Maine Coon owners flood the internet with this gorgeous and highly trainable breed—from hiking with their Coon to sailing with them. They are XL kitties, and people call them the dogs of the cat world for their unique stature, beauty, and awesome trainability. If you haven’t had the pleasure of one of these gentle giants in your home, you might still ask: How smart are Maine Coons, and are Maine coons smarter than dogs?
The Maine Coon are curious, intelligent, and highly trainable. Their brain is different from a dog’s and has remained in its perfect form for thousands of years. Dogs are pack animals and purpose-bred for at least 20,000 years, so they are smarter in social intelligence; cats show a more practical intelligence and trump domestic dogs in survival skills.
Dogs have been our trusty sidekicks for years and share many of our social behaviors through their social natures. Comparing a cat, such as a Maine Coon intelligence to a dog’s is not as simple as a test because the cat has its own innate perception and physical intelligence. Let’s explore just how smart Maine Coon’s are—and if they are even smarter than dogs.
Contents
Unraveling the Intricacies of a Cat’s Brain
Your Maine Coons brain is virtually unchanged since humans domesticated these gorgeous felines almost 12,000 years ago, according to feline genetic studies. Nearly all domestic cats are related to one solitary hunting ancestor, the Felis silvestris lybica or the African wildcat.
Dogs’ brains have steadily evolved over 20,000 years of their collaboration with us two footers. However, although the canine brain is larger, size doesn’t always dictate intelligence; otherwise, whales would be creating nuclear warheads and the metaverse.
We can start to make inroads into your Maine Coon’s intelligence when we begin exploring their brain. While both dogs and cats follow the basic carnivore model, the makeup of their cerebral matter differs significantly from ours. Compared to our oversized noggins, cats’ brains are less than half the size of human brains—relative to the size of their bodies.
The human cerebral cortex is responsible for atom bombs, world wars, and the fidget spinner’s brief popularity and reviled Crocs. The cerebral cortex is the thinking part of our brains involved with higher-level processing such as:
- Language
- Memory
- Learning
- Thought
- Decision making
- Intelligence
- Personality
The hippocampus, amygdala, and frontal lobes comprise a full quarter of the human brain, but this area only takes up 3-3.5% in cats. However, Maine coon cerebellum is larger according to their body weight, suiting their predatory drive and athleticism for tasks such as stalking, hunting prey, and perceiving sound, smells, and sounds.
Cats also have a larger hippocampus related to spatial memory and navigation functions. Ultimately, a cat’s world is infinitely more sensual than ours, with a large part of our brain spent in our thinking brain. So, it is challenging to assess the intelligence of a cat when the way they perceive the world and communicate is so very different from our own.
How Smart Are They?
As usual, feline studies are minute compared to the vast canine literature and analyses. Dogs are infinitely easier to study with their enhanced purpose-driven eagerness to please and obedience. However, researchers are making some progress in the following areas of your Maine Coon’s mind.
1. Cat Perception
A cat’s perception is filtered primarily through the senses of sight, hearing, and smell and their impressive whiskers that compensate for their lack of short-distance vision. A cat’s response to their world is often immediate and highly attuned to their physical senses.
Though cats might not ruminate on the past or make conjectures about a distant future, they are bright and adaptable creatures. Cats live in the present, fully engaged with their environment and capable of forming deep and loving bonds with their human family.
Ultimately, cats have yet to go through the dumbing down of domesticated dogs and thus retain a brain beautifully evolved for the hunt. For example, your dog might know 50 words and bring you slippers on the TV, but it will only survive for a while in the wild. Conversely, cats would excel in a post-apocalyptic state just as long as all the critters they feast on survived!
Here is a cool YouTube video on how cats perceive the world:
2. Your Maine Coon and Object Memory
Domestic cats such as the Maine Coon have shown that they have a keen sense of object permanence. Object permanence is realizing that an object that moves out of view still exists. Cats share this ability with human babies, in which object permanence is an essential cognitive development milestone.
Other studies used delayed response tests to establish the timeline of cats working short-term memory. They achieved this by delaying the cat’s search for an attractive object that they made “disappear.”
One psychological study detected up to 30 seconds of held memory for a two-choice test. However, a cat’s memory of a missing object declines considerably between 1 and 16 seconds, although it may last as long as a full minute. Cats have also demonstrated a high-functioning long-term visual memory with delayed gratification memory reaching up to 10 minutes.
3. Feline Understanding of Cause and Effect
Understanding cause and effect is essential in transferring experience in one situation and applying the knowledge to new situations. A study of cats showed success in pulling at a short string for food reward but failed to distinguish between other string forms to retrieve the treat successfully.
However, some speculated that playing with string may have offered the test subjects a reward in itself, showing how one should consider the individual perception of each species in testing for intelligence. A psychological study soon overturned the initial poor cat performance results by making the string test more cat-friendly.
Cats can, in a limited sense, perceive quantity in distinguishing between one and two dots on food retrieval tests. Every cat owner will tell you their cat is a stickler for time, especially food and sleep. Studies, such as the one Rosenkilde and Divac conducted in 1976, have supported the idea that cats have a sense of event duration and the passing of time.
