Looking to adopt a Maine Coon

[XelaM]

We are looking to add to our family and one of our neighbours has the most gorgeous huge (!) Maine Coon.

I have done research into the breed and would love to adopt/buy one (I know they are very expensive and very rarely come up for adoption). I live with just my 11-year old daughter and our pets (1 pug puppy, 1 tortoise, 4 budgies). Our dog is very friendly and will probably be smaller in size than a fully grown male Maine Coon We have a garden and I work from home. We had 2 cats in the past, but haven’t had any for awhile and our previous cats weren’t pedigrees.

Where would be a good place to start to get us on the waiting list specifically for a Maine Coon? Ideally, we would like to adopt an adult cat rather than a kitten, but I am open to both.

Look for rescues? My friend has a rescue mainecoone and I collected one for the rescue I got my cats from. I have rescue Persians. From a specialist Persian rescue. They also take in other pedigree breeds, as does the one my greed got here from. There is St Francis Persian rescue in Yorkshire and Strawberry Persian rescue somewhere near London. There are probably more.

Make sure you have the best insurance money can buy. As I have discovered, pedigree cats come with issues. My Persians have run up astronomical Vets bills. Partially breed related.

You could also contact breeders as sometimes they have adult cats available. I love Maine Coons but be aware of the health issues. Our last one had to be pts last year due to heart failure. He was only 6.

I was searching on pets4homes recently and there were a fair number of adult Maine Coons for sale. I would be v wary of doing my research as I think there’s clearly some scams on there but I did speak to a couple of people who had Maine Coons to rehome who seemed genuine.

I don’t know whether it’s because people know they can get a good price selling Maine Coons (rather than just giving it up to a rescue as they might with a moggy they could no longer home) or because there’s an overlap between people who want ‘fashionable’ breeds and people who haven’t fully thought through the long term responsibility of pet ownership but there do seem to be quite a lot for sale (compared to common moggies). Also possibility that they’re mostly scams!

I’d be very very wary of buying a Maine Coon kitten that way as I think the number of kitten scams is really high!

Yes. There was someone on here the other day that has bought a 'Maine coone' kitten. That clearly is a normal moggy/ only half Maine coone.

I may be too late but here goes.

Several points come to mind. If you want to adopt a Maine Coon cat then you have got to make sure that you truly are purchasing a Maine Coon and the only way to do that is to make sure that you have the necessary pedigree documentation to prove lineage. You'll get that from a cat breeder plus all the other essential documentation such as vaccination and neutering.

I don't think you can buy a Maine Coon cat online sight-unseen. So, it depends where you live.

The number one cat association in the UK is the GCCF and on their website they have a map where you can find out where the Maine Coon breeders are.

I think I would start there because you might find a breeder who is not too far from where you live and then you can go and visit them.

It is, I think, important to visit the breeder to see how they operate and to ensure that they are doing a good job. You can then discuss things like the contract and registration papers.

You simply can't buy online and send money upfront to reserve a cat. You should never send money upfront to anything.

You definitely have to avoid the Maine Coon-mix cats because these are moggies which might look a bit like Maine Coon cats. They will be asking inflated prices for these cats.

You've got to have papers and you got to see the kittens and the mother really if you want to do a proper job when purchasing.

Sometimes, rarely, you get Maine Coon cats available at rescue centres because their owner has perhaps died.

That happened recently in Wales but those cats are now adopted.

Good luck but be careful because as you say they are expensive with prices up to £1500 for a good quality Maine Coon and there are scammers out there particularly now with post-pandemic life and the cost-of-living crisis.

There's one last point that I didn't make. Some people think that if you have budgies in a cage and you have a cat or cats, the budgies might become stressed because the cat will be looking at the budgies.

Sounds like you need a retired queen. Go onto Facebook pages (try Maine coon uk) and get to know breeders and owners on there.

don’t use pets4homes because it’s rife with backyard breeders