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The Maine Coon cat originates
from north-eastern America
and received its name from the state of Maine. It is the first longhaired breed
of cat that originated in America.
Because nobody knows its background a myth was started that
it was the result of a racoon that bred with an ordinary
farmyard cat. This is of course biologically impossible but
lots of people thought this to be true because like the racoon
the cat was often seen near rivers and streams fishing. This
would also explain why the cat is not shy of water which is
very handy when it comes to washing the cat before a show.
Most Norwegian
Forest
cats are also not afraid to get wet and this would explain some
relationship because it is known that the Vikings had cats on
board their ships when they sailed to this part of the world.
The Maine Coon appeared in
a cat show for the first time in 1860 in New York and became very popular but people
lost interest when the Persian cat was introduced.
In 1978 the Maine Coon was
introduced in a show in West Germany
and came to England
in 1984 for the first time. In 1986 Sweden
imported their first two cats from England
and a few years later Norway
followed suit.
Today the Maine Coon
is very popular in America
and wins the hearts of everyone because of its friendly and
relaxed personality.
The breed has long and thick silk like fur which it needs to
keep warm in the winter months which is also easy to groom.
It has thick fur on its tail as well which it uses to wrap around
itself while sleeping.
The cat looks a little intimidating because of its size and
Lynx like ears but in contrast the cat is very friendly.
Females can grow to be between 4 to 5 kg. and males can be as large as 8 to 9 kg. They like to have company
and will follow you around wherever you go and have no problems
together with other breeds of cats and even dogs.They are a
very healthy and sturdy breed and there is registered over 60
different colour and pattern combinations. |
