Is a Maine Coon Right for You?
We would rather talk someone out of a Maine Coon than sell them one they regret. A cat placed into the wrong home is a bad outcome for the buyer and a worse one for the cat, and we are the ones who take her back. So this page argues both sides honestly.
They Are Genuinely Large
Not cat-that-photographs-well large. Large in a way that changes your furniture, your litter tray and your carrier.
Occasionally more. Two to three times a typical domestic cat.
Smaller, but still a substantial animal.
Unlike most breeds, which finish at one. She keeps changing for years.
Much of it tail, which has its own relationship with your worktops.
Practical consequences people do not think about until they arrive: a standard covered litter tray is too small, most cat carriers are too small, and a cat flap sized for a domestic shorthair will not do. None of that is expensive to solve, but it is all real.
What Makes Them Worth It
They behave more like dogs than cats
They follow you room to room, meet you at the door and want to be in whatever you are doing. If you want an aloof cat that ignores you, this is the wrong breed.
Unusually tolerant
Well-bred, well-socialised Maine Coons handle children, noise and visitors better than most breeds. Tolerant is not the same as indestructible, but the baseline is high.
Talkative without being loud
They chirp and trill rather than yowl. Most owners find it charming; it is worth knowing it is constant.
They keep their kitten temperament
The slow maturation cuts both ways — a five-year-old Maine Coon is often still playful in a way other breeds are not.
They get on with other animals
Usually including dogs. A Maine Coon is often the easiest second cat to introduce, and the easiest to introduce a second cat to.
What It Actually Costs to Run
The purchase price is the part everyone plans for. These are the parts they do not. Figures are Malaysian, per month, and deliberately realistic rather than flattering.
| Food | RM 150–350 | An 8 kg cat eats roughly twice what a 4 kg cat eats. Cheap food shows in the coat within weeks. |
| Litter | RM 60–120 | Bigger cat, more litter, larger tray. |
| Routine veterinary | RM 80–150 | Averaged. Vaccination, worming, an annual check. |
| Grooming tools and upkeep | RM 30–80 | More if you use a groomer rather than doing it yourself. |
| Insurance, if you take it | RM 80–200 | Optional, and worth pricing before you need it rather than after. |
Then the one nobody budgets: a serious illness or an emergency admission can run into thousands in an afternoon. It is not likely in any given year, and it is not rare across fifteen. If that figure would be unmanageable, that is worth knowing now.
The Coat Is a Commitment
This is the single most common reason a Maine Coon ends up rehomed, and it is entirely foreseeable.
- 01Between one and three brushing sessions a week, every week, for fifteen years. More during a seasonal moult.
- 02Behind the ears, the armpits and the trousers mat first, and they mat quietly — you find it by hand, not by eye.
- 03A mat that has set cannot be brushed out. It is cut out, and a bad one is cut out under sedation.
- 04Bathing every four to eight weeks, and a Maine Coon must then be dried — a thick double coat left damp is how you get skin problems.
- 05If you travel often and nobody else will do this, the coat is the thing that will suffer first.
This is exactly why bathing, drying and grooming are three of the ten ladders in our socialisation programme. A cat who accepts the work makes it a twenty-minute job. A cat who does not makes it a fight you will eventually stop having, and then the mats win.
The socialisation programmeHealth, Told Straight
Maine Coons carry breed-specific risks. Screening reduces them substantially. It does not abolish them, and a breeder who implies otherwise is either careless or dishonest. Ours are screened at Langford Vets, University of Bristol, and one of the actual reports is published on our health page.
HCM — hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
The most serious. The breed has a known mutation that can be tested for, but a negative test is not the same as a heart that will never fail — HCM also occurs without it. Our parents are tested and we say so in writing.
SMA — spinal muscular atrophy
A simple recessive with a reliable DNA test. Genuinely avoidable through parent testing, and there is no excuse for producing an affected kitten.
PKdef — pyruvate kinase deficiency
An inherited enzyme defect that makes red blood cells fall apart early, causing an anaemia that comes and goes. Recessive, so a carrier is perfectly healthy and invisible without a test — which is exactly why both parents are tested.
FIV and FeLV
Two viruses rather than inherited faults, so no DNA test prevents them — the control is how cats are kept and who they meet. Worth asking any breeder how they manage it, not just what they screen for.
The honest summary: a well-bred Maine Coon from tested parents is a healthy cat with an ordinary life expectancy, and there is still a real chance that any individual cat develops something expensive. Both halves of that are true.
Our screening protocolDo Not Buy One If
- The house is empty ten to twelve hours a day and there is no second animal. This breed does badly alone — a bored Maine Coon is a destructive one.
- Nobody will commit to brushing her once to three times a week, every week, for the life of the cat.
- An unexpected four-figure vet bill would be a crisis rather than an inconvenience.
- You want an independent cat that mostly leaves you alone. This one will follow you from room to room and sit on whatever you are reading, every day, for fifteen years.
- You are buying her for how she looks, and nothing else.
- There is a chance of a house move, a new baby or a long posting abroad within a year and no plan for the cat.
Buy One If
- Somebody is usually home, or there is another animal for company.
- You actively want a cat that follows you around and involves itself in everything.
- You are content to do the coat work, or to pay someone to.
- You can absorb the running costs above without resentment, plus a buffer.
- You are prepared for a cat that is still growing and changing at four years old.
- You want a fifteen-year relationship rather than a pet.
Common Questions
Generally yes, and better than most breeds — the size helps, because a cat that is not easily hurt is a cat that does not need to defend itself. The usual rules still apply: supervise small children, and give the cat somewhere high that the children cannot reach.
Yes, on a lead. Harness and lead is one of the ten ladders in our socialisation programme, so a kitten from here has worn one before she leaves, and the temperament of this breed is generally equal to it — walking a Maine Coon is a normal thing to do. Two conditions. Not in the heat: a double coat and a Malaysian afternoon are a poor match, so early morning or evening, with shade and water. And on a lead or in a garden she cannot leave — never loose. A large, trusting, valuable cat roaming free is a theft and traffic risk, and free-roaming is also the commonest way a cat picks up FIV or FeLV.
Yes. Floor area matters less than vertical space and stimulation — a well-furnished condo beats a bare terrace house. What she cannot cope with is being alone in it all day.
Less than people assume. They cope with Malaysian conditions perfectly well with air conditioning or good airflow, and the coat is not the burden it looks like. Keep the coat properly maintained, because a matted coat traps heat.
Males are larger, usually more openly affectionate, and priced higher for the size. Females are smaller and often a little more selective about who they like. Both are good cats; neither is the safe answer.
Twelve to fifteen years commonly, sometimes longer. That is the actual commitment being made, and it is worth picturing before rather than after.
Still Interested?
If you have read the whole of this and still want one, you are the buyer we want. Come and meet them — bring the difficult questions, and we will answer them the same way this page does.