Abyssinian Maine Coon Mix: Pictures, Care, Info & More
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The Abyssinian Maine Coon is a beautiful designer cat breed known for their friendly and loving temperament. These kitties can be quite big, weighing up to 20 pounds or more, and, despite their size, seem to have an infinite source of energy. If you want to welcome a new cat into your home, this could be the perfect breed for you. However, the Abyssinian Maine Coon isn’t right for every family.
Read on to learn more about this adorable breed to decide if it will fit in with your lifestyle.
Breed Overview
| Height: | 12–16 inches |
| Weight: | 12–20+ pounds |
| Lifespan: | 9–15 years |
| Colors: | Ruddy, sorrel, blue, fawn, silver, white, cream, red, blue, black |
| Suitable for: | Families with children, active families, households with other pets |
