The largest of all the cat breeds, the Maine Coon has a powerful muscular body and a coat which consists of an undercoat covered by a substantial glossy, long waterproof top coat which comes in a variety of colours. Maine Coons are noted for the delightful quiet chirping sound they make.
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Health and welfare issues
The breed seems to have a high prevalence of a heart condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It also has a high prevalence of hip dysplasia and patellar luxation is also present. Pyruvate kinase (PK) deficiency has also been found in the breed and spinal muscular atrophy has been identified. Ask the breeder about these conditions before you buy.
Important
We have limited the information about inherited disorders to those conditions that are known and proven to exist within a breed. For many breeders and many conditions, insufficient information may be available at this time to know whether any particular breed is necessarily free of any particular condition.
In general, pedigree breeds use a much smaller gene pool for breeding than domestic cats and therefore have a higher risk of developing inherited disorders. In addition, a number of ‘newer’ pedigree breeds are derived from matings between one or more ‘older’ breeds, and in these situations perpetuation of inherited problems that were seen in older breeds is likely within the newer breeds.
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