Usual forum help on cats.

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vickster

Legendary Member
I second what @Kingfisher101 said above.
Also, a Maine Coon is hard work: do yo and your family have the time to keep this breed of cat stimulated?

And groomed.
also check out insurance costs especially as it gets older
 
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Milzy

Milzy

Guru
Contact all the cat rescues in your area and ask if they have a maine coon in. Believe it or not plenty of rescues get pedigrees. If not then save a life and just get a regular cat. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that. Dont be paying hundreds to breeders when lovely healthy cats are PTS everyday just because they have no owner.

The thing is I have always viewed breeders cats as rescue cats with a price tag. If more people get rescue cats the breeders will just sell theirs for less. I also don’t want to see pedigree lines disappear.
It’s the same with dogs, thousands of pedigrees all over the place. Tell them to get a rescue dog, they’ll probably say shut the F up I’ll buy what I want now jog on. I’d not dare tell people to get a rescue whatever. People who have children could have adopted.
 

Kingfisher101

Über Member
The thing is I have always viewed breeders cats as rescue cats with a price tag. If more people get rescue cats the breeders will just sell theirs for less. I also don’t want to see pedigree lines disappear.
It’s the same with dogs, thousands of pedigrees all over the place. Tell them to get a rescue dog, they’ll probably say shut the F up I’ll buy what I want now jog on. I’d not dare tell people to get a rescue whatever. People who have children could have adopted.

They wont, how do you get to this? There will always be a market for pedigrees because some people always want designer pets. With Dogs the situation is a bit different as its very, very hard often to adopt a dog from a shelter as hundreds go after the same dog because they are so reasonably priced compared to buying one.
You do realize of course about pet mills and how the animals are treated, having to have litter after litter. Its all about the ££££ full stop. If you dont care then you dont. Its obviously upto you but educate yourself because your going to get scammed as well if you dont do your homework.
 
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Milzy

Milzy

Guru
They wont, how do you get to this? There will always be a market for pedigrees because some people always want designer pets. With Dogs the situation is a bit different as its very, very hard often to adopt a dog from a shelter as hundreds go after the same dog because they are so reasonably priced compared to buying one.
You do realize of course about pet mills and how the animals are treated, having to have litter after litter. Its all about the ££££ full stop. If you dont care then you dont. Its obviously upto you but educate yourself because your going to get scammed as well if you dont do your homework.

This is why I’m doing my homework. That place looks dodge. A link above has reputable safe sources on. Our previous breeder was a young lady in a wheelchair who did it as a working hobby. She won many shows with her Mainecoons and bengals. Sadly her health has deteriorated so badly over the years she can’t physically do much at all now so had to wrap it up a few years back.
 
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Milzy

Milzy

Guru
Pedigrees aren’t necessarily just a designer thing. Many people like certain breeds for things like personality. I love my Siamese, as much for her intelligence and amazing character as her looks.

Exactly. Siamese would die out without human intervention like many breeds of dogs & cats. And if they were super rare the rich would pay a million pounds for one as money is no object to many in this day and age.
 
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Do as @Mo1959 suggests. I did something similar many years ago when I wanted a Persian, and ended up with TWO (for the price of one!) and the breeders became long-term friends.

OK - replying to myself here. One of the 'two for the price of one' was a runt with a few birth injuries and, although cleared by the vet as healthy enough to be happy and active, was never to be bred from. She had a pedigree for 'interest' only, with some sort of paperwork from the cat fancy or whatever its called which reiterated the non-breeding thing and a requirement for spaying, vet checks etc. The breeders were looking for the 'right person' to come along who was wanting one of the other kittens in the two litters they had for sale, as they'd been recommended by the vet that she would benefit in several ways from interaction with another kitten and, later, cat and with my medical background they thought that (a) I wouldn't be totally horrified by her empty eye socket, that (b) I would probably be more likely to agree to the veterinary requirements and follow the advice and that (c) they thought I seemed like a caring and capable person.

Well, One-Lamp Lucy turned into a DEMON hunter, even though she never grew past 'half-grown' kitten size, whereas her sister Patches became very sensible and home-loving by the time she was about 18 mo old. which was exactly what I had wanted an old-fashioned Persian for. Patches had two non-pedigree but beautiful litters, both sired by a local farm tomcat of impressive size, stature and stink, a Norwegian Forest Cat resemblance in appearance, (I think they're a bit like Maine Coons?) and who was known to have a lovely temperament which he passed on. Her first litter was all spoken for before they were born; the second had a waiting list. She had BC jabs in order to space her litters and after her second, she was spayed. One Lamp Lucy was eventually killed at about 6 or 7 years old on the railway line, which was well over two miles away; I couldn't keep her in as she was desperate to hunt. Patches went to live with an old friend of mine when I went to work in Berlin; she became the boss of a rescued border collie and kept him well in order. When Shep died at a good age, Patches followed him within less than a month, even though she had shown no signs of illness or 'failure'.
 
