New to the forum and new to maine coon bellies

Hi everyone
I am an experienced moggie owner but have never owned a Maine Coon before and took my new boy home on wednesday last week. He's an absolutely gorgeous 2 year old neutered male silver tabby and incredibly friendly and playful (He's making a great old mess with a toilet roll at the moment!). He does however feel a little thin to me (spine and ribs really easily felt). I took him to the vet and she agreed that he felt a little thin but she said he was of a normal weight (4.5kg). But I'm not sure if she meant normal for a regular sized cat and she didn't seem to know or believe that Maine coons can develop until they are 4. If people could give me an idea of what weight they think he should be that would be fantastic (I'll try to measure his length and update this post).

I would like some advice on how best to get him to a decent weight for his size. He came from a family with a lot of dogs and children and I don't think he got much peace to eat his food so I am hoping that he will naturally just fatten up. He had some runny stools when he first arrived but they are now firming up so I am putting that down to the stress of the move. The vet gave him a prebiotic to put on his food and I am sticking to giving him mainly dry food at the mo. He arrived with a bag of what I assume is whiskas dry food (fish shaped pieces) but he didn't seem to like it much and seemed to be addicted to whiskas pouches.

I've switched him to Royal canin maine coon which I am feeding ad libitum plus one whiskas pouch per day. I am also giving him a little kitten milk every day. Does this sound ok until he has gained a bit of condition? I've wormed him with some of the drops you put on the neck however I am not convinced that all of it went on his skin- would I expect to see worms in his stools if he has worms? Any other advice gratefully received.

Another question, which is slightly off topic for this thread is- should he have curly belly hair?! He apparently never got groomed at his last house and he really doesn't seem to like the brush but I will persevere- should his belly hair look as smooth as his other hair?

Thanks, and sorry for the length of this post!
Alison

Hi Alison, welcome to the forum!
Your new MC guy sounds like a lot of fun. What's his name?
His weight does seem quite low for a neutered male his age. Our Monty is not yet one year old and weighs a little over 6 kg (but he could do with some slimming down, I must admit).
The Whiskas pouches are very popular over here as well, but you might want to switch to a wet food that is somewhat 'richer'... the so-called 'premium' foods like Hills, Royal Canin, Cosma, Bozita, etc.

Please take a good look at his belly fur... could be he has mats that will have to be removed by a professional groomer. It is very important that you check this, because the mats can cause skin irritation.

Looking forward to see pics of your furry fellow!

Thanks for such a fast reply Antonia. His name is Sylvester.:) I will certainly look at those wet food options- he goes mad for the wet food although he seems to like the RC dry food quite well.

He's let me stroke his belly and it doesn't seem to be matted- there were a couple of small knots which I managed to tease out with my fingers whilst he was sleeping but apart from that it feels ok, just a bit wavy and curly! He has a very nice silky coat on top, he just looks like a bit of a scruffbag when he roles over. Any tips on introducing a cat to grooming gently? I've started with a mitt which he seems to like....until he sees it, and then he freaks out!

Welcome, Alison and Sylvester!

I'm no expert on the weight front (Candes has started working on a thread that shows weights at different ages that might be useful) but Freyja is 6 months Freyja (girl) weighed 3.8kg, and she's fairly light for a MC her age.

In terms of food, Antonia's right, the premium cat foods offer better quality (when I say quality, I mean high meat content) and we moved Freyja onto Applaws and Cat Deli (with the occasional Reindeer Bozita) - all of which goes down really well. I've had to move her back on to Whiskas though as I noticed a real change in her stools on the richer foods, and had to 'mop' her up to some extent almost every time she passed solids; she doesn't have the same problem with the Whiskas and as I'd rather avoid the wrestling, hissing and indignant looks, Whiskas it is!

Looking forward to seeing pic's of Sylvester in good time.

Hi there, what an exciting time for you, Sylvester is a wonderful name. I had a pure white longhaired moggy called Sylvester a few years ago, he was stunning and a big soft brush to boot, one of the sweetest-natured creatures ever.

I agree that 4.5kgs for a 2-year-old MC does sound rather on the light side. I know I've got a couple of porkers, but mine are over 5kgs now at nearly 8 months, and I know some are bigger. Is Sylvester a pedigree MC, or a suspected MC? Either way, I'm sure with lots of love and security he'll fill out.
Would love to see some pictures when you get a chance!

Thanks for all your advice! I will try and get some pics of sylvie up tomorrow- I tried to upload 3 today but they were still not uploaded after about 30 mins.
Yes sounds like he is a bit on the light side- he is pure bred but I'm not sure how big his parents got to be. He had some tuna today which he seemed to love. He seems to have a good appetite so I hope he will fill out soon.

I've added some photos of Sylvester to the gallery now. It isn't very obvious from the photos that he is thin but the one of him stretched out kind of shows how gangly he is!

