Maine Coons are supersized love bundles with XL hearts to match their size. This intelligent and gentle breed is one of the most popular cat breeds in the world for a good reason—they are awesome! If you are thinking of bringing one of them into your loving home, you might consider a rescue Maine coon as an option.
You can rescue Maine Coons in the US by searching local shelters or using online pet search databases such as Petfinder. Alternatively, you can search for organizations that specifically focus on the Maine Coon breed in your state, such as Maine Coon Rescue or Only Maine Coons Rescue.
Rescuing an unwanted animal is a rewarding experience, and many cats are languishing in shelters, desperate for a loving home. There are several ways you can find a Maine Coon rescue, saving yourself money and saving a precious life at the same time. Here are some great reasons to adopt a Maine coon, and some resources for finding your gentle giant ASAP.
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5 Reasons To Choose a Rescue Maine Coon
1. You Are Potentially Saving Two Lives
Out of the awful 7.6 companion animals entering rescue shelters yearly, about 3.4 million are cats. Of these 3 million poor creatures, 1.4 million meet their ends in these places of temporary rescue. With so many potentially loving kitties losing their lives without chances of a loving home, buying a purebred cat ignores this terrible crisis.
You will not only give a cat the opportunity of love and a good home, but you will also be freeing a space for another animal needing rescue. To give an idea of the scope of purebred domestic animals, experts peg the industry at $3.1 billion in 2023 in the USA.
Animal Foundation Estimates suggest that the domestic cat population is around 60 million pet cats. Humane Pro estimates that 4% of all US cats are pure breeds. Thus, the total number of potential cat rescues that may have enjoyed happy homes is a staggering 240,000.
2. Adopting a Maine Coon Will Save You Money
According to Catster, a purebred Maine Coon kitten will cost between $1,000 and $4,000. However, a reputable breeder such as Sassy Koontz will charge from $4,900 and up for her show-quality kittens.
Cat adoption prices in the US in 2023 are between $50 and $175, and reputable shelters usually provide neutering and vaccinations according to your adopted cat’s age and breed. You can better spend the money you save on enriching your home environment for your new family member.
3. Purebred Cats Suffer More Genetic Ill Health
Pure breeds are also entering the spotlight for inherent breed-specific illnesses, which some organizations suggest are a form of animal cruelty. PETA mentions Maine Coons in their list of breeds genetically prone to ill health, along with Birmins, Bengals, Persians, and several other much-loved purebred felines.
Many Pedigree lines suffer from inbreeding to conform to breed standards and lack genetic diversity. A 2023 study published in VetRecord used pet insurance data to highlight the genetic ill health of pedigree cats in comparison to mixed breed cats. Their data suggests that purebred cats, including the Maine Coon, suffer significantly higher levels of morbidity and ill health.
4. Buying Purebred Maine Coons May Promote Unethical Breeding
Many purebred pets sold in pet stores may come from “kitten mills,” which are hosts to terrible animal rights abuse. Backyard breeders out to make a fast buck keep their animals in appalling conditions where breeding queens are condemned to litter after litter, often in unsanitary conditions.
These awful humans often hide their cruelty indoors, where people cannot intervene in their gross animal rights violations. PETA even goes as far as to call all breeders of purebred animals disreputable, however ethical their breeding processes may be.
5. You Can Pick a Cat That Best Suits Your Lifestyle
You may long to have a Maine Coon in your home but lack the time and energy involved in raising a kitten. You can vet your potential cat before adoption and opt for an older cat. You may also wish to integrate your Maine Coon with existing household members, both animal and human, and many shelters provide socialization checks to ensure companion animal compatibility.
Here Jackson Galaxy shows some of the benefits of adopting older cats:
5 Tips for Rescuing a Maine Coon
1. Consider Your Situation Before Adopting a Maine Coon
Adopting a pet should take time and consideration. There are several areas you should assess before adopting a Maine Coon that you might overlook in your eagerness to adopt. Your checklist should include the following.
- Approval from landlords: If you rent a home, you should ensure that your landlord or body corporate allows pets.
- Your home environment: You should ensure your home is secure and cat-proof to prevent your feline adoptee from escaping or suffering harm in high-density areas.
- Your household members: If you share accommodation, ensure all your housemates are on board with your decision.
- Other pets: If you already own a cat, ensure your potential adoptee is fine with other cats. Often, shelters will study your adoptee to determine dog/cat/child socialization to ensure a great fit.