Hey, we’ve seen a Mainecoon cat on this website. They have emailed back but it felt a bit impersonal and the price seems too cheap. I’m slightly suspicious it’s a scam or could be legit but maybe a bad experience. Can someone check out these guys for me please?
http://www.royalkittiescattery.com/
No Facebook page which is weird in this day & age.
We want that kitten called Stan.
TIA.

It's not a cattery I recognise, so I would avoid. Please be aware that the Maine Coon breed is one that is currently very fashionable thanks to social media influencers and celebrities, so there are a lot of unscrupulous breeders around taking advantage of this trend. if you don't do your homework, you will end up being burned as many already have been.

Go to either the GCCF or TICA Europe West Region websites. Have a look at the show calendar. Visit a few shows (there's bound to be something local to you) and talk to exhibitors and breeders. You'll get good pointers from there. There's no substitute from actually seeing the cats in the flesh.

This is one of the best guides out there and has everything a prospective pedigree cat owner needs to know: https://www.gccfcats.org/getting-a-cat/

You should expect to pay around £500 for a pet quality kitten, somewhat more for show quality.

Just as an aside, the Siamese is actually one of the world's oldest recognized breed of cat, and has been doing pretty well in Thailand without much Human intervention since they were first recorded (as an illustration) in a book of poems dating back to about the 14th century.
 
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Milzy

Milzy

Guru
Checked out your link. Most of the reviews mention US states. A flight from inside the USA is gonna take 15 hours to anywhere in Europe (even the UK). Lack of a physical address looks bogus.

Yes and their replies have been weird. I disagree with flying kittens just for sales it’s awful. I know some import studs and queens for breeding but then that’s it no more flying for their off spring.
 

HMS_Dave

Grand Old Lady
To echo others Milzy. There are a number of warning signs. The site is "not secure" meaning personal details are not encrypted and you might as well give your personal details to me or any other random Joe. There are a number of grammatical errors, which wreaks of unprofessionalism and could be a sign of a website thrown together for nefarious intent.

Also, possibly the most suspicious to me is nearly every single photo is different with no recognisable familiar back drops in about 90% of photos. I even suspect some of the Kittens are the same, but with different lighting and slightly different poses. You clearly see the same hand in a few of the photo's holding the kittens in a "choke" hold, with the same bracelet, but im strongly suspecting many of these photo's are faked/stolen from some other source.
Perhaps i have misunderstood this business if it is indeed one, but they give the impression they breed and sell their own Kittens and are directly responsible for their training. Lastly, the reviews are a joke. This is a sentence from one "Our kitten was delivered to our door in a Mercedes by Cat Cab. No complaints whatsoever." Who cares if its a Mercedes? and what is Cat Cab? I googled it in case i was being stupid and got these:
Equipment-Cabs-Caterpillar-7040878.jpg

tumblr_mkx28nb0Rz1rq4uvro1_500.jpg


I'm not sure this is what they or me had in mind.

Finally, Shipping. They say in response to the question "Flying a Kitten! Is it safe?"... "We personally asked this questions to the man of the shipping company on my first attempt to ship a kitten some couple of years back, and this was his answer to me “When we book a flight for a kitten it is only on safe and approved Airlines that have pet-safe programs that Follows guidelines ” The kitten will have the same air as the pilot flying the plane & someone will be there to cater for him/her on board, we don’t fly the kittens in the cargo section of the plane, they are actually shipped in the passenger section of the plane together with pet nannies until delivery is completed."

The man of the shipping company? Hmmm And that flies Kittens with passengers? Im aware that some carriers will allow small cats and dogs in with passengers personal luggage, but i just wonder what the "man of the shipping company" has to do with it and it to carry it with a "pet nanny" surely would be expensive?

Either way, i wouldn't touch it. I'd follow the advice above.
 

T4tomo

Legendary Member
This is why I’m doing my homework. That place looks dodge. A link above has reputable safe sources on. Our previous breeder was a young lady in a wheelchair who did it as a working hobby. She won many shows with her Mainecoons and bengals. Sadly her health has deteriorated so badly over the years she can’t physically do much at all now so had to wrap it up a few years back.

So contact her and see who she would recommend as she have breeder contacts galore. You seem to miss the obvious very often....
 
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