Articles & resources for maine coon enthusiasts

Showing helps breeders select the best cats for their breeding program and reproduce the exquisite Maine Coon breed characteristics you can’t find just anywhere

There are many things about a well-bred Maine Coon cat that people love. A Maine Coon of exceptional quality is intelligent, confident, curious, affectionate, and gentle-natured. It is also strong, healthy, solid-boned, muscular, and evenly balanced. It has a square muzzle, tall tapered ears, and a flowing tail equal to the length of its body. In all its adult glory, a high-quality Maine Coon cat has a dense undercoat, semi-long hair that is longer around the neck and head, and a short flowing skirt around its body. Beyond their outstanding looks, a well-bred Maine Coon is of incredible temperament. They’re part of the family, hanging out amid all the action. They’ll likely talk to you in chirps and trills, not meows. They will be as good as a well-behaved dog with children and other animals, intrigued by water, prone to use their front feet like hands, and extremely quick at solving puzzles and problems (like how to open a pizza box). In other words, they are magnificent!

Unfortunately, that’s not true of every Maine Coon being sold today. In the global economy, it has become just a little too easy for inexperienced, albeit well-meaning people, to secure cats from various online sources. Without a good eye for the breed standard or a thorough understanding of feline genetics, they often fall prey to online scammers that sell them subpar cats. They then turn around and breed these cats, whose offspring look and act increasingly less like a purebred Maine Coon, and sell these kittens to find an available kitten they can afford and not people who are not quite sure what “right” should look or act like. Over time, these buyers often end up disappointed when the Maine Coon cat of their dreams never fully materializes. And sadly, the breed itself takes a hit as the Maine Coon offspring from these programs increasingly veer away from what people love and nature intended.

The test of any breeder is in the show ring, in front of expertly-trained TICA or CFA judges. These experts know how to evaluate kittens and cats to identify those closely adhering to the written breed standard for type (looks) and temperament (personality and behavior). In the ring, the judges handle and evaluate every cat against the standard and all the other kittens or cats of the same color and breed to determine which cats are best, second best, and so on. Choosing a Maine Coon breeder that has success in the judging ring means they know the standard, can objectively identify if their cats meet it, and can pair cats to combine breeding lines in a way that produces highly desirable kittens.