4. Feline Social Intelligence
Although our one Coons ancestors may have been solitary creatures, the domestic cat does show social organization in free-roaming groups.This is not just a matter of collecting over food sources—but gravitating toward their preferred peers in a non-random manner.
Likewise, cats display social relationships with their owners and human family members at varying degrees of intimacy and complexity. An ethological study suggests that human-to-kitten contact is essential between 2-7 weeks to ensure the kitten will be human-friendly. Further studies show that kittens positively exposed to several different humans show less fear of strangers and are more affectionate to humans as adults.
5. Taking Our Cues: How Cats Communicate With Us
Cats respond to physical cues such as pointing and looking for signs in our faces in what behaviorists call social gazing.However, unlike dogs, cats don’t seem to turn to us for help when navigating a problematic puzzle—such as the trusty dog exhibits. Cats more often seek facial cues when they feel afraid or uncertain of a novel object or situation.
Cats also show vocalizations unique to their human companions that do not exist in the feral or wild cat population. These sounds reveal an adaptation of regular cat communication specifically altered to elicit responses from the cat’s chosen human. Domesticated cats have devised an ingenious purr—a particularly manipulative one, hiding within the soft sound a higher range frequency that aligns with an infant’s cry.
A 2009 study by Gerulf Rieger et al. shows that cats notice when we are down and give us extra love. These studies of depressive single humans with cats showed the cats exhibited more allorubbing of their heads and flank against owners in a state of depression.
6. Feline Voice Recognition
Cats recognize their name, and cats respond to their owner’s voices even when matched with other humans in the same gender and vocal range. When the study cats heard their owner’s voice, they responded with both ears and heads, showing that their voices may elicit physical effects in their furry friends.
7. Feline-Human Attachment
Although cats get lousy credit for being aloof and unloving, any cat lover will tell you their affection is as deep as a dog’s. An animal behavioral study showed that cats were more confident to explore when their owners were in the room.
They also exhibited rubbing behaviors when their owners left and returned to the test space and vocalizations and stress behaviors when alone. The test cats expressed little interest in a stranger who sometimes replaced their owners, showing a secure attachment style similar to a child and mother.
Evidence shows that cats do show signs of clinical separation anxiety, which include:
- Excessive vocalization
- Destructive behaviors
- Unnatural urination and defecation
- Psychogenic grooming (and obsessive licking or grooming action)
Apples and Pears: Comparing Maine Coon Cat and Dog Intelligence
Humans look for human-like behavior, learning, and perception qualities to measure intelligence. Dog’s brains are more similar to ours as their ancestors also needed social cohesion to survive and thrive. However, cats such as the Maine Coon have their own unique intelligence that is harder to measure due to their fine-tuned solitary and predatory natures.
The cat and human brains are remarkably similar but still very different in evolution and expression. It’s not like you can sit your Maine Coon down and give them a written test. While there are endless studies on canine intelligence and behavior, cats have the raw deal. They hardly ever figure in intelligence studies, and no real studies compare the intelligence of the two species definitively.
The problem lies in the nature of the cats themselves. Dogs come from ancient pack animals with collaboration and eagerness to please, not only hardwired but enhanced over their long relationship with humankind. Cats come from solitary ancestry and are less likely to want to participate in people-pleasing activities (which seems a measure of their intelligence!).
Scientific studies abound with botched cat studies, with projects abandoned early or halfway through due to their participants’ elusive natures and unwillingness. Thus, the studies favor dogs with much better adapted social intelligence, and cats come out tops in complex problem-solving exercises.
In the endless debate among dog vs cat advocates, what we define as intelligence is hard to pinpoint. There is cognitive intelligence, where canines thrive, which involves the following:
- Problem-solving
- Memory
- Emotional intelligence
There is also practical intelligence, which involves survival skills, such as the ability to thrive in the wild, which the Maine Coon easily wins. All the years of selective breeding have made dogs social and affable but entirely useless to fend for themselves in a jungle or zombie apocalypse situation.
One way to look at a domestic cat and dog is an investment banker with survivalist Les Stroud. Stroud might be at a loss on the trading floor, but if you find yourself on a deserted island or in a post-apocalyptic world, who would you prefer at your side?
Are Maine Coon Cats Smarter Than Dogs?
Dogs are certainly more adept at social cues as they have evolved from their wolf origins closely tied to the human species. Cats are recent newcomers to the human home, and we have only begun to cultivate specific breeds in the last 200 years.
Many experts judge cats and dogs as equivalent to a 2-year-old child on a cognitive level. However, they express their intelligence differently due to their innate genetic predispositions and physical makeup.
Certainly, Maine coons may be more intelligent than some breeds of dog, such as the Afghan Hound, which fared pretty badly in Stanly Coren’s intelligence ranking. Maine Coons are highly trainable pets and exhibit curious and intelligent personalities. However, as explored above, more research on the cat’s astonishing brain still needs to be conducted to answer the question definitively.
