Embarking on the journey of selecting the right cat food for your cherished Maine Coon requires a careful examination of various factors. It’s a process that demands time and consideration, as what may seem ideal on paper might not align with your cat’s unique needs. Factors such as age, weight, and activity levels are crucial.
In this detailed guide, we’ll explore the essential considerations before investing in new cat food, ensuring an informed decision for the well-being of your Maine Coon. Let’s navigate the world of feline nutrition together, shedding light on key factors for providing optimal sustenance for your furry friend.
Contents
1. Know Your Maine Majesty
Every cat is unique, and you should look closely at your Maine Coon to assess the perfect food. Much like humans, your cat’s nutritional needs change as they grow from an adorable kitten through adulthood to those lazy senior years soaking up the sun.
Each Maine Coon has different energy levels, and those gentle giants who are more active will need more calories to keep them sleek and healthy. Let’s consider some of the essential factors when choosing your cat food.
What Stage of Life Is Your Maine Coon?
Maine Coons are the giants of the domestic cat world and have nutritional needs specific to their extended growth. Thus the timeline for development in a Maine Coon is substantially longer than an average domestic cat, and their kitten stages last up to 15 months when they are almost their adult height, but they continue to grow and fill out up to 4 years old.
Kitten Stage: Until 15-24 Months
All kittens require a specialized diet with more animal-based protein, calcium, and phosphorus than adults. Calcium and phosphorus form the basis of skeletal development and structure, which is particularly important in the larger-than-average growth of the Maine Coon breed.
Adult-Mature: 7 Years to 11 Years
Your adult Maine Coon is still active—but less so than the crazy antics of their early kitten stages. You miss their constant activity, but simultaneously, you let out a silent sigh of relief!
Look for adult-specific cat food enriched with taurine and omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA to best maintain your adult Mane Coon’s health.
Senior 11 Years +
Nutrition is vital to a healthy and long-lived Maine Coon. The proper diet and care can slow down or prevent many health issues associated with feline aging and diseases such as diabetes mellitus, kidney disease, and osteoarthritis.
So the best food for your senior Maine Coon should take into account the effects of aging on their bodies and changing metabolism. These special needs often require you to adjust the ratios of fat and carbs from their adult feed to a lower level.
2. Know Your Coon Companion’s Nutritional Requirements
Several elements in cat food will ensure your Maine Coon stays healthy and active. Although larger than most cats, their essential nutrition is the same as domestic cats. Let’s explore them below!
Protein Is King!
Maine Coons are like their wild ancestors and are obligate carnivores meaning that they are reliant on animal meat to thrive. Although they can eat small amounts of plant matter, they cannot properly digest and process high levels of plant life in their diet.
Thus protein is the most crucial aspect of your Maine Coons diet. AAFCO guidelines stipulate that adult cats require a 26% crude protein minimum, and kittens and lactating females require a 30% minimum. Not all proteins are equal, and you should ensure that most of the protein in your Maine Coons food comes from animal meat.
Fats Are a Good Thing!
AAFCO guidelines mandate a minimum of 9% fats in feline diets through the life stages. Fats are essential to cats as an energy source but also offer water-soluble vitamins such as A, D, and E. Fats also make the food more tasty and provide your Mie Coon essential fatty acids or EFAs.
Carbohydrates in Cat Food
Carbs are not essential for cats as they have evolved to get most of their energy through tasty meat proteins and fats. Cats have developed the ability to synthesize their glucose from proteins through gluconeogenesis, making carbs entirely optional in an animal protein-rich diet.
In a continuing debate, certain studies suggest a link between high-carb cat diets and conditions such as obesity and diabetes mellitus. However, carbs can provide an easy-to-use source of energy and glucose. These qualities allow cat food carbs to create moderate-fat diets and provide the basis for low-calorie diets to promote weight loss.
However, carbohydrates can have benefits such as fibers and vegetable phytonutrients like beta carotene, which may help prevent cancer. Starch may also provide cats with kidney problems a source of energy other than phosphorus.
According to PetMD, cats should ideally get less than 10% of their calories from carbs.
Vitamins and Minerals Maine Coons Need
Vitamins and minerals are essential for numerous functions in your cat’s body. AAFCO created a list of these essential vitamins, which you can find here.
Moisture Is Essential
Cats have adapted to take most of their moisture from their prey, so moisture content in your cat food is critical. Cats deprived of sufficient hydration can suffer ill health in the long term.
Unlike dogs, cats don’t drink as freely from their water sources, so you should look for food that incorporates their hydration needs; more about this in section 5: Wet Maine Coon Food Vs. Dry: Which To Choose?
3. What Is Your Maine Coon’s Body Condition?
You should determine your Maine Coons body condition score (BCS) before opting for one food brand over another. Your local vet could give you a medical evaluation of your Maine Coon, or you may opt to measure up your kitty by evaluating their body yourself by the following steps:
1. Start with the rib test: Run your fingers gently along your cat’s sides and feel for the underlying ribs. A healthy Maine Coon will have a thin layer of fat over their ribs and spine with bones that you can easily feel but are not noticeable by sight. If you can’t feel the ribs easily or not at all, your Maine Coon is likely overweight.
2 Check your kitty’s waistline: Stand above your cat and look for signs of a waistline behind the ribs that taper towards the hips with an indent near the midsection. Your cat is overweight if there is no waist indent or the flanks bulge from your above view.
