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How Big do Maine Coon Cats Really get?

10/5/2025

Contrary to what a lot of breeders state, Maine Coon cats are not typically over 20 pounds as an average. Don't get me wrong, they can hit 30 pounds! However, it is rare. Female Maine Coons mature to 8 - 15 pounds. More typical is around 10 pounds by a year old. Some cats are over weight but this breed can and does grow until 5 years of age. Male Maine Coons are more typically going to weigh 15 - 20 pounds. I once saw a very large male MC cat at a CFA cat show. I inquired about his size. at 2 1/2 years old I was told that he weighed around 17 pounds. He was 5 years old at that time and I was told that he weighed 27 pounds. I had no way of verifying this but he did look very large. Im not convinced he was really that heavy though. You never know when people are being honest with you.

Here you see a photo of me holding Stetson. He was about 10 months old and weighed about 10 - 11 pounds. He has a lot of growing to do but something a lot of people do not realize is that a cat can look much larger in a photo or video by the way you hold it for the camera. Maine Coons are very large cats and compared to a domestic barn cat, they look twice or triple the size. They have long hair that makes them appear larger. They are longer in the body than a regular cat, and in cooler

temperatures, they grow a thick long plume for a tail! All of these characteristics of the breed give them a much larger appearance than reality when it comes to the actual weight of the cat. They are big, they sometimes just appear bigger than the scale states. When you add in the feral and fierce facial structure/look, you have one large scary cat!

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Favorite holistic veterinarian and Q & A

5/24/2025

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Dr. Karen Becker answers questions from people like us who need help. I love this video! She talks about how to know what is good, how some companies can be bad, and why vets do not recommend a homemade raw. She talks about both cats and dogs and I find this video so interesting!

Dr. Becker has written books on health, food, longevity, and so much more useful info for all of us pet owners!
She discusses what is good and what is not good for your pet. She tells us to stay away from anything in the onion family when it comes to veggies for cats. Cats do not normally need fiber like this but for those that do love fibrous foods, this is good info to know!

There is so much to learn when it comes to feeding our pets. However, you know what is good and bad for us to eat and it is the same thing. You just learn as you go and try not to make mistakes. There is a saying "balance over time" when it comes to feeding a proper raw diet to pets. Just like in humans, we may not eat a balanced meal each time but we fill in the gaps and seem to survive just fine. You can do the same for your pets if you miss a daily requirement one day but feed it the next couple of days. This works and you will find how to make the puzzle pieces all fit as you go.

Look up Dr Becker's youtube cannel (or her barkandwhiskers website and follow her if you are interested in feeding fresh pet food! I can only think of one other vet that I love and that is someone that Dr Becker followed before she even became a veterinarian herself. Now she has been a partner with him for many years!

That is Dr. Mercola and she mentions him and their partnership in this video.

Dr Becker left Mercola

UPDATE: Dr Becker is no longer partnered with Mercola, for more info about her, please visit her website. I totally believe it worth reading about her and her studies.

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What is the best cat food?

5/24/2025

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What is the best food for your cat? This is a very controversial topic depending on who you ask. If you ask a veterinarian who does not have any further education in pet nutrition, nine times out of ten you will get Science Diet and Royal Canin brand foods pushed on you. If you ask a pet nutritionist, you are likely going to be told a raw balanced diet. So what is the right answer? I'll tell you how to come up with the best answer all by yourself!

Begin by pushing up your sleeves and prepare to educate yourself because YOU have to come to this conclusion by putting forth effort. I am writing this page because I am in a lot of Facebook groups and I see people post questions about a healthy diet for a cat and dog and everyone has their opinions of what is best and not best. Some have convinced themselves that feeding a raw diet is the absolute best, just to turn around and hear their own veterinarian tell them NO, do not feed raw! How do you look your vet in the eye and tell him/her she is wrong? They went to school to be a doctor to animals. They are supposed to help keep our pets healthy right? Yes, this is true and they are all doing their very best with what they have learned. None of us can truly give good advice on any topic we know nothing about but we are all full of opinions right?

Veterinarians are not taught nutrition in vet school. I learned this from Dr. Karen Becker on her youtube channel (and one of my vets confirmed this as well). Dr. Becker is a veterinarian who went on to specialize in nutrition (and much more) and I have loved learning from her since she was working with Dr. Marcola years ago. Since then, she has become a very well known, successful veterinarian who I have much respect for. I will share her youtube channel for you to watch and learn for yourself. You decide for yourself if you agree with her findings and teachings. I have done extensive studying and research on pet food since the late 90's when I started breeding and raising Toy Poodles. I owned a grooming spa and carried products for sale in my store. I sold what I fed to my own dogs and I needed to have as much knowledge as I possibly could on what was going into my animals as well as to being able to inform my customers. I was introduced to raw feeding in the early 2000's by someone doing holistic studies for humans. Long story short, it was where I began to care much more about canine diet and how it affected my breeding program. Fast forward a few more years. I started studying more, reaching out to dog food companies, and acquiring samples of different dog food brands. I did tests with my own dogs to see what they preferred. I watched closely for immediate physical reactions as well as how the food made their coats look, feel and if they had any adverse reactions. I kept tally on what worked best and in the end, I found that knowing the ingredients and limiting the ingredients was what worked best. Now, at this point I was only worried about canines, not felines. I did not raise cats at that time. I had several rescued cats and kittens in my life. I even had a couple of pet Persian cats. I learned from my first indoor cats, hard kibble was a big no no for me and my family. All of our cats prior to the Persians were either indoor-outdoor altered cats or strictly strays that I caught, altered, vetted, and released. They were all on a commercial hard kibble for years.

