If you just got a Maine Coon cat, or if you already have one, you might ask yourself what the average Maine Coon Lifespan is. When we got our Maine Coon, Maze, we thought that it would live around 20 years, like most house cats. We were wrong.
So how old do Maine Coon cats get? Most Maine Coon cats live 10 to 15 years. Of course this depends on the breeder where you got your Maine Coon from, diseases and a lot of others factors like diet and exercise.
So that was the short answer, in case you don´t have a lot of time or you just don´t want to read the whole article. However this article will not only tell you how long Maine Coon cats live, it will also tell you how to make sure that your Maine Coon will have a very long and healthy life.
If you are interested in that, keep on reading!
Do Maine Coon cats really only get 15 years old?
Unfortunately this is the truth. I was pretty shocked as well as I discovered that most Maine Coon cats only get 15 years old at best. Of course, there are some cats of this species that get older, but the reality is that 15 years seems to get more and more rare these days.
When I went to a cat show in Germany, I had a chat with a lot of Maine Coon breeders. We also talked about their Maine Coons that already passed away. As you can imagine, this was a pretty emotional topic for those breeders, but the majority of them were pretty happy when their Maine Coon got 12 years old.
Maybe I am the only one, but I think this is rather short. Given the fact that most regular house cats get around 20 years old, I had a hard time to accept this and that´s why I did my research on how to increase the life expectancy of my Maine Coon.
So, I´d like to share with you what I found out and if I have already experienced a change in behavior with my Maine Coon, Maze.
The Oldest Maine Coon
The oldest Maine Coon became 27 years old. His name was Corduroy. So, as you see, it is definitely possible for Maine Coon cats to become older than 15 years. And we are not talking about a small difference here.
We are talking about a Maine Coon that got 12 years older than the oldest average Maine Coon.
Corduroy was adopted from a shelter in Oregon. The owner, Reed Okura, said that all she did was letting her Maine Coon being a normal cat. Here is what she did according to the interviews.
Corduroy was allowed to go outside
Corduroy was an outdoor cat. He did what every normal cat does. He hunted a lot, he explored the world and later he went back home to his beloved owners, got food and was just happy.
Further Corduroy wasn´t declawed. I actually was pretty shocked when I found out that people actually do that, but it seems like a lot of people declaw their cat. However I will come to this later.
Let´s Break It Down: What You Can Learn From The Oldest Maine Coon
As I said, Corduroy was allowed to be a normal cat that goes outside and does its thing.
But what does that mean in detail? Let´s break that down. Here is what a cat that´s allowed to be a normal cat gets and what that does to their bodies.
Going Outside
You might think that outdoor cats are more likely to die earlier, because of all the bad things that can happen outside. For example, driving cars can be a huge danger to your Maine Coon.
Depending on where you live, other bigger wild animals could try to kill your cat.
Your Maine Coon could also eat animals that might have a disease which could cause your cat to get sick and so on and so forth. However there are actually a lot of awesome benefits your cat will get from being an outdoor cat.
Exploring The World – Exercise For Mind And Body
Just exploring the environment is such a great exercise for your Maine Coon. It is proven that some outdoor cats actually run several miles per day. No indoor cat does get this much exercise, no matter how long you are playing with your cat during the day.
There actually is a cat named Sugar, that traveled 1500 miles when his owners moved to another house and left him behind. While this might be a pretty sad story, it shows you what your Maine Coon might be capable of.
Further, being outside and exploring the world is not only a great exercise for the body. It is also an awesome exercise for your cat´s mind. Imagine all the different noises, the different smells, the different tastes your cat will experience outside. Imagine all the different things your cat will see. Birds, dogs, mice, cars, people, bugs and other great things our world has to offer.
Imagine how much action an outdoor cat experiences each and every day. Trust me, this is completely different from lying on a couch and sleeping all day long. A cat feels much more alive outside as it has the opportunity to be a part of this world and to do its job in this world.
Hunt And Being Hunted
This is a major part of what a cat will experience outside. There are a lot of birds to catch, a lot of mice to catch and many other animals that might be great to bring home to you as you are a pretty bad hunter in your cat´s eyes, lol. (Actually we are pretty bad hunters. All we do is getting our food from the grocery store, so our cats might be right.)
Or let´s look at it from another angle. What about an outdoor cat being hunted. Is this a bad thing? Absolutely not! Such situations sharpen a cat´s senses.
An outdoor cat learns so many things. It learns that there is a dog in the neighborhood that might go crazy from time to time. The cat will learn when to cross a street, which animals are easy to catch, which animals are hard to catch and so on.
