66 breeders are on record here.
Large to very large, muscular cat with long shaggy coat, tufted ears, and bushy tail. One of the largest domestic cat breeds.
One of the oldest natural breeds in North America, developed in Maine. Legend says descended from Marie Antoinette's cats. Adapted to harsh New England winters with thick waterproof coat. State cat of Maine.
Generally described as adaptable, intelligent, loving, gentle, independent, playful and friendly.
That is the breed in general, not a promise about one animal. Ask the breeder what their own line is like, and meet the parents before you decide.
Breed reference from The Cat API.
Drawn from sources, not opinion: The Cat API; UC Davis VGL — Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) in Maine Coons; FIFe breed standard; Teng et al. 2024, median age at death. An empty column means we hold nothing for that side, not that there is nothing to say.
The Maine Coon standard is published by the FIFe (Fédération Internationale Féline), the international federation of pedigree-cat clubs, and it is what show judges apply. This section sums up what it says about coat and colour. It does not assess any one animal: use it to know what to ask the breeder.
All weather coat.
Dense.
Short on head, shoulders and legs, becoming gradually longer down the back and sides, with long, full shaggy baggy trousers on the hind legs and belly fur.
A frill is expected.
Texture silky.
Coat has distinct body, falling smoothly.
The undercoat is soft and fine, covered by the firm smooth outercoat.
Length of coat and density of undercoat vary with seasons.
Permissible
Shortened from FIFe standard MCO — each label is the standard’s own wording with the verdict lifted into the tag beside it. Read the full clause at source. FIFe lists this standard’s last modification as 2025. Text read on 31 Aug 2026.
A tick means FIFe recognises that colour in at least one variety with that pattern. It does not mean every combination is recognised.
| Colour | Solid | Tabby | Smoke | Silver | Golden | With white |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Red | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Cream | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Black tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| Blue tortie | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted | Accepted |
| White | Accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted | Not accepted |
Read from the table at the end of the FIFe standard. Smoke, silver, golden and corin are FIFe’s own names; the exact EMS codes and the eye colours are in the standard.
The colour varieties FIFe recognises for this breed are listed, with their EMS codes, in the table at the end of its standard. FIFe describes each colour group in the General Part of its standards.
The colours and patterns the standard admits, and what it prefers, discourages or disqualifies in each. An accepted colour says nothing about health. Quotations from the FIFe are in English, as the standard publishes them; the headings are ours.
Known hereditary risks for the Maine Coon breed, and the specific documentation to request from any breeder before paying a deposit. A responsible breeder will have these readily available; deflection is a red flag.
7 conditions documentedThis is breed-level literature, not veterinary advice about an individual animal — your vet knows the animal.
Health checklist (PDF)Found in more than about one in twenty of the breed's dogs screened, or described as common in the sources.
Breed-level information from The Cat API. It describes the Maine Coon in general; any individual animal can differ.
A mutation in the MYBPC3 gene thickens the heart muscle and can cause sudden cardiac death. Outside the Maine Coon it turns up only as an occasional exception, and it is common in the breed: 34% of the Maine Coons tested in a 2008 worldwide study and 41.5% of 2,744 tested in Europe in 2010 carried it, and a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in 173 of 2,121 Maine Coons, about one in twelve. Penetrance depends heavily on genotype: in a worldwide study that scanned the hearts of genotyped cats, HCM was found in 58% of Maine Coons with two copies against 8% of those with one, and it became commoner with age, so the two results are not equivalent.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL Maine Coon HCM DNA test (MYBPC3 A31P) on both parents. The mutation does not explain all HCM in the breed, so a clear DNA result does not replace periodic cardiac ultrasound (echocardiogram) of the breeding cats.
Cats with two copies of the ABCB1 1930_1931del TC mutation lack a working P-glycoprotein, the pump that keeps certain drugs out of the brain. In them, label doses of some antiparasitic products, eprinomectin spot-ons above all, and ivermectin can cause weakness, unsteadiness, dilated pupils and tongue protrusion, and can kill: in one series of eight such cats given eprinomectin products, three died. It is recessive, and the reactions have been reported in cats with two copies. In a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats, 117 of 2,121 Maine Coons (including Polydactyls) carried it, roughly one in eighteen, three of them with two copies; a German clinic study found one copy in 4 of 84 Maine Coons. A nine-month-old Maine Coon in Australia with two copies became weak and unsteady after a label dose of an eprinomectin product and took three months to recover. The owners of two Maine Coons with two copies in the 2022 screen reported no reactions to flea products, none of which contained eprinomectin.
