The Maine Coon is an huge, strong and brawny cat. He has a magnificent and bold bearing, like a lion, but you don't have to judge a book by its cover…… He has a very sweet and joyful temper, he is cut to stay with children, because hardly ever he scratches and puffs. He is a very independent cat, he loves at the top the person who takes care of him but he loves also the other “family members”. He adjust himself to new surroundings and also to other animals' presence also with dogs. In spite of his huge size (a male could weight also more than 10 kgs) he is very nimble and he loves very much to play with other cats and also with humans. He loves at the top his master and he loves to follow him during his travels.

From a so huge cat we would expect a very loud voice, but the maine coon cat has a very feeble voice, like that of kittens and he is very talkative when he is with his master and he follows him everywhere muttering and commenting on every action…

He take a rest only when at home all is quiet because he adores to stay with his family.There are a lot of legends about maine coon's origin. The most reliable is that he could be a descended of long-haired cats that lived on European merchants ships that made stop on Usa 's atlantic coast.

The first report about a maine coon cat is dated 1861, but we have to wait till 1960 to discover again this wonderful breed that was officially recognized in 1976. First maine coons arrived in Italy only in 1985 and now it is one of the most widespread breed in our country.

He has a very rich coat, and you could think that it is very difficult to take care of him, but it's not so, because it has a special cover that waterproof it and doesn't allow the coat to form knots.To tidy up his coat you have only to brush it once a week (twice during the coat change period). I he would become very dirty, doesn't matter, he has no problem with water, (he likes it very much ) but you have to dry him very carefully because of the particular nature of his coat.

The maine coon coat is short on his shoulders and very long and rich on his flanks and on his tail. He has a big and large head, with a squared muzzle. He has big and high setted ears, with long lynxtips. He has big oval eyes. All eye colours are admitted. He has a large rounded nose, with a little stop. He has very high legs and round and big paws. All colours are admitted except chocolat, lilac and point.

 

Nicoletta and Claudio