a lot smaller than the TV and the MC's, though. And he's NOT fascinated by water like the TV and the MC are.


----------



## doodlebug

I'm not a breed expert, but I own a purebred Maine ****, so I'm pretty good at recognizing the breed characteristics and other than size, I don't see anything in him that indicates Maine **** and many things that don't...his face shape is not right, no ear tufts, overall coat is too short, no real ruff or pantaloons, tail is not as feather-like, coat texture looks different. 

I see a very large medium haired brown mackerel tabby with a lot of white.


----------



## catloverami

IMHO, I can't see MC in him either. To me he looks like a DMH (domestic medium hair). Brown tabbies can often be hefty cats, so that may be contributing to his size, even tho he's brown mackeral tabby with white. The mackeral pattern tabby cats tend to have heavier bone structure than the classic tabby(bull's eye).


----------



## Hitomi

He doesn't look like a Maine **** to me but maybe a Turkish Van in the mix somewhere in his bloodlines.


----------



## bkitty

Physically he does not have some the traits our guys have. The coat looks to be a very fine silky texture, where our guys have a very thick double layer coat with long hair and a very fine thick undercoat (Tiggy would go fishing in January in a mountain stream and never get really wet to the skin). The picture does not show the long ear tufts or if he has the hairy toes. Our guys also have a very full ruff around the neck & shoulders with the appearance of wearing furry britches. What about his bone structure? Is he a heavy boned boy? Tuffy & Tiggy both have/had legs that are like tree trunks compared to our short haired cats. Pixel is lighter but we know he is a mix. Whether or not he is any kind of breed specific long hair he is a cutie and a pretty boy.


----------



## Straysmommy

bkitty, thank you, he's not heavy-boned, I don't think. And the hair tufts between his toes are small. 

Having found him in the street, I assume he has a mixture of a lot of breeds in him, but in case he has a dominant breed in him, I'd love to know so I could understand him better. For example, the reason I adopted him and not any of the other strays in the colony is that he was the only one who followed me all 5 floors up to my apt. We go on walks in the park and neighborhood for several hours each time and he follows me like a dog. Then I read that both TV and MC are said to be "like dogs" in that respect, which I mention because it means that there indeed are some traits that are different from other medium-hair-domestic cats, which again means I could adapt more to his nature... One other thing: we first met him because he stood out from the rest of the colony when one horribly stormy night he was the only cat not hiding in some kind of shelter but walking around - he didn't seem like he minded being wet, which surprised us very much. But maybe he has many traits from different breeds... Since he is about 80% white, we thought about TV, but he's certainly NOT keen on getting wet. He just doesn't mind much.


----------



## fatandgreedy

I recently returned Cosmo to the rescue organization due to some health concerns  But on the upside, I adopted a new cat, Nooby, and I was actually wondering the same thing. I call her Nooby because she's not seasoned enough to be withholding :catmilk

Her tail is really wide and fluffy and her build/frame is noticibly beefier than Cosmo, who was a DSH. Her chest is really fluffy, she has long ear hair, and I think she has an extra finger on her front paws. Some of those traits seem to fit with the maine coons and norwegian forest cat breed descriptions.

Behavior-wise, she's over-the-top friendly and outgoing. She's only been in her new home for a day but hasn't been skittish at all. She's very affectionate though she doesn't follow me around as much as Cosmo did. She's fine doing her own thing, but when we cross paths she demands petting.

I think a lot of that might have more to do with her upbringing and background than whatever breed she is though to be honest.


----------



## Gloworm

That's such a shame, what was wrong with Cosmo?


----------



## fatandgreedy

Gloworm said:


> That's such a shame, what was wrong with Cosmo?


He'd start panting like a dog after maybe a minute of play and the vet also found a heart murmur, which isn't uncommon with cats. He needs an EKG to check out his heart though and the rescue group is getting one so I hope that goes well. He also had a persistent sneeze and diarrhea.


----------



## KittieLover

Well, I have a Black Maine ****, and her temperaments are playing, sleeping, cuddled
and very affectionate Here is some pics of her:














and one of her and Kitty with my school bag!:








Hope this helped you abit of figuring out what breed she is!:smiles


----------



## Straysmommy

omg, Nooby's second photo, it's just Prince with different spots!! But Nooby has longer hair. And.she.is.stunning!


----------



## Morquinn

My friend has a cat that I always thought was a Maine ****.. it was also a stray she found as a kitten. He weighs 31 lbs and is the largest cat I have seen in person, I think he is a tad overweight though lol Heres a picture of him


----------



## Straysmommy

Morquinn, amazingly beautiful cat and photo. The background bedding, light brown with stripes, matches the cat perfectly. The colors on her face are a poem. Was the photo taken by a professional?


----------



## Sinatra-Butters

One of my childhood cats was a maine ****. He was so cuddly and amazing, I really loved him. Anyone would be lucky to have a maine ****! If I was ever to get a "breed", it would be that.


----------



## Morquinn

> Morquinn, amazingly beautiful cat and photo. The background bedding, light brown with stripes, matches the cat perfectly. The colors on her face are a poem. Was the photo taken by a professional?


Uhh no? To be honest I cant tell if your trying to be sarcastic or not? My friend took the pic of her cat with a regular old camera, I dunno. The cats name is Eddie just thought he looked kind of Maine Coonish..


----------



## Straysmommy

No, not kidding at all. The photo is excellent. And maybe in the US Maine Coons are regular-looking, but for us here they're very rare and extremely beautiful.


----------



## Morquinn

oh ok.. sometimes its hard to tell how a person is saying it over text.. sorry. I was hoping to find a better picture of him with his entire body, but this is the only one I could find. He is beautiful though, I love his eyes.


----------



## Straysmommy

No worries, I'm misunderstood in person too.


----------