What to ask for
MDR1 (ABCB1) DNA test, on both parents
A recessive enzyme defect causing intermittent haemolytic anaemia, with highly variable age of onset and severity. Maine Coon is one of the breeds UC Davis names as appropriate for this test. A 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in 280 of 1,953 Maine Coons, about one in seven (nine of them with two copies), and in 30 of 150 Maine Coon Polydactyls.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PK deficiency DNA test on both parents.
Not a bleeding disorder. Cats short of clotting factor XII clot normally and are not known to bleed more than other cats, but the standard clotting screen run before surgery (the aPTT) comes back markedly prolonged, which can be mistaken for a dangerous bleeding disorder and lead to a postponed operation or unnecessary treatment. It is recessive, and two F12 variants are tested (c.1321delC and c.1631G>C); the clotting test is most prolonged in cats with two copies of both. In a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats, 204 of 2,113 Maine Coons (including Polydactyls) carried c.1321delC, roughly one in ten, and 54 of the 533 tested for both variants carried at least one; three had two copies of both. A 10-month-old Maine Coon with two copies of both had an aPTT of over 180 seconds against a normal limit of about 13, and a Maine Coon treated in Vienna with a tenth of normal factor XII activity showed no bleeding.
What to ask for
Factor XII deficiency (F12) DNA test result, on both parents. It does not affect the kitten's health, but its own result is worth giving to the vet before any surgery or clotting test.
A mutation in the MYBPC3 gene thickens the heart muscle and can cause sudden cardiac death. Outside the Maine Coon it turns up only as an occasional exception, and it is common in the breed: 34% of the Maine Coons tested in a 2008 worldwide study and 41.5% of 2,744 tested in Europe in 2010 carried it, and a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in 173 of 2,121 Maine Coons, about one in twelve. Penetrance depends heavily on genotype: in a worldwide study that scanned the hearts of genotyped cats, HCM was found in 58% of Maine Coons with two copies against 8% of those with one, and it became commoner with age, so the two results are not equivalent.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL Maine Coon HCM DNA test (MYBPC3 A31P) on both parents. The mutation does not explain all HCM in the breed, so a clear DNA result does not replace periodic cardiac ultrasound (echocardiogram) of the breeding cats.
A recessive enzyme defect causing intermittent haemolytic anaemia, with highly variable age of onset and severity. Maine Coon is one of the breeds UC Davis names as appropriate for this test. A 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found it in 280 of 1,953 Maine Coons, about one in seven (nine of them with two copies), and in 30 of 150 Maine Coon Polydactyls.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL PK deficiency DNA test on both parents.
Cats with two copies of the ABCB1 1930_1931del TC mutation lack a working P-glycoprotein, the pump that keeps certain drugs out of the brain. In them, label doses of some antiparasitic products, eprinomectin spot-ons above all, and ivermectin can cause weakness, unsteadiness, dilated pupils and tongue protrusion, and can kill: in one series of eight such cats given eprinomectin products, three died. It is recessive, and the reactions have been reported in cats with two copies. In a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats, 117 of 2,121 Maine Coons (including Polydactyls) carried it, roughly one in eighteen, three of them with two copies; a German clinic study found one copy in 4 of 84 Maine Coons. A nine-month-old Maine Coon in Australia with two copies became weak and unsteady after a label dose of an eprinomectin product and took three months to recover. The owners of two Maine Coons with two copies in the 2022 screen reported no reactions to flea products, none of which contained eprinomectin.
What to ask for
MDR1 (ABCB1) DNA test, on both parents
Documented in this breed, but no source says how many of its dogs carry or have them. That is a gap in the evidence, not a sign they are rare.
Malformation of the hip joint causing laxity, pain and early osteoarthritis. Documented at roughly 25-37% prevalence in OFA-screened Maine Coons, worsening with age and body mass. There is no single-gene DNA test — it is polygenic and diagnosed by radiograph.
What to ask for
Hip radiographs scored by OFA (a grade) or PennHIP (a laxity measurement) on both parents — not a DNA test.
Malformation of the hip joint causing laxity, pain and early osteoarthritis. Documented at roughly 25-37% prevalence in OFA-screened Maine Coons, worsening with age and body mass. There is no single-gene DNA test — it is polygenic and diagnosed by radiograph.
