Maine Coon Cat Breeders In The United States
Table of Contents
Finding The Best Maine Coon Breeders In The US
If you’re searching for the best Maine Coon Breeders HugeCoons that have Maine Coon Kittens for sale, you may find yourself wondering how to choose the best one. In a very noisy space, it could become overwhelming trying to decide who you should do business with.
Ultimately, you want to find the one that you’re the most comfortable with and the one that you feel is doing the best job in their breeding program and raising your future kitten from our cattery. It’s perfectly ok to be diligent and ask questions of the breeders, expecting answers and documentation. This is what makes a reputable and responsible breeder.
Maine Coon Kittens For Sale
Rick – Maine Coon male kitten
Rocket – Maine Coon male kitten
Stella – Maine Coon male kitten
Yugo – Maine Coon male kitten
Wayland – Maine Coon male kitten
Greys – Maine Coon female kitten
Tor – Maine Coon male kitten
Beautiful Maine Coon Cats
When researching Maine Coon Breeders, you’re naturally going to notice their cats and kittens first. Beautiful photos of the kittens always capture your attention. The more you start looking at kitten photos though, you’ll start to notice each breeder develops a certain “look” in their cattery. Take the time to go through all of their photos, and find the one that has the Maine Coon look that you’re in love with. They’re all unique in their own way.
Maine Coon Breed Standard
The Maine Coon Cat is a Pedigree cat. Breeders are specifically breeding it to exhibit particular physical characteristics and show some breed-related behaviors. The Cat Clubs recognize these behaviors and set a “standard” for which all Pedigree cats should have. This is referred to as “Breed standard“.
While most pet owners aren’t familiar with the breed standard, it is the responsibility of the breeder to ensure the cats used for breeding meet these minimum standards.
You can feel confident knowing that Sassy Koonz hand-selects cats based on their health records, temperaments, and breed standard.
The temperament of the Kittens Parents
Being able to talk to the Maine Coon breeders about their cats is very important. Since Maine Coon kittens tend to inherit personality traits from their parents, it’s a good idea to ask about the temperament of the parents.
Some cats are super affectionate, while others do not like being held. The parents of the kittens pass down some of these traits. Each kitten has its own personality, just like people do. Do some research and discover the traits of the parents of each litter.
See the video below of Ursula, one of our Queens. Just some quick 20-second videos can tell you a lot about the temperament of a cat. In fact, when I imported Ursula after looking at hundreds of other girls, it was videos of her personality that made me fall in love with her.
Health Records of Cats
Every cat that is participating in any breeding program should have up-to-date health records. At your request, any reputable breeder should be willing to provide you with the health and medical records of their breeding cats. Make sure that the cats are up to date on vaccinations and are negative for FIV and FELV. Every breeder should be able to provide you with documentation showing that their cats have a clean bill of health.
Sassy Koonz keeps the profile of each of our breeding cats updated with health records and genetic testing. Ursula arrived from Russia and was given the DNA swab test. You can review all of the testing that was done for each one of our breeding parents on their individual portfolio pages.
Sometimes, though, these DNA Tests just aren’t enough to go by. There’s alot more than can occur inside a cattery that causes widespread contagious diseases. In a multiple cat household, shelter, or cattery these viruses are more prone to attack.
It’s super important to know how the breeding cats live, their environment and how many cats they live with. You should also know where and how the kittens are born and raised.
Maine Coon Genetic Testing
Most Pedigree cats have their own set of issues that are specific to their breed. A reputable Maine Coon breeder will have genetic tests performed on all of her breeding cats to screen for these genetic defects prior to breeding them. In the Maine Coon, these are the common genetic tests that should be performed.
- HCM – Feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a disease of the heart muscle in which the walls thicken and the heart enlarges.
- SMA – Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disease seen in Maine Coon cats. The disease is characterized by progressive instability with unsteady gait and posture abnormalities due to loss of motor neurons in the lower spinal cord and atrophy of muscles in the hind limbs.
- PKD – Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) is an inherited condition in cats that causes multiple cysts (pockets of fluid) to form in the kidneys. These cysts are present from birth. Initially, they are very small but they grow larger over time and may eventually disrupt kidney function resulting in kidney failure.
