The Legends of Maine Coon Cats

Numerous legends surround the origins of the Maine Coon Cat.  Probably the most often repeated is that the feral cats of Maine were crossbred with raccoons, giving the Maine Coon his appearance and coloring, and henceforth, his name.  Another legend has Marie Antoinette sending her prized Angora Cats ahead of her to French Canada during the French Revolution.  The queen never joined her beloved cats, thanks to an ill-fated run-in with a guillotine, compliments of the French Revolutionaries.

The most likely origin of the Maine Coon Cat is that they began as the offspring of local farm cats and the Norwegian Forest Cats, brought to North America by the Vikings.

Regardless of origins, the Maine Coon is known as the gentle giant of the feline world.  The largest of the domesticated cats, males average between 15 and 20 lbs; females are somewhat smaller.  They are a semi-long coated breed with a "shaggy" coat, beautiful long plumed tail, and large ears furnished with both tufts and lynx tips.  They also have large feet with tufts between the toes.

Although the most common color seen is the brown tabby, Maine Coons come in almost all colors, with or without white.  There is one to match every decor!  They are lovable clowns, always willing to play, and have an affectionate purrsonality.  They are truly wonderful companions!


The Woodpile Maine Coon Cats

We raise, show, and breed happy, healthy, beautiful Maine Coons who have been screened for healthy hearts and hips to ensure that we produce the healthiest cats possible.  All of our cats are DNA negative for the one known HCM mutation, as well as having hearts echoed regularly as per our cardiologist's recommendations.   Kittens are vaccinated at least twice and wormed before leaving our home.

Our kittens go to approved indoor only homes with a no-declaw agreement.  We do not cage our cats, and our kittens are raised underfoot.   Our cats are generally registered in both TICA and CFA, although we now show exclusively in TICA.  The cats we have bred have won some of the most prestigious awards in TICA, including Lifetime Achievement Winners, International Winners, Regional Winners, and Outstanding Sire and Outstanding Dam awards.  Our handsome
Lifetime Achievement Outstanding Sire Supreme Grand Champion Woodpile Hoot N Holler
is currently the only Maine Coon in TICA history to have earned all of these titles and one of only two cats of any breed to have garnered them.  We are very proud of our accomplishments in the show ring, but the real joy for us is in producing wonderful healthy pets for others to cherish.

We are also proud that our cats have been featured in various magazines, thanks to the incredible talents of cat photographers Helmi Flick and Tetsu.   The centerfold of the February 2011 Cat Fancy Magazine is the lovely silver classic torbie and white,
RW SGC Woodpile Flash Dance of SmokeyCoons, photo taken by our dear friend Helmi.  You'll see many of Helmi's photos on our website.  We hope you will enjoy them.

 

A very special thank you to Helmi Flick, Jim Brown, and Tetsu 
for the professional photographs on our website.