r/MaineCoon

This is Walter, a 10-year-old Maine Coon who has perfected the “you may leave now” look.
His portrait is made mostly from wool, layered in different shades to recreate his markings and that huge Maine Coon mane. His resin eyes were hand-painted to match his yellow-green gaze, and his nose was sculpted from clay.
The fur took time, but the real challenge was capturing that unmistakable expression. I kept adjusting his eyes until wool Walter finally looked like he was politely asking me to leave the room.

So I just got this guy home from the vet today and he has been diagnosed with juvenile gingivitis, He's only 13 months old.

So I knew about HCM and hip dysplasia with these guys. But somehow I must have missed the gingivitis thing and periodontals disease.

Which apparently upon research is not that uncommon among Maine Coons and actually one of the breeds that it is most prone to besides Siamese. Just my luck LOL 😂

Usually occurs between 6 to 12 months of age when they're adult teeth are coming in and caused by an overstimulation of plaque growth At the gum line. Apparently there are some cats that can grow out of this condition, but my vet said that it was highly unlikely and that it would have to be treated with 3 to 6 months regular teeth cleanings or more likely tooth extraction. Which of course, as you know would require blood work each time as well as anesthesia.

He saw two teeth on either side of the upper jaw that were slightly red and inflamed At the gum line.

He seemed to think that tooth extraction of those two teeth would be more effective , Or perhaps necessary once they get in there than Just regular cleanings. 🦷

I noticed that he had been slightly sloppy with his food eating more recently and would have occasional dry kibbles drop off the sides of his mouth But not overly so. But never really showed any sign of pain and eating and is a great eater. But

I knew this could be a sign of tooth pain so I didn't want to take any chances and took him into the vet and sure enough he has juvenile gingivitis.

Apparently not severe yet. Just mild but possibly enough to require a couple teeth to be extracted?

Just curious if anyone else has had this situation with their MCS and if so How did things turn out?

Thanks

Here’s another picture of the most curious cat I’ve ever owned.

I have an 8 month old male Maine Coon & got a 4 month old female ragdoll about a month ago. He is being much better with her, but still turns much too aggressive at moments where we have to separate them out of fear he will hurt her. We try to play with him more to get his energy out, but he is definitely not as interested as he used to be. I think now that he has a little sister to chase around, and at times bully, she is his favorite play thing. I’ve been toying with the idea of getting a cat wheel to see if he would use it to get some excess energy out. I’m wondering if your Maine Coons have and use a cat wheel. Just worried about it being a waste of money and space if he doesn’t go for it. I know every cat is different, so I know your answers won’t mean my cat will do the same, but just wondering I guess.

I picked her up on Thursday morning and I'm obsessed 😆

This is Achilles, one of my MC boys, just turned 1 year old.

Would love some advice or tips on getting this big guy to "let "me brush his belly.

I can brush him anywhere else. His head, his tail, his sides, his rear end even,,,all good ,, but not the belly.

Naturally, I'm sure as most of you fellow mc owners know, The belly and under the pits is primarily where these mats develop.

I've tried just about everything I know, treats before after and even during.

He's not having it .lol

Using all the proper grooming tools including soft slicker brushes and grooming comb , Even the mat splitter type which really doesn't do anything but pull harder on the mats .

He doesn't get them bad but they'll get that way if he refuses to allow me to brush on a regular basis on his belly parts.

This guy is big already, 18 lbs with hind leg muscles like a power lifter.

I live alone , So trying to hold him while brushing his underbelly at the same time is a monumental feat.

I even called a professional cat groomer who told me with certain cats They have no choice but to scruff them.

Of course, I know that only works on young kittens and you're not supposed to do it on adult cats. But needless to say he already seems stressed enough with Just me trying to get the mats out with a comb or a brush. I'm not going to scruff him.

I eventually took him to my groomer, held him while the groomer shaved his belly and arm pits, to my shock he acted like a different cat. He didn't struggle. He didn't meow. He didn't try to get away. I don't know if it was the fear of a new location or perhaps dogs barking in the background, That there was no struggle, Maybe he was just scared. I don't know but he even let him brush him with me holding him after the shaving part was over .

