One myth claims the Maine Coon cat is a hybrid with another animal species, such as the raccoon or bobcat.

The story goes that before her death, Antoinette attempted to escape from France with the help of Captain Samuel Clough.

She loaded Clough's ship with her most prized possessions, including six of her favorite Turkish Angora or possibly Siberian cats.

For the Maine Coon in particular, that it is descended from the Norwegian or Siberian Forest cat, brought to New England by settlers or Vikings.

On 8 May 1895, the first North American cat show was hosted at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Owned by Mrs. Fred Brown, Cosey won the silver collar and medal and was named Best in Show.

The collar is housed at the CFA Central Office in the Jean Baker Rose Memorial Library.

[13] In the early 20th century, the Maine Coon's popularity began to decline with the introduction of other long-haired breeds, such as the Persian, which originated in the Middle East.

[13] The Maine Coon was denied provisional breed status—one of the three steps required for a breed not yet recognized by the CFA to be able to compete in championship competitions[14]—by the CFA three times, which led to the formation of the Maine Coon Cat Club in 1973.

The next couple of decades saw a rise in the popularity of the Maine Coon, with championship victories and an increase in national rankings.

The length is shorter on the head and shoulders and longer on the stomach and flanks, with some cats having a leonine ruff around their neck.

Their dense water-resistant fur is longer and shaggier on their underside and rear for extra protection when they are walking or sitting on top of wet surfaces of snow or ice.

[25] Large Maine Coons can overlap in length with Eurasian lynxes, although with a much lighter build and lower height.

[26] Many of the original Maine Coon cats that inhabited the New England area possessed a trait known as polydactylism (having one or more extra toes on a paw).

Subsequently, breeders of show-standard cats were advised to regard this variation as undesirable and to offer affected kittens as household pets.

[33] Some private organizations and breeders were created in order to preserve polydactylism in Maine Coon cats.

[38] Not all cats that test positive will have clinical signs of the disease, and some Maine Coon cats with clinical evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy test negative for this mutation, strongly suggesting that a second mutation exists in the breed.

[39] Early growth and nutrition, larger body size, and obesity may be environmental modifiers of genetic predisposition to HCM.

While renal cysts are observed with a low incidence in Maine Coons, PKD appears to be a misnomer in this particular breed.

In a 2013 study, spanning 8 years, renal cysts were documented by ultrasound in 7 of 187 healthy Maine Coons enrolled in a pre-breeding screening programme.

The cats most commonly affected with hip dysplasia tend to be males of the larger, big-boned breeds such as Persians and Maine Coons.

[42] X-rays submitted to the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) between 1974 and 2011 indicates that 24.3% of Maine Coons in the database were dysplastic.