The first litter box I had in my home was with our Persian cats and that stunk our home up something fierce! I will add, to be fair, I have a very keen sense of smell and I smell things that others don't at times. I could not handle that stink when a cat used the litter box! It made me nauseous! Then I remembered, my representative that sold me my food I fed in my pet spa told me a story about how he was allergic to cats except he had a client who he delivered raw food to and he would never have a reaction when he walked into their cattery! They were a five generation raw fed cattery. So the switch came about and our cats were put on a 100% strict raw diet. That was all it took! Our home did not smell, the cats did not stink, dander was not eliminated but it sure wasn't what it was! I bathed my Persians once a week and shaved them in a a lion clip once a month for their entire life. So years later when we decided to get Maine Coons, I already knew there would be NO indoor cats in my life that did not eat raw food.

I now make my own food so I know where it is sourced from, know each ingredient, and how fresh it is. I can limit proteins since I have some cats with food sensitivities and I can measure it out easily for each one of our cats. It will not hurt a cat to feed them a half and half diet of kibble and raw. I'll be the first to tell you that feeding raw is not convenient or cheap! When prices went up 10% each month on the commercial food I was feeding, I knew I could not continue to spend $300+ a week on all of my animal feed. I can spend that in one month with what I raise and it is a win win situation for us. I will provide information on how I make a homemade, balanced, raw diet for cats in the very near future. These pages take me a lot of time to put together. Baby steps...

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What is the most popular color of Maine Coon cat?

1/18/2025

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When I started my search for a Maine Coon kitten, I looked at so many different colors and patterns of kittens. I wondered what the most popular color of Maine Coon cat was. I didn't know if there was a rare color of Maine Coon cat or if one color was desired or more common over another.

As a breeder, health was the most important issue when it came to choosing a kitten. Second, it had to be something I desired in color and appearance. I wasn't sure about show quality as I was still learning, and still learning yet today! Funny thing was, I had a yellow cat growing up and never wanted another one that color. Yellow is actually called red in Maine Coon cat colors and some people will call them orange or ginger. Guess what cat caught my eye first when searching for my first Maine Coon cat? A gorgeous red polydactyl boy was my first pick in getting a new cat. Of course, that was our first Pawzilla too. The next color that I saw that I loved was a tortie. I thought it was so unique and I called it a calico although it really wasn't because there was no white markings on it. Then I saw some gorgeous smokey colored kittens. I just loved them all!

How do you know what the most popular color of Maine coon cats is? You don't, and here is why... it is all opinion based. Some are bias due to their "first cat", some have a preference because of their favorite cat being that color, and others can just gravitate to a gorgeous cat that is easy on the eyes. I have noticed that most people like the look of a smoke colored kitten. This is actually silver in color terms. Our Yeti is a a silver tabby and he is stunning! After we started seeing shaded colors, we had to start searching for one of our own. That lead us to the purchase of our Stetson. Stetson takes it up a notch from shaded though. He is actually even lighter and is a shell rather than shaded in color. His color is also referred to as chinchilla. There has never been a single person who saw Stetson that didn't tell me they wanted a cat that looks like him. Stetson is unique though, he is not only gorgeous cat eye candy, his personality is the most amazing ever! As for color, sometimes it is a look and not color. It just jumps out at you and screams silently, pick me!

To all the breeders reading this to see what the most popular color of Maine Coon cat is, the answer lies within yourself. Your favorite color is the most popular because it is all an opinion and everyone has a different opinion. They ALL sell. Someone comes along and falls in love with each and every kitten we produce here. We have produced red, black, cream, blue, tortie, tabby, calico, silver tabby, smoke tortie, and smoke/silver in every solid color so far. They really are all just gorgeous.

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Feline Herpesvirus & Diarrhea

1/12/2025

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Before treatment

What are the most common symptoms of stress in kittens?
As simple as it should seem, cats should just be healthy. They come and go and seem to be fine when you are talking about taking in a free barn kitten or stray cat. However, when it comes to spending money and investing in an expensive pedigreed cat...this can all change in the blink of an eye!

When I decided I wanted to raise Maine Coon cats, my thoughts were seriously "how difficult could it be?". Considering I have raised Toy Poodles since the late nineties, I really didn't think there would be a big difference but boy was I wrong!

