Thread: Maine Coons in Shelters: My Thoughts

I've never had a purebred Maine Coon. All of the ones I've adopted throughout my life have been shelter cats, and I can't help but notice that there seem to be an awful lot of them when I visit local shelters or do volunteer work. Now I know there are way too many homeless cats to begin with, but I see a lot of MC mixes, as well as a lot of Siamese. Often the MC's are not recognized as such and just labeled "longhair". All of my experience with these cats tells me that prospective owners should know what kind of cat they are adopting, and that they need to understand the breed temperament and health issues- which can still cause problems purebred or not. My mom lost her MC mix to ongoing thyroid disease and cardiomyopathy a year ago. Furthermore, all of my MC's have been very bonded to me and seem to want human contact more than the average cat. Mandy will stage protests on my laptop, laying down and not moving until I lavish her with attention. Every MC I've known has been like this, perhaps this kind of behavior is overwhelming or confusing to people? We often hear of cats being "solitary" animals but this is simply not true!

On another note, I wonder where all these MC mixes are coming from. Are owners of purebreds not fixing their cats and letting them out to breed with others? Are they letting their MC's go because they don't understand them? There was a problem with a Savannah breeder in my area who was letting her cats loose, and a few "F2-3's" turned up at a shelter after being found in a nearby neighborhood. Perhaps its a regional problem, but all I know is there is NO shortage of MC mixes in my local shelters, and after adopting five of them over the last 15 years I'm just starting to wonder what's going wrong.

Thoughts?