A week later I thought I might get lucky and try brushing his belly myself and of course he acted like I was going to kill him.lol

Since he's only a year, I know this is just the beginning of his full coat coming in over next few years .

Really don't want to think about having to take him to the groomers once a month for a belly shave for years to come .

Should also add the belly grooming sessions are always short, maybe 30 seconds to one minute.

As soon as he feels a tug on a mat which is inevitable he starts to fidget. That's usually when I have to let him go, If not, he's sliced me up Pretty good with those back murder mittens of his , one time leaving a 7 in long gash across my chest and belly.

Don't get me wrong,,,he's a sweet guy ,love him to death, not aggressive, very affectionate,,, Just not with the belly grooming ..LOL

The trust bond is very important to me ,mc' s are not like other cats , very smart and intelligent,,,I feel like I'm risking our friendship every time I attempt a belly brush.🥺

P.S. my other boy mc who is 1 year also has fur like silk, no mats , loves the brush , So I'm lucky there. LOL

First time owning a cat and I want to be prepared! I’m adopting a healthy mainecoon baby who will be 3.5months when I get her. What insurances have y’all liked in Brooklyn/NYC and why? Thank you!

Loki is currently deciding if he should seize the day or let the day fend for itself.

This is Scoobie. She’s the sweetest 7 month old girlie.
We have been to the vet three times in the last two months and spent about $3700 on vet bills due to her paw pads.
First it was her front right, she licked it raw, was infected and needed to be sedated to get it cleaned out twice. Now, it’s her back left paw. The same thing happened again. She didn’t need to be sedated, they were able to clean it and now she’s on a round of antibiotics along with some ointment.

I’m just trying to see if anyone had this situation with their Mainecoon. Her paw pads have long hair that come through, and while I’ve tried to trim them before- and we are actively working on building trust to trim the paw hair- she doesn’t enjoy it and won’t sit still for it. We use clumping litter and the vet is assuming it’s getting stuck in the hair and she’s pulling the hair out by over cleaning. However today I noticed her just laying down cleaning herself and she was just pulling her hair out of one of her paw pads.. hadn’t used the bathroom beforehand either.

Does anyone deal with this?
She’s not an anxious girl, she’s very outgoing and lovey. We have switched to pellet litter in one litter box and 3/4 clumping litter and 1/4 pellet in another box (one of the other cats we have won’t use pellet litter and protested by peeing outside the box until I brought the clumping litter back)

I don’t really know how to help her other than shaving the hair between her toes- which I will be trying. Any suggestions or if you’ve been in this situation and had success please let me know.

This is Scoobie at the vet today- she was fawned at by everyone lol.

Please recommend which nail clippers to get for my mainecoon kitty :) she will be 17 weeks old when I get her and I want to desensitize her young.

We feed him as much as he wants; he's currently eating one 5.5 ounce can of adult cat food and one 2.8 ounce can of kitten food, plus about 1/4 cup of dry food. He's putting on weight (he's about 11 pounds) and seems to be growing well, but the boxes of cat food say he should be eating something like 6 cans of food a day?!

He's an active kitten with no health concerns whatsoever so far... But there is no way he'd eat 6 cans of wet food a day. Just this evening I scraped about a tablespoon of uneaten wet food into the trash after sprinkling some dry food on it to entice him to finish it up. He refused both and only wanted plain dry kibble. 🤷🏼‍♀️ He gets about a quarter cup of kibble a day in the evenings, as is his preference.

So one of my Maine Coons who has just turned a year old is full of energy when we play with wand toys etc,,,

He gets so excited and runs and jumps pretty hard but then starts panting after Maybe maybe 10 or 15 minutes of kind of play.

My question is is this normal?

Once he's relaxed and we stop playing, it does last for a few minutes afterwards but then he returns to normal.

I also have another male Maine Coon was also just 1-year-old. He does not pant when he plays but then again he doesn't play any were near as hard as the cat in question.

Of course, as a worried cat Dad, my first thought goes to HCM.

But doing some research it isn't apparently that uncommon for a cat or kitten who plays very hard to pant for short period of time after.

And again he is full of energy when he plays. It's crazy jumping running so it's not like just typical slow play when he does the panting ,, he goes all out so to speak LOL