Here are a couple of stress symptoms to watch out for so you are prepared...
Cats are susceptible to reacting so oddly to stress. They can carry dormant viruses that are set off and activated by simple things like moving from one environment to a new one, giving birth, introducing a new pet, or even a routine visit to the vet office. An example of this is feline herpesvirus (FHV). This is also known as feline viral rhinotracheitis (FVR). One minute your kitty is fine and happy, the next it sneezes or has a crusty eye that won't open. Of course I had to learn this the hard way! I once had a momma cat start sneezing and passed on these symptoms to her litter soon after giving birth. The environment was clean, they were all well taken care of and my vet said "oh Cyndi, all animals sneeze, don't worry so much" (it was a more lengthy conversation but I remember his statement). This was before any eye infections presented themselves. Then the next time I spoke to him was to tell him I was bringing them in for check ups because we had a kitten pass away. There were more symptoms showing up by this time, but my vet did not question the issue ever again. I will state that we did not do a necropsy on the kitten that passed away and momma could have laid on it in the night but I was not about to play guessing games with the rest of the litter. He diagnosed the adult and kittens with feline herpesvirus. This was dealt with quickly and they all retuned to a healthy state pretty fast once treatment began. Talk about a scary situation!

I have had a couple of kittens go to the vet, pass their exams with flying colors, go to their new homes healthy and seem perfectly fine. Then they sneeze for a day! So far, a few sneezes were all that were ever reported to me and they went away by the next day with no nasal discharge or eye infections. A clear bill of health was given from their veterinarians as soon as they were checked out as well.

Eye infections in kittens are nothing to procrastinate about. They can turn into an ulcer on the eye and damage them permanently. However, it is so simple to treat. It has only happened a couple of times that we have had kittens sneeze or get an infected eye but it was treated immediately and the infection never returned. FVR is the major cause of most upper respiratory disease in felines and can lead to the eye infection (pictured here) that is commonly called conjunctivitis. These issues are highly contagious and once it has infected a cat, they are carriers for life. They good news is, it lies dormant and is only going to typically become symptomatic if their immune system is compromised (stress or other illness). The virus particles can also be passed through contaminated objects or contact with an infected cat within the incubation period of the disease (2 - 5 days). I will say that the worst case we have seen is the eye infection and sneezing. I have not seen anything other than clear nasal discharge but I am certain it can become much worse if left untreated. From what I have been told, researched, and learned from our veterinarians, feline herpesvirus is carried by pretty well all felines but asymptomatic.

Home treatment for feline herpesvirus for us was very simple but it was done after a vet visit and prescriptions filled (by our vet). We gave all kittens clavamox oral drops for ten days, twice a day. However, I did not think it was working quickly enough so my vet gave me gentamicin and albuterol for my nebulizer and I did fifteen minute nebulizer treatments once to twice a day until sneezing stopped. We went through three different eye antibiotic ointments until we figured out which one worked the best. Turns out terramycin was the best and those meds were all purchased through our veterinarian office. However, you can still buy terramycin over the counter in some stores like Tractor Supply.

Diarrhea in kittens
Lets talk about the other big issue that comes hand in hand with stress in cats. Diarrhea! Yuck! Nothing is quite as gross and stinky as cat feces. Protozoans are normally the culprit of runny poo in cats and they can lie dormant in the intestines just waiting for that first opportunity to attack. I have seen both Giardia and Coccidiosis in kittens and as much of a pain it is to deal with, it is so simple to treat. Knowing that it is possible to come about when kittens are being weaned, we have PCR fecals done by our vet at their first exam. Normally our fecal tests come back negative/clear of any findings (protozoan and parasites) but please understand that this can change in a matter of hours! Even deworming a young animal can activate these irritants. This is why we never give wormer medication to any of our kittens unless the fecal results find it necessary. It has been years since we have ever had any kind of parasite/worms found in our cats. We keep our cats indoors in a clean environment so contamination is rarely a problem in our home.

If diarrhea persists for more than 24 hours, you must take a fecal sample to your vet immediately. I mention 24 hours because there are many things that can bring on a loose stool (change in food is one) and it could correct itself quickly on its own. Although your cat might act normal, you want to get this under control quickly. Diarrhea can lead to dehydration and they may stop eating and become lethargic. You want to nip this in the bud quickly but know it is 100% curable if caught in time. These are just part of the possible stress symptoms that come with acclimating a new kitten into your new home. I will say that 99% of our kittens go home with simple transitions but you need to be aware that it is always possible for things to not go as planned.

After treatment

Treating stress in kittens
I am not a veterinarian and do not pretend to be when it comes to my animals. I will not supply the dosage here but will tell you what it took to treat the following issues. These were diagnosed through our licensed veterinarian and medications were prescribed/purchased through them as well.

Coccidiosis (coccidia): Albon, Ponazuril, or Toltrazuril
Giardia: Fenbendazole & Metronidazole
Tritrichanomis: Ronidazole
Conjunctivitis: Terramycin, Neo-Poly-Bac
Feline Herpesvirus: oral Clavamox, & nebulizer solution of Gentamycin (& Albuterol if necessary)

1/12/2025
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Our Maine Coon Blog

How Big do Maine Coon Cats Really get?

Favorite holistic veterinarian and Q & A

Dr Becker left Mercola

What is the best cat food?

What is the most popular color of Maine Coon cat?

Feline Herpesvirus & Diarrhea

Cyndi

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