New Maine Coon Owner

As the title states I recently purchased my first pet, the Maine Coon. I bought my first home recently as well and decided I wanted a pet that matched a personality to my own and after much research found that the Maine Coon is what I wanted. So far I couldn't be happier. That being said I am also in search of information to allow "Krim" (as I have named him) the best possible care, food, health possible. Before I get into that I am also curious as to the naming of him. The breeder that I purchased him from had been calling him by another name and he is at 12 weeks old currently, is it acceptable to rename at this point his pedigree cert. shows his name as is was and just wondering if that changing the name makes it void (not that I am all too concerned as I am not expecting to show/breed).
I am also curious as to the food that is recommended. My current plan is to order Royal Canin babycat/33 online and have it delivered to my home. Is there another food I should be getting or other comparable foods I dont need to special order not that its that much of a hassle. I currently have some food I was sent home with and a couple different types of food by Purina.
Does water make a difference tap as opposed to filtered, my breeder recommends Culligan water.
I have a 100 more questions to ask to ensure the best possible care for him but dont want to overdo it writing it all out so if I can get some tips from the experts and people who have the experience I would be truly grateful.

Thank you

I could be wrong, but the only Culligan systems I've seen were for commercial use. Filtered is filtered for the most part. There are different number of stages in some filters. I'd say if the cat doesn't like the taste or smell of the tap water by not drinking, you might try a filter like a Brita. I've got an under sink filter for my personal drinking which will be used for the cats once I get them.

My fiancee, who is a licensed Vet Tech, and I like Royal Canin and will try feeding it to our cats once we get them. I posted a video about how Royal Canin operates and research their foods, you can search my name and pull it up. But you'll get 100 different answers for food.

The registered name is just what they are registered as, I've read plenty of people renaming their cats on the forum. Some even give new nicknames throughout their cat's life. You wouldn't void the registration or anything by giving the kitten a new name.

Another thing with the food, it's best to slowly switch the kitten over to it's new food over a week or 2, adjusting the proportions more and more as time passes. If they have some issues, you back off the new food some.

Hi Krim,
Congratulations on your new addition. I'll answer a couple of your questions if that's ok.

You can call him whatever you want to, his pedigree name is really just for registration purposes. My lot have their pedigree names, then their pet names (and even then some of them have nicknames :) )

As for the food, I would really start him on Kitten 36 at his age. "Babycat 33" is for weaning and Coonies tend to be a wee bit larger than your average kitten. All my kittens start off on Babycat then move over to "Kitten 36" when they reach about 8-10 weeks old. When he gets to about 6 months you may want to try "Maine Coon Kitten 36". As Brims above me said, introduce any change in diet gradually over the course of a week or so as to avoid upset tummies.

Hope this helps
Mick

HI Krim , welcome to the forum , cant add anything more that Mick has, as brims said questions on food will produce a different answer from nearly every member on the forum , I took the same route with my babes as Mick was suggestion , mainly because they started life on RC food and i felt that keeping them on the same brand would make it easier when moving up to the next stage. they also get 1/2 a sachet each of wet food for breakfast and tea as this helps their water intake and it makes me feel that they get a bit of variety. I have tried them on bits of chicken etc etc , but they always look at me as tho i am trying to posion them !
One final thing... we all require pics of your baby so we can drool and get broody ........

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MickB

Hi Krim,
Congratulations on your new addition. I'll answer a couple of your questions if that's ok.

You can call him whatever you want to, his pedigree name is really just for registration purposes. My lot have their pedigree names, then their pet names (and even then some of them have nicknames :) )

As for the food, I would really start him on Kitten 36 at his age. "Babycat 33" is for weaning and Coonies tend to be a wee bit larger than your average kitten. All my kittens start off on Babycat then move over to "Kitten 36" when they reach about 8-10 weeks old. When he gets to about 6 months you may want to try "Maine Coon Kitten 36". As Brims above me said, introduce any change in diet gradually over the course of a week or so as to avoid upset tummies.

Hope this helps
Mick

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Exactly what I would have said, you got there first Mick.

With regard to the water question, I have fountains that I fill either from the tap or with filtered water, depending on how I feel, and the cats don't seem to mind either. Strangely when outside, they will drink from the muddiest puddle they can find.