What About the Study That Showed Dogs Have Double the Neurons of Cats?
A recent Vanderbilt University neuroanatomy study claimed that dogs possess double the cerebral neurons of a cat, signaling a potential for far greater cognitive power. Dog people jumped on the bandwagon that dogs have won the intelligence war, but that may not be the last word in the cat vs dog intelligence debate.
An article in the Oxford Academic failed to find a correlation between the quantity of neurons and IQ in human subjects. The study showed that genetic inheritance plays a far more vital role in determining the intelligence of a particular brain than the nuts and bolts of its physical composition.
Dog’s brains and physiology have undergone remarkable changes since their domestication. In contrast, a cat is still evolving, having kept their ancient brains almost intact and untouched by human meddling. Researchers have yet to formulate tests that consider the finely honed hunting tool that is the cat brain.
Until then, one would have to discern intelligence from each Maine Coon and take it from there. However, after having the pleasure of owning several Maine Coons, I would suggest that they are equally intelligent, if not more, in their way.
If you don’t believe me, watch this video:
Intelligence and Personality
A certain measure of cat intelligence is the formation of distinct personalities that we love. You can’t explain away these unique sets of characteristics and quirks as mere stimuli and responses. These personality differences are established in the cat’s formative stage of 5-6 days and established by 3-4 weeks.
Studies show that kittens with friendly extroverted fathers tend to have extroverted and friendly personalities showing the link between genetics and your particular Maine Coon’s extraordinary personality.
Feline Personality: How Do Coon Breeds Fare?
More and more, intelligence and personality have become intertwined in modern personality research. Personality is coming to light as part of cognition and not a non-cognitive attribute and is essential in exploring successful cognitive patterns. So personality merits mention in assessing your Maine Coon’s smarts.
Mila Salonen and her cohorts conducted an exhaustive study of over 5000 cats to isolate the breed-specific traits of the five main domestic cat groups. The survey asked the owners of these breeds in-depth questions about the personality and habits of their cats, and lucky enough, our favorite Maine Coons were one of them.
Here is what they found!
Main Coon Traits Compared to Other Cat Breeds
- Your Maine Coon might slobber over your blankets and jerseys. The study showed that Maine Coons tend to be wool suckers, a habit that studies suggest early weaning problems.
- Despite their size, Maine Coons are less likely than the average cat to make beef with the neighborhood cats. They show a below-average aggression tendency towards other cats.
- Your Maine Coon is okay with strangers, roughly average.
- Your Maine coon has a slightly over-average willingness to have contact with people.
- They are more cautious and shy of strange things than other cat breeds.
- They are slightly above average with aggression towards family members and strangers (not my Halo, no way!)
- They have medium activity levels compared to other breeds.
- They are not especially prone to be excessive groomers.
- Owners do not consider them to show a significant degree of problematic behavior.
Is Your Cat a Furry Einstein: Let’s Test!
1. Object Memory Test
It is time to play hide ‘n seek with a favorite treat. Place something delicious for your Maine Coon under a small box or paper cup, making sure your cat sees you hiding it there. If your Coon springs into action and uncovers the treat, chances are they are brilliant.
Then, try to see how good their object memory is by showing them where you hid the treat and delaying them from getting to it. Gradually extend your time. If your Maine Coo is just as keen to uncover his prize after several minutes, chances are he is smart.
2. Attachment Test
Leave your cat alone in a room for 5 minutes or so. When you return, if they approach affectionately and continue their essential business of grooming or chasing a bug, your cat may be bright. If they stick to you like Velcro and complain or pretend you aren’t there, they are not exhibiting a healthy attachment style indicative of social intelligence.
3. Social Reference Test
Find something crazy-looking and bright or something unusual that moves or makes sounds. Introduce your Maine Coon to the item by pointing, speaking calmly and happily, and approaching the object with happy sounds.
If your cat gazes at you and then approaches the novel item with you curiously and without observable fear, chances are your Maine Coon is taking your cues. If he heads for the hills or hides under the furniture, chances are he’s not a Kitty Mensa candidate!
4. Other Signs
- They know what time to wake you for their breakfast and wait for you when you are due home from work.
- They are master snack pictures, often using their smarts to open jars, cupboards, or packets.
- They know their name and respond to your call (even outside feeding time).
- They enjoy training with either affection or treats and remember the tricks without too much problem.
- They exhibit a strong personality and a sense of humor. My Halo has a game where he likes to stalk people in doorways and surprise them. He also enjoys smacking the dogs on the butt when they pass him, so they are frightened to pass in narrow parts of the hall!
- They are curious about new things and engage you in play often.
- They sense your moods and are more affectionate when you are feeling blue.
In Conclusion
Ultimately Maine Coons are very smart, and as research catches up to the feline brain, we will discover even more about this unique species, Felis silvestris catus. Maine Coons are exceptionally bright and responsive members of their once-wild heritage—affectionate without being clingy and showing unique individual personalities. Their minds are so much more complex than predator and prey. If you are lucky enough to live with one, they will certainly teach you that cats rule—in their own Maine Coon style.