What to ask for
Hip radiographs scored by OFA (a grade) or PennHIP (a laxity measurement) on both parents — not a DNA test.
Described in this breed, but found in few or no dogs in recent screening, or only ever in one dog or one family. They are here so a test result makes sense if a breeder mentions one.
A recessive loss of motor neurons in the lower spinal cord. Affected kittens are normal at birth and develop unsteady gait and hind-limb muscle wasting from around 3-4 months old. Affected cats have lived for at least eight years, but it is a permanent, disabling condition. A 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found 12 carriers among 2,121 Maine Coons, about one in 180, and none with two copies.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL Maine Coon SMA DNA test on both parents.
An inherited defect in the kidneys' handling of the amino acid cystine, which forms crystals and stones in the urine that can block the urinary tract and may need surgery. It is recessive. This SLC7A9 mutation (p.Val294Glu) was found in 2016 in a cystinuric Maine Coon in Pennsylvania, homozygous for it and passing cystine stones at about four and a half years old, and in a Sphynx and a non-pedigree cat in North America, all three forming stones after their first year; it later turned up in Siamese-cross littermates in Germany. It is rare in the breed: 6 of 2,121 Maine Coons in a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats carried one copy (3 of 1,971 Maine Coons and 3 of 150 Polydactyls, five of the six from Canada), and none had two.
What to ask for
Cystinuria type B (SLC7A9) DNA test result, on both parents
A recessive loss of motor neurons in the lower spinal cord. Affected kittens are normal at birth and develop unsteady gait and hind-limb muscle wasting from around 3-4 months old. Affected cats have lived for at least eight years, but it is a permanent, disabling condition. A 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats found 12 carriers among 2,121 Maine Coons, about one in 180, and none with two copies.
What to ask for
UC Davis VGL Maine Coon SMA DNA test on both parents.
Median age at death 9.8 years
Middle half of deaths between 5.1 and 14.1 years, from 69 recorded deaths. 10.1% of them were before age two.
Computed from United Kingdom veterinary records covering 7,936 deaths. This is an age at death, not a life expectancy: half the cats of this breed in the records died younger.
Dataset: O'Neill, D. & Teng, K.T. (2024), Figshare, doi:10.6084/m9.figshare.25006802, CC BY 4.0. Teng, K.T., Brodbelt, D.C., Church, D.B. & O'Neill, D.G. (2024) Life tables of annual life expectancy and risk factors for mortality in cats in the United Kingdom. Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery 26(5).
Not a bleeding disorder. Cats short of clotting factor XII clot normally and are not known to bleed more than other cats, but the standard clotting screen run before surgery (the aPTT) comes back markedly prolonged, which can be mistaken for a dangerous bleeding disorder and lead to a postponed operation or unnecessary treatment. It is recessive, and two F12 variants are tested (c.1321delC and c.1631G>C); the clotting test is most prolonged in cats with two copies of both. In a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats, 204 of 2,113 Maine Coons (including Polydactyls) carried c.1321delC, roughly one in ten, and 54 of the 533 tested for both variants carried at least one; three had two copies of both. A 10-month-old Maine Coon with two copies of both had an aPTT of over 180 seconds against a normal limit of about 13, and a Maine Coon treated in Vienna with a tenth of normal factor XII activity showed no bleeding.
What to ask for
Factor XII deficiency (F12) DNA test result, on both parents. It does not affect the kitten's health, but its own result is worth giving to the vet before any surgery or clotting test.
An inherited defect in the kidneys' handling of the amino acid cystine, which forms crystals and stones in the urine that can block the urinary tract and may need surgery. It is recessive. This SLC7A9 mutation (p.Val294Glu) was found in 2016 in a cystinuric Maine Coon in Pennsylvania, homozygous for it and passing cystine stones at about four and a half years old, and in a Sphynx and a non-pedigree cat in North America, all three forming stones after their first year; it later turned up in Siamese-cross littermates in Germany. It is rare in the breed: 6 of 2,121 Maine Coons in a 2022 screen of over 11,000 cats carried one copy (3 of 1,971 Maine Coons and 3 of 150 Polydactyls, five of the six from Canada), and none had two.
What to ask for
Cystinuria type B (SLC7A9) DNA test result, on both parents
