the average lifespan of a maine coon is > 12.5 years.
what is the average lifespan of a maine coon?
> 12.5 years
pet insurance data obtained from a study during years 2003–2006 in sweden puts the median lifespan of the maine coon at 12.5 years. 74% lived to 10 years or more and 54% lived to 12.5 years or more. maine coons are generally a healthy and hardy breed and have adapted to survive the new england climate. the most severe threat is feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (hcm), the most common heart disease seen in cats, whether pure bred or not. in maine coons, it is thought to be inherited as an autosomal dominant trait. middle-aged to older cats as well as males are thought to be predisposed to the disease. hcm is a progressive disease and can result in heart failure, paralysis of the hind legs due to clot embolization originating in the heart, and sudden death. a specific mutation that causes hcm is seen in maine coons for which testing services are offered. of all the maine coons tested for the mybpc mutation at the veterinary cardiac genetics lab at the college of veterinary medicine located at washington state university, approximately one-third tested positive. not all cats that tested positive will have clinical signs of the disease and some maine coon cats with clinical evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy test negative for this mutation, strongly suggesting that a second mutation exists in the breed. the hcm prevalence was found to be 10.1% (95% ci 5.8 -14.3% ) in this study.
maine coon
in the early 20th century, the maine coon's popularity began to decline with the introduction of other long-haired breeds, such as the persian, which originated in the middle east. the last recorded win by a maine coon in a national cat show for over 40 years was in 1911 at a show in portland, oregon. the breed was rarely seen after that. the decline was so severe that the breed was declared extinct in the 1950s, although this declaration was considered to be exaggerated and reported prematurely at the time. the central maine cat club (cmcc) was created in the early 1950s by ethylin whittemore, alta smith and ruby dyer in attempts to increase the popularity of the maine coon. for 11 years, the cmcc held cat shows and hosted exhibitions of photographs of the breed and is noted for creating the first written breed standards for the maine coon.
maine coon