Hi and Welcome! One of my boys is only 4.5kgs and he's three but he is a bit of a 'runt' and I mean that in the nicest possible way - as I love him to bits! My other two are: 3.5yrs - 8.5kgs & 22 months - 7.5kgs. Little Chester has never been much of an eater, and I've tried every food thats been invented for cats! At the moment he eats Felix (fishy varieties) and the other two are on Bozita. I free feed with RC Maine Coon. Give him lots of TLC and I'm sure he will thrive. He still has two years growing to do. He's fallen on his feet finding a home with you. Keep up the good work! :smile:

He's a lovely looking cat, Alison - love his wispy ears and his eyes, they look quite green in the photo's. Clearly enjoying his new home judging by the photo's!

Lovely pics, thanks for posting! He looks very happy already, I'm sure he'll get on brilliantly. Lucky chap! xx

Thanks for all the positive comments guys. Wendy- chester sounds very sweet, it's good to know that there are other dainty MCs out there. I think Sylvester is probably destined to be a little bit runty but I don't mind- as long as I can't feel his bones so much!

He's becoming quite naughty and I get woken before my alarm every morning. Today he roamed about the bed giving my partner and I nips in strategic places until we got up and fed him. He's a real character- we love him.

Hi there
Had Sylvester at the vet again today so that he could get his booster (last week the vet felt we should hold off giving him it until his runny stools stopped!) and he's put on 0.3 kg in a week (he's now 4.8 kg). :rofl: So that's encouraging!

Great news, Catlover - can we assume that his runny stools have also stopped? Is that the last of his injections now?

His stools are not quite right yet (sounds awful but I would describe them as 'moussey'!!) getting better though. We have some antibiotics for him but have been holding off since he seems to be improving on his own.
As for the injections, he may have to go back one more time as worryingly he doesn't appear to have had FeLV vaccine. He was allowed out a bit in his last home so I am a bit concerned about him already contracting the virus. The vet seemed less concerned and didn't seem to think blood tests were necessary if we are keeping him in.
He also seems to show signs of a heart murmur :(. Both his parents were n/n for the hcm gene so I take it that it is unrelated to that particular gene. A bit ironic really as I research cardiomyopathy for a living!
So feeling encouraged by the weight gain but also have a few niggling worries about this little cat. He's not worried at all- currently batting a kinder egg about the room!

Hi Alison, just looked at the pics of Sylvester and I think he's gorgeous. He does indeed have wavy belly fur, it looks ever so cuddle-able.:LOL:

Could the loose stools be related to dietary change? Our Monty gets runny stools from rich foods, but not from stuff like Whiskas.

That is a bit unnerving about the heart murmur. I can imagine that you worry a bit. Was the vet very concerned about it?

Hi antonia
Yes I definitely think the whiskas could be the culprit- currently researching some wet food options which is a bit kinder to the belly!
The vet didn't seem so worried about the murmur- she said his heart was beating very fast (she'd just gone to town cleaning out his ears!) so it was difficult to really say much about it and that it doesn't necessarily mean that he has an enlarged heart. She just said that she'd see us next October for the booster. I guess all I can do is provide him with the best diet possible and make sure his life is as chilled and as stess free as possible!

We had a MC mix that lived with HCM for several years and also now have a MC girl that is hetero for the known HCM mutation, so have some experience with heart issues. Murmur is certainly not definite for HCM, and HCM cats do not always have discernible murmurs. If you really want to find out what your guy's heart status is you need to get an echocardiogram done by a vet cardiology specialist. In the US these are called Board Certified Veterinary Cardiologists. While there are many other vets that perform echos, our experience has been that you cannot really trust their conclusions, so it is rather a waste of money (or worse). E.g., one of our girls was diagnosed as having advanced HCM when she was echoed due to rapid breathing following a minor surgical procedure. Luckily we were able to get her in to see a cardiologist nearly immediately, and the HCM diagnosis turned out to be completely wrong! (She has a unusual but benign structural feature that the non-cardiologist had never heard of and so misinterpreted as thickened heart wall.) We had our hetero girl echo'd at 4 years and will have her done again next spring at 6. She showed no heart structural changes at 4, so we are hopeful. You may also not want to spend the time/money since your guy is asymptomatic, as current best practice is no treatment for asymptomatic cats. Certainly keep an eye on his breathing rate when resting/sleeping. It should be 20-30 breaths per minute. Significantly higher can indicated developing heart issues.

Hi, you also asked about grooming. My boy was in a mess when I got him and I had to have him shaved down both sides as he was felted up. I bought a very small slicker brush which has worked great.

It's a brush meant for small mammals and has a head about 1" x 2" which is great for getting behind his ears and other awkward places. It doesn't hurt him at all as it's not scratchy, but the wires are so close together that it gets right through the fur and pulls out the loose undercoat. It leaves him lovely and soft. He even lets me do under his tail with it!

He gets excited when I show it to him and leaps up on a stool ready to be groomed. I would really recommend these little brushes.