Real figures instead of internet legends: what males and females weigh, how long they keep growing, what length is normal and why twelve kilos is a bad sign.
The internet is home to a Maine Coon that weighs twenty kilos. Nobody has ever seen one in real life, yet almost every buyer comes to us looking for it. Below are the real figures: what a Maine Coon weighs, how long it grows and what it means when the weight is well above normal.
A male weighs six to nine kilos, a female four to six and a half. That's the range for healthy cats in normal condition, and within it the spread is huge: a nine-kilo male looks twice as imposing as a six-kilo one, although both are normal.
Then comes the arithmetic people rarely mention. A twelve-kilo cat almost always points not to outstanding breed quality but to excess weight. The strain on his hip joints goes up, he gets out of breath after playing, and he copes worse with anaesthesia for any operation. A Maine Coon is a big cat already; his skeleton doesn't need any extra load.
Checking condition is easy. You should be able to feel the ribs under the coat without pressing, but they shouldn't stick out. From above there's a visible waist behind the ribs. If the cat looks like a barrel from above, it's not the breed.
An adult male stands about forty centimetres at the shoulder. Body length without the tail is roughly eighty centimetres to a metre in large males, and the tail adds another thirty-five to forty.
The Maine Coon's tail is a story in itself: by the standard, laid forward along the back it should reach at least the shoulder blades. It's one of the first things a judge uses to tell a pedigree cat from a lookalike.
Next to an ordinary house cat, a Maine Coon isn't several times bigger but about one and a half times. The average non-pedigree cat weighs four kilos, a Maine Coon seven. You feel the difference when he lies down on your legs.
Longer than most cats, and that's the main source of confusion. Up to a year a Maine Coon puts on most of his mass but stays a teenager: long, gangly, with paws and ears he has yet to grow into. From one to two he builds muscle and broadens in the chest. Full adult size comes at about three, in some males at four. The coat and ruff also take a while to reach their adult look.
That's why a kitten's size at three months tells you almost nothing about its adult weight: the early difference between littermates evens out by a year. Look at the parents, not at which kitten is biggest in the box.
There's no point chasing kilos. A Maine Coon is valued for his proportions: a long rectangular body, strong bones, a broad chest. A cat in good condition impresses through his build, not through the number on the scales.
If your cat is noticeably heavier than normal, write first to the breeder you got him from: they know the line and can tell you whether that weight is normal for his ancestors or already too much. Then, if need be, see a vet.
To see what adult cats in normal condition look like, visit our Females and Males pages. We post new photos and write-ups in our VK group (in Russian).
Home in Raksi Maine Coon cattery, St Petersburg.