4. The side view tummy test: Have a look at your Maine Coon from the side. Depending on how long their fur is, you may have to feel the shape of their belly from the side. There should be a slight tuck or upward slope towards the hindquarters. If your cat’s tummy has no indent, hangs low, or sags, your cat has excess stomach fat, which is the most dangerous form of fat.
How Active Is Your Cat?
If your Maine Coon is a Kamikaze ninja like my Halo, you will need to find a food with suitable calorie content. On the other hand, if your gentle giant is a couch potato, you should look for food that caters to weight control and management with low fat and carbs.
4. Determine if Your Coonie Breed Has Any Medical Conditions
However gorgeous and sweet-natured, your Maine Coon may be prone to specific genetic-related health issues like most purebred cats. The diseases most likely to affect your Maine coon include the following:
Polycystic Kidney Disease
PKD is a disease that steadily destroys the kidneys through cysts or pockets of fluid in the kidneys that grow steadily worse as the cat ages. This condition may be aggravated and accelerated through feeding commercial cat dry cubes.
If your Maine Coon suffers from this condition, they will require a specialized diet with the following:
- Lowered sodium levels
- Lowered protein percentage
- Increased omega-3 acids
Examples of excellent cat foods to treat both early and late manifestations of PKD include:
- Royal Canin® Renal Support
- Purina® ProPlan®
- Veterinary Diet NF Kidney Function®
Feline Hip Dysplasia
Another genetic disorder common in Maine Coons is hip dysplasia. This condition affects the rounded ball on the top of your cat’s leg bone or the ‘femoral head.’ Instead of fitting flush in the socket or ‘acetabulum,’ the ball head doesn’t fit neatly in the socket, and the grinding and rubbing lead to increasing mobility issues and arthritis in later years.
If your Maine Coon has this condition, you will need to seek food rich in glucosamine and chondroitin that promote and maintain the health of your cat’s connective tissues.
Your cat’s weight can contribute significantly to this condition, so looking for a balanced weight management food option can help prevent and improve the pain associated with this condition.
Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)
Maine Coons may suffer from HCM, which is a genetic condition that causes the left heart ventricle walls to thicken. This thickening prevents the heart’s left chamber from properly filling and decreases their ability to send oxygen-rich blood to the rest of the body.
Your Maine Coon’s diet has a pivotal role to play in this dread disease. Dietary excesses that are sodium and potassium-heavy can pave the way for HCM. Insufficient nutrients such as taurine and B vitamins can play a role in the development of the disease.
If you Maine Coon has HCM, you would need to find a veterinary-approved diet containing:
- Reduced sodium levels.
- Fish oil is rich in preformed EPA and DHA.
- Highly palatable (i.e., better tasting) foods rich in protein can slow or reverse the wasting of muscle structure and body of these patients.
- Antioxidants neutralize these molecules and reduce that inflammatory response. Vitamin C and E are the most commonly used in cats.
- Vets will typically recommend B-vitamin supplementation with these patients.
5. Wet Maine Coon Food vs. Dry: Which To Choose?
Although kibbles are great because they are easy to serve and reduce the yucky factor of cleaning up your kitty’s litter, an all-dry diet is not the best idea. The reason why moisture in your Maine Coon diet is essential is due to their fine-tuned evolution.
Why a Dry Kibble-Only Diet Is Not Ideal
Our Maine Coons haven’t changed much from their African wildcat ancestors like most modern domestic cats. As an evolutionary adaptation to our cat’s ancestors’ dry, desert geography, they evolved to extract much of their water intake from devouring their prey. So, unlike your dog, your cat will drink less water than required to stay hydrated.
Scientific studies suggest that a dry food-only diet can harm your cat due to their low moisture content and higher carbohydrate profiles. Lack of hydration may cause a host of physical ailments in your Maine Coon, including:
- Lower Urinary Tract Disease (LUTD)
- Low energy
- Poor skin condition
- Compromised organ function
- Obesity
Is Wet Food Best or a Combination of Wet and Dry?
Most wet cat foods contain over 70% moisture, similar to those in a tasty mouse! However, wet pouches can be super expensive, mainly if you source the most nutritious and organic brands. My Halo won’t touch canned food after the first serving, even if I seal the can immediately, so I know how much wet food pouches can hurt your wallet!
Most experts suggest a wet-only or a balanced mix of wet and dry foods, but be sure to calculate the nutrition of the combined food types to ensure proper nutrition.
If you need more details, dive into our article to gain a deeper understanding of the comparison between wet food and dry food for Maine Coons. For those interested, we’ve also recommended the best wet food and best dry food options tailored for Maine Coons right here on our site.
Final Thoughts
Selecting the ideal nourishment for your Maine Coon involves a nuanced process requiring meticulous thought. Our exploration has unveiled pivotal factors, spanning from comprehending your cat’s life stage to understanding nutritional needs and potential health concerns. Each Maine Coon, being distinct, possesses unique energy levels and individual requirements that should influence their dietary decisions.
Protein, as the foundation of a Maine Coon’s diet, mirrors their obligatory carnivore heritage. Fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and moisture content all play crucial roles in ensuring overall well-being. Factoring in your cat’s body condition, activity level, and potential medical conditions introduces layers of complexity. The discourse between wet and dry food emphasizes the significance of moisture in their diet, advocating a balanced approach for optimal nutrition.
In summary, opting for the appropriate cat food for your Maine Coon necessitates a considerate amalgamation of science, intuition, and a profound understanding of your feline companion. As you embark on this gastronomic journey, may their bowls be filled not only with sustenance but with the components for a prolonged, robust, and joyous existence by your side.
