Talk:Maine Coon

"Rectangular"??

"Maine Coons possess a rectangular body shape". What does this mean? Although some cats have longer torsos and some shorter, IMHO the degree of "rectangularity" of all cats is about the same. What's notable about Maine Coons? -- 201.37.230.43 (talk) 15:42, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

If you look at all of the breed standards listed in the infobox, you'll notice that Maine Coons are to possess a "rectangular" body shape (i.e., a long torso). I'm only going by what the sources tell me. – Ms. Sarita ^Confer 16:21, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

We should either clearly say in the article what "rectangular" means in this context, or avoid using the term, or make plain in the article that "The breed standard says that MCs are to have a "rectangular" body shape", but we don't really know what that means. (I suppose that my concern comes under WP:JARGON - if we use some odd term that specialists understand, we should define it for the general reader.) -- 201.37.230.43 (talk) 19:18, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I honestly don't see how WP:JARGON comes into play here. The word "rectangle" isn't a subject-specific term. The average reader knows what a rectangle looks like and I'm sure has enough common sense to know how the shape would pertain to a feline. – Ms. Sarita ^Confer 20:30, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I also seem to lack the common sense to grasp what "rectangular" might mean in this context. Your comment "(i.e., a long torso)" suggests that a non-rectangular body would probably be a rather quadratic one. This might make sense, as before reading your comment I was wondering how a non-rectangular, or less(?) rectangular body would be shaped then. Circular? Triangular? Something else? It might not directly be WP:JARGON, but it seems pretty close. A description along the lines of "long torso" would certainly be more enlightening than "rectangular". 84.112.183.24 (talk) 21:18, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't see why Jargon would apply here because it's used in the context of a quote.--Marhawkman (talk) 23:54, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Ownership

I have been reading the discussion on this page and it does seem like that Ms. Sarita is trying to own the page.--68.19.210.175 (talk) 23:47, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Own? no. But she is doing a good job of monitoring it. :)--Marhawkman (talk) 06:33, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

This is one of the many reasons I have abandoned this article. The accusations of ownership and the hostility were outrageous. I have not been on WP in months, yet am still having the "ownership" label thrown my way. Are my comments on this discussion page overwhelmingly abundant? Yes. Because I spent hours on this article and knew the sources and information by heart. Some people love to point fingers but failed to have anything to do with the actual revision of the article. It was all (and still quite is) rather interesting. I hope that others will continue to monitor this page for its own well-being. – Ms. Sarita ^Confer 08:15, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I've always liked your input. I would rather see you continue to help.--Marhawkman (talk) 21:12, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Thank you Marhawkman. Your input and help on this article have been excellent. I hope you continue to keep it updated and possibly improve it even more! – Ms. Sarita ^Confer 19:33, 21 October 2009 (UTC)

Shedding

Do these types of cats shed badly? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.121.141.34 (talk) 20:39, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Maine coons typically have a lot of season variation to their coat length so they do usually shed heavily in spring/summer.219.89.178.160 (talk) 07:01, 12 June 2009 (UTC)

In otherwords, yes, very much so. Winter coat changing to summer coat means that all the long hairs fall out.--Marhawkman (talk) 08:26, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Curiously, I had a male Main Coon while I was growing up and he had a great deal of shedding. The female Main Coon that I now have sheds very little, even during the Summer. The reasons for this are not entirely known, just speculations, therefor the article does not mention much about the topic of shedding.Mdriver1981 (talk) 02:19, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, shedding is done as a response to summer heat. If the cat stays in a well cooled house it won't need to shed.--Marhawkman (talk) 23:35, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

I have heard that short-haired domestic cats actually shed as much as the long hairs, except it is less noticeable because of the length of the hair. I have had both a female Maine Coon (great amount of shedding, but a healty cat) and a short-haired standard-model tabby (which is supposed to shed less), and I think there's some truth to this. I've also heard that a cat will shed when passing close to a TV screen (the older CRTs) because its brain thinks it is summertime (because of the light), triggering this response.Cortina2 (talk) 18:41, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

I heard a different version. that they shed more next to a tv beause of the static charge on the screen.--Marhawkman (talk) 21:05, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Zico image

I recently replaced this image with another one of an orange Maine Coon kitten, which I think is useful as it shows the different color variations rather than having every image of black/brown MCs. The existing image was way washed out and didn't add anything to the article. Given that my change was reverted by an single purpose account so that a picture of their cat could remain, I'm taking it here. I'd like to get consensus on this so we can move forward.--Terrillja _talk 15:27, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

I'd rather have the pic of the orange kitten. IF I had to choose. it could probably be rearranged to include both though. The tufting illustration is kinda cool.--Marhawkman (talk) 21:02, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Terrillja, I would like for us to get along. I ask that you please compromise and drop your mission to remove this image, which I believe is one of the better ones on the Maine Coon page. Note that Marhawkman said that he would rather have both images, and not that this image be necessarily removed. I don't wish to escalate this, and I don't have the time to fight (but I will if I have to), which is why I have kept my responses contained to the previous revert comments. I would like to resolve this peacefully and amicably if at all possible. I have made a proposed edit that includes both images. Zicoon (talk) 06:48, 22 April 2010 (UTC)

Violence

Are Maine Coons meaner or more agressive than most cats? If so we need to warn people —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.142.252.0 (talk) 21:22, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

they're nice to people. Small animals are different. they usually think of critters like hamsters and gerbils as food.--Marhawkman (talk) 21:34, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

My medium-sized, slight build breedless longhair male is absolutely terrified of my humongous maine coon female, who is easily twice his size... However, when it comes down to fights, the poor coon consistently loses and runs for cover to nurse scratches, while the little bastard has never once gotten even the tiniest scratch on him. Nonetheless, her size still intimidates him, and the altercations keep on. :(