- Your finances: According to the ASPCA Cat Insurance, cats can cost around $634 or $53 a month, barring unforeseen events. Raising a kitten has higher overheads with neutering/spaying and vaccination and deworming costs.
- Time: People are only starting to understand that cats are not the low-maintenance creatures we once believed them to be. You need time for interacting and playing, and ensure your working hours are manageable so your cat will suffer in your absence.
2. Ask Your Rescue Shelter About Your Cat’s History/Health
Reputable shelters will provide health and socialization checks to ensure adoptees find the perfect home. If Maine Coon’s previous owners surrendered the cat, shelter personnel could give you an idea about the cat’s background and socialization. Your resume should also come with a clean bill of health or medical history should your potential cat suffer illness or disorders.
3. Book a Vet Visit ASAP
Always book a visit to your local veterinarian to ensure your adoptee is fit and pest/disease-free. Shelters are often overcrowded, and volunteer medical staff are often overworked. Give your cat the benefit of a thorough health check at your local vet to ensure that you don’t carry any pesky fleas, skin parasites, or infectious diseases they might carry on to you or other pets in your home.
4. Prepare Your Home or Apartment
It’s still essential to take the necessary precautions for your family and the cat’s safety. Once you have ensured that you are ready and able to provide a loving home for a Maine Coon and your home is secure and cat friendly, you should create an enriched environment for your kitty with everything they need to be secure and happy. A safe space should include the following:
- A safe area out of foot traffic where they can hide and accustom themselves to their new life.
- All necessities, such as water, food bowls, litter boxes, and scratching posts, should be in the safe area.
- Creating places for elevation, such as cat shelves/walkways and surfaces, can help your cat feel less anxious.
- A variety of cat toys can entice your cat to play in time, strengthening your bond and improving your kitty’s feelings of belonging.
Here is an excellent example of a DIY catwalk on YouTube:
5. Set Aside Time and Consider a Companion
Ensure you have a couple of days to spend with your new rescue. A great time to adopt is on leave or holiday, where you can spend as much time bonding as possible. Ensure you have a friend or family member to provide company for your cat in the initial weeks should you need to leave your cat alone.
If your cat is going to be the only feline in your home, consider adopting two cats, especially if they are young. If older, consider adopting bonded pairs who came to the shelter together; that way, your cat may be less anxious or lonely.
Where To Find Rescue Maine Coons in the US
Visit Your Local Animal Shelter
It’s a more ethical option to seek your new Maine Coon in shelters that employ euthanasia. Organizations like PETA criticize no-kill shelters as potentially prompting overcrowding and that long years confined to a cage is a cruelty in itself. So there are some ethical questions—however noble the intention of the organizations may be.
However, caring people spend long hours creating a safe space for unwanted animals, and there is certainly no shame in adopting one of their cats. Look for organizations like East Coast Maine Coon Rescue (ECMC) to eliminate the potential crowding and long-term caging by fostering their rescues in loving homes until their adoption.
3 Great Pet Search Databases
Pet search databases coordinate the efforts of organizations and shelters to bring animals in need of homes into the public eye. You may also search their databases by breed and focus on potential Maine Coon’s seeking forever homes. Here are some potential options.
1. Rescue Me!
| Organization | Rescue Me! |
| Serves US State/s | Worldwide, including US states |
| Web Address | https://mainecoon.rescueme.org/ |
Rescue Me! It is a fantastic organization founded in 2020, an online portal for various animals seeking homes, including cats, dogs, and horses. Animal lover Jeff Gold is the mastermind behind the organization, which facilitates rescues all over the world. He lives in Watkinsville, Georgia, at the Rescue Me’s Animal Rehabilitation Center, with 18 rescue animals.
What’s great about the rescue me portal is that you can click by state on their map and peruse cats seeking rescue by breed, including the Maine Coon.
The portal has facilitated the rescue of over 11,000 Maine Coons to date, which is an impressive total!
2. Petfinder
| Organization | Petfinder |
| Serves US State/s | All US states |
| Web Address | https://www.petfinder.com/ |
Petfinder is an online database offering animals seeking loving homes from over 11,000 animal shelters across the US, Canada, and Mexico. Their pets are updated daily, linking potential owners to shelter websites and promoting their services. The platform also offers discussion forums and a pet care resource library.
