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MAINE COON - pedigree

The name comes from Maine USA and the racoon. According to a legend, an unidentified small mammal met a wild cat living in the woods. More likely, the breed has appeared as miscegenation of a local country cat with short hair, brought from Europe by pioneers and Angora cats imported by sailors from New England. It is not proved, however.

There is still another legend. It says that Mary Antoine gave her Angora cats to marquis La Fayette, when he was leaving for America, to fight against The English. After the arrival, the cats met the local ones. However it happened, Maine coon was the first frequent visitors to the salons in America, making a great success at Madison Square Garden in 1895.

Maine coon cats left USA for the first time in 1978 for Germany, and for the UK in 1984.



MAINE COON - the type

It has strong, muscular limbs, proportional to large, round paws with tufts of hair between toes. The characteristic feature is a head with a marked, angular, big cask, a beard, and quite a long, wide nose. Slightly oval, evenly spaced eyes can be of any colour. High-set, big ears are sharp-ended, with typical brushes. A very long, fluffy tail is like a plume. Fur is long and thick, longer on a body and pants, with fine small hair at the bottom and covered with shiny hair. These biggest among thoroughbreds are very popular in Poland.

They like staying outdoors. Typical of them is cleaning a tail, which a cat puts round its front legs and licks carefully. Cats lose longer hair in summer so a ruff becomes smaller.

Maine coons are very intelligent, they learn easily, and you can walk them with a lead. They are not afraid of water as their thick fur protects them from humidity and cold. They like playing with water, dropping from a tap. Females are great mothers.

Although Maine coon cats are big, the size and weight are not the most important when assessing the exterior (a set of outward morphological features of an animal, typical of a species, breed, variety; a type).