- If you don’t see test results for the parents listed on the breeder’s website, then request a copy of the tests. If they can’t produce negative test results for HCM, SMA, and PKD, then you might want to consider finding another breeder.
Our Health Tests and Genetic Profiles are Available to the Public
Choosing a reputable breeder that screens for these genetic anomalies is always the best way to these potential issues.
Genetic testing isn’t enough, though. There are many more health issues that can arise in a cat that there’s no screening for. These are the issues that really require an ethical breeder behind the scenes. Someone who will make the right decision when it comes to using a cat that may potentially pass down a major health issue to the kittens.
How Many Kittens Does the Breeder Have Each Year?
A kindle of kittens is a lot of work both for the mama cat and the breeder. From newborns to when they’re ready to go home, they demand a lot of love, care, and attention. Mama kitty will do most of it at first, but once they start hobbling around and leaving the nest, they need to be monitored, weaned, and kept in a safe environment.
Sometimes it’s hard to imagine what is really going on behind all of the cute photos that the breeders post to social media. Take the time to dig through their Facebook Page, website and Instagram. With the amount of time, it requires to care for and socialize a litter of kittens, use your best judgment when deciding on which breeder to buy your kitten from. The socialization period with humans really starts at around 2 weeks old and is continuous after that. Ask questions about what the breeder does to socialize the kittens and prepare them for human interaction..
Our Females Mate Once Every 6 to 8 Months
According to “Feline Husbandry, Diseases and Management in the Multiple Cat Environment ” its safe for a female to deliver a litter of kittens once every six to eight months. That gives her body time to rest and recover in between litters.
Check the history of the breeder’s females and see how often the girls are delivering kittens. If it’s more frequent than suggested by veterinarians and doctors, then the Queen’s health could be compromised.
How Many Cats Are In the Breeding Program?
Have you ever heard anyone say “that’s too many cats”? I’ve always wondered what number would justify giving someone this label? Then I saw the best answer ever on social media and I’ve never forgotten it.
“Too many cats” is when you’re no longer able to provide a clean, spacious, nurturing, loving environment for your animals. It could also mean compromising the health and/or welfare of your cats or yourself.
Ultimately, the term “too many cats” is going to be different for every person. As a Maine Coon breeder, I know what my limits are when it comes to housing, care, maintenance, cleanliness, costs, and socialization based on the space and time that I have right now. That is certainly going to be different for another breeder who is able to house and care for many more cats than I can.
Replacement Guarantee
The best Maine Coon breeders take every precaution to avoid genetic defects and diseases. There’s always the possibility that your kitten could have a genetic defect that wasn’t detectable in any circumstance. In some cases, both parents may test negative for a genetic disease, but the kitten ends up being a carrier.
When this happens, it’s only reasonable for the breeder to replace your kitten with another one upon request. Usually written verification by a Veterinarian is required to make a claim against a genetic defect.
Sales Contract
Most importantly, everything that is promised to you should be in writing. Make sure that the breeder you decide to work with has a written contract that both of you sign. Some of them will have the contract posted on their websites, others will present it to you upon request. Read over the contract carefully, looking for details on health guarantee, and replacement guarantee.
Other Recommended Maine Coon Breeders
I’m happy to share with you my recommended Maine Coon Breeders. As much as I’d like to always have fur bomb European Maine Coon Kittens available for you, the future Sassy Koonz Guardian, it’s just not possible.
Since I’m a small Maine Coon cattery, I’ll only have a couple of litters of Maine Coon kittens for Sale each year.
This means that the timing might not be perfect for you, because you’re looking to add a new member to your family now, and you don’t want to wait for a Sassy Koons kitten. I utterly and completely understand that you may not want to wait on Sassy Koonz to find your purrfect love.
Please note that if a particular Maine Coon Breeder isn’t on my list, it only means that they don’t meet one of the requirements mentioned above. 🙂 And since I’m fairly new to the Cat Fancy, I don’t know a whole heap of people yet. I’m sure this list of Recommended Maine Coon Breeders will grow as more time passes.