Their easy-to-use platform allows you to refine your search to breeds such as Maine Coon. I found 105 potential Maine Coons in their NY search results!
3. PetCurious
| Organization | Petcurious |
| Serves US State/s | All US states |
| Web Address | https://www.petcurious.com/about-contact/ |
Petcurious is another excellent online platform that coordinates the efforts of more than 8,450 animal rescue organizations. The organization is run by people passionate about matching pets with potential homes. You may refine your search to breed and hopefully find your Maine Coon companion.
However, they also offer animals for sale, which begs the question of whether they may promote the existence of puppy and cat mills.
Our 5 Top Rescue Organizations in the US
1. Maine Coon Rescue MCR
| Organization | Maine Coon Rescue |
| Serves US State/s | Nationwide/All US states |
| Based in | Parlin, New Jersey |
| Website | Maine Coon Rescue |
Maine Coon Rescue is a 501c3 non-profit organization that operates nationwide to rescue and home Maine Coon and Maine Coon mix breed cats and kittens. They have a careful screening process to ensure they find perfect forever homes for their rescues. They also have a transportation tariff and will never use shipping but only by physically accompanying a human.
The application board will interview applicants before approval, and the prices vary according to factors such as pedigree status and age.
2. Only Maine Coons Rescue (OMCR)
| Organization | Only Maine Coons Rescue (OMCR) |
| Serves US State/s | District of Columbia Maryland Massachusetts New Jersey New York Pennsylvania Virginia |
| Based in | New Jersey |
| Website | Only Maine Coons Rescue |
The OMC is an entirely volunteer-run registered 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization that focuses on Maine Coon and Maine Coon mixed breeds needing rescue and loving homes.
Their adoption process has four stages. An adoption coordinator will guide you through the following steps to find your perfect fit.
1. Personal interview
2. Foster interview
3. Home visit
4. Transport arrangements for your new Maine Coon
If your adoptee is unneutered, you will need to furnish proof of pre-payment with your local vet for sterilization or make arrangements with OMC-related programs for the process.
3. East Coast Maine Coon Rescue (ECMCR)
| Organization | East Coast Maine Coon Rescue |
| Serves US States | NJ and surrounds |
| Based in | Keansburg NJ |
| Website | East Coast Maine Coon Rescue |
The EMCR is a non-profit organization that specializes in rescuing Maine Coons from euthanasia or difficult situations and providing foster care until they find a perfect human match. The organization has been running since 2009 with a group of Maine Coon loving volunteers working together to home these rescue cats.
The adoption process starts with an application, and they generally respond within 7-10 days. A rescue case manager will guide you through the steps to ensure your chosen kitty gets the best forever home as seamlessly as possible.
You will need to provide references to proceed with your application, while the EMCR will censure proper vetting of their foster cats to ensure a proper fit.
4. Arizona Maine Coon Cat Rescue (AMCCR)
| Organization | Arizona Maine Coon Cat Rescue |
| Serves US States | Arizona and surrounds |
| Based in | Mesa, Arizona |
| Website | Arizona Maine Coon Cat Rescue |
The AMCCR is a 501(c) (3) non-profit run by lovers of the Maine Coon breed since 2008. They work in collaboration with Petfinder to provide the public with their perfect Maine Coon companion. They partner with two vets, The Paws Clinic and the Agape Medical Clinic, to ensure their cats are healthy and sterilized.
5. Maine Coons & More – New Jersey
| Organization | Maine Coons and More |
| Serves US States | NJ and its surrounds |
| Based in | Southern NJ |
| Website | Maine Coons and More |
Maine Coons and More offers an exclusive network of foster homes and rescue personnel and a wealth of experience matching Maine Coons and their potential owners. This non-profit 501(c)(3)has a strict vetting process for potential owners, including the following regulations:
- You must be over 21 years old to adopt your cat.
- You must have children over seven years old unless pre-approved.
- You should have an age-appropriate playmate for your Maine Coon or adopt in a pair.
- All household members must meet the cat in the foster situation before adoption.
Closing Thoughts
Although purebred Maine Coon kittens are undeniably gorgeous, there are many advantages to rescuing a Maine Coon. Beyond the financial benefits, you provide a loving home for an animal in need—and potentially save a life. Do your homework and make sure you are using a legitimate, non-profit, and ethically-minded rescue organization. Good luck finding your perfect fit, and hopefully, you will soon welcome your new furry, water-loving giant into your home.
