A big, friendly farm cat from Maine with a plume of a tail and a coat made for winter.
For centuries the Maine Coon caught mice on farms and ships in the north-east of the United States. The cold winters made it big and sturdy, with a thick coat that sheds water. For all its size it is calm and gentle, and it talks with soft chirps rather than loud meows.
Bonds with its family and likes to be near, without asking for attention all the time.
Happy to sit on a lap for a while, then moves on to the next one. Fairly independent.
Enjoys playing with you, also as an adult.
Easy-going by nature, but active: it wants room to run and climb.
Not a chatterbox. Mostly you hear soft chirps and trills.
Learns tricks with a clicker, and some even walk on a harness.
Friendly, but often a little reserved with new people at first.
Usually patient with children. Young children may need to get used to its size.
Gets on well with a calm dog.
Usually lives happily with other cats.
Fairly independent. How long it is happy on its own differs per cat.
Can live indoors when it gets enough room and play.
It is a cross between a cat and a raccoon.
That is biologically impossible. Only the name stuck: 'coon' comes from raccoon, because of its ringed, bushy tail.
It descends from Marie Antoinette's cats, smuggled to Maine.
A nice story, but there is no evidence for it at all.
Vikings brought its ancestors, or it is related to the Norwegian Forest Cat.
DNA research says otherwise: it belongs with western European cats. The likeness to forest cats comes from the cold climate.
Nobody knows exactly how the Maine Coon came to America. It most likely descends from cats brought by European, mainly British, settlers and sailors. DNA research places it with western European cats. Its likeness to the Norwegian Forest Cat comes from the same cold climate, not from family ties.
Captain Jenks of the Horse Marines, a black and white tom, is the first Maine Coon anyone describes. His story was written down in 1903.
Cosey, a brown tabby, wins Best Cat at a big cat show in Madison Square Garden, New York.
The first stud book of the American registry CFA lists 28 Maine cats.
Persians and other longhairs become more popular. The Maine Coon fades from view and by the late 1950s is even called extinct, which turned out to be an exaggeration.
Fans in Maine start a club, hold shows and write the first breed standard.
CFA gives the Maine Coon championship status, so it can compete in full again.
The new registry TICA recognises the Maine Coon from the start.
The European federation FIFe recognises the breed.
The Maine Coon becomes the official state cat of Maine.
Britain's GCCF also recognises the breed in full, nine years after the first Maine Coons came to England.
Stewie enters Guinness World Records as the longest domestic cat: 123 centimetres.
Large, muscular and long, with a broad chest and solid legs. Everything about it is made for snow and cold.
A Maine Coon with extra toes, up to seven per paw. It used to be common; show rules nearly bred it out. It is inherited and causes no known health problems.
Recognition: Only TICA recognises it, since 2015 as a breed of its own. CFA and GCCF do not allow extra toes.
Cat registries write colours as an EMS code. The letter is the colour (n black, a blue, d red, f tortie), s means silver or smoke, y golden, and the numbers tell you about white (01–09), shading (11, 12), the tabby pattern (22–25) or colourpoint (33).
Black(n)
Blue(a)
Brown classic(n 22)
Red mackerel(d 23)
Silver tabby(ns 22)
Brown tabby and white(n 22 03)FIFe allows any amount of white. America's CFA does not: even a single small white spot is out there.
FIFe lists golden in its colour table. Whether other registries allow it, we do not know yet.
A kitten in these colours sold as a pedigree Maine Coon probably has another breed crossed in.
That is how long Stewie was, the longest domestic cat ever measured. He also had the longest tail.
Since 1985 the Maine Coon has been the official cat of the state of Maine.
Instead of loud meows it makes soft chirping and trilling sounds.
Many Maine Coons love playing with water, like a dripping tap.
That year a Maine Coon, Cosey, won the top prize at one of America's first big cat shows.
Usually 10 to 13 years. In Swedish insurance data three in four Maine Coons reached at least 10 years.
The heart muscle thickens. In Maine Coons a known gene variant often plays a part. With one copy about 1 in 12 cats develops HCM, with two copies more than half. Many cats with a mild form live well for years.
How it is found: DNA test (shows the risk, not the disease) and a heart scan by a specialist, repeated over the years.
The nerves to the muscles work less well, mostly in the hind legs. It shows from 3 to 4 months. It is not painful and cats can live well with it indoors. A kitten only gets it when both parents are carriers.
How it is found: DNA test of the parents. Two carriers are not mated with each other.
The hip joint does not fit well. In screening programmes a quarter to a third of x-rayed Maine Coons showed signs of it. Heavy cats are affected more.
How it is found: X-rays of the parents' hips. There is no DNA test.
Comb at least once a week, more often while it moults. The coat mats less than a Persian's. No bathing needed.
A sturdy cat tree, high places to sit and play together every day.
It gains weight easily. Give measured meals instead of a bowl that is always full.
A Maine Coon is not hypoallergenic. No study shows that it makes fewer allergens.
It grows slowly and is only fully grown at 3 to 5 years.
Checked on 20 October 2026
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