So maybe you were against letting your cat outside, because you were afraid that something might happen to your cat.
But how about now? What do you think about that now? Let me know in the comment section below, let´s talk about that.
What If You Just Don´t Have The Possibility To Let Your Maine Coon Outside?
Don´t get me wrong here. The things I have written above might give you the impression that I think that only outdoor Maine Coon cats named Bear Grylls can have a good and long and happy life.
This is absolutely not the fact. While I think that outdoor cats can experience a lot of great things, it is definitely possible to give your Maine Coon something similar even if it is an indoor cat. In fact, we currently do not have the possibility to let our cats outside.
We live in the 4th floor and Maine Coon cats get stolen quickly in Germany. So I know exactly how it feels to have an indoor cat and what to do with that.
The Everyday Exercise
It is very important to challenge your Maine Coon each and every day. You can do this in a lot of ways. You can play with your cat and always get new toys from time to time so that your Maine Coon doesn´t get used to it. It will be bored after some time. Here are the best toys for your Maine Coon.
You don´t have to get a new toy every week or so, save your money. You can build toys yourself or just use things that you already have in your house. As you know, cats love any kind of bag or carton. Whenever you´ve ordered something at Amazon, give your cat the carton to play.
Further we always let our Maine Coon, Maze, help us with unpacking the groceries. Maze loves to explore the different smells and to hop in the bags we use for our groceries. It is kind of an adventure for her.
Get A Big Cat Tree For Your Maine Coon
A big cat tree can be a great physical exercise for your Maine Coon. Make sure that you get an awesome and really big cat tree. I don´t have to tell you that, but Maine Coons get pretty big, so the biggest cat tree you can get is definitely the best.
Just make sure that it fits in your house, lol. Look for a high quality, stable cat tree that provides a lot of different things your Maine Coon can explore and play with. We just make sure that everything is a little adventure for our cats and the cat tree should be a big part of that. If you need some help with buying the right cat tree, read my Maine Coon cat tree guide!
Hide some cat nip from time to time in any place of the cat tree so that your Maine Coon has to search it and climb on every piece of the cat tree. By the way, this is a great way to get a lazy cat to being active again.
Don´t Declaw Your Maine Coon
Their claws are a part of their body. Cats are meant to be this way, so why should you declaw them? If your cat destroys everything in your house, there might be a problem with the way you keep it and you can find that reason.
However declawing your cat is not the right way. Actually this is a pretty safe way to decrease the life expectancy of your Maine Coon. Your cat needs its claws to hunt and to climb, so please don´t take that away from your cat.
What About The Diet?
The diet of a Maine Coon is definitely very important when it comes to increasing the life expectancy. Actually this topic is worth an entire article, but I will keep this short here.
Diet has a lot to do with diseases. If you feed your Maine Coon badly your cat will suffer from health problems in the future. An overweight cat is a disaster waiting to happen.
If your Maine Coon is overweight it won´t be able to perform certain movements anymore at some point. Further, even cats can suffer from diabeetus. That´s why it is so important to make sure that your cat gets enough exercise, combined with the right food.
I make sure that our cats don´t get any foods that contain sugar. I know that too much sugar isn´t good for me, so why should I feed it to my cats. If you are looking for a great sugar-free food for your cat, I recommend get this one.
Adapt To Your Maine Coon Cat´s Needs!
I don´t say change your whole life for your cat. However I think that if your cat shows you that it has some special needs, you should do your best to fulfill those needs.
Here is a little example: Our house cat, Gigetta, cleans herself so much and so often that she lost all her furr on her back. We didn´t know why she did this and the vets only wanted to inject her hormones to stop her from doing that.
Nothing helped. Gigetta is always a little bit grumpy and doesn´t like to be touched. That´s why we didn´t think about getting another cat. One day, though, we decided that this is the only thing that we haven´t tried yet.
We wanted another cat anyway, but Gigetta was the reason why we really got Maze. Long story short, Gigettas furr is growing back and even though she is still grumpy, she allows Maze to sleep right next to her.
We figured out what Gigetta´s needs were and we helped her.
Conclusion
As you see, increasing your Maine Coon´s life expectancy is just taking care of your cat the right way. The only thing you really have to gain to make sure that your Maine Coon has a very long life, is knowledge.
Now you have the knowledge. Take action and make every day an adventure for your beloved Maine Coon.
If you have any questions on Maine Coon lifespan, just leave a comment in the comment section below and I or Barbara will get back to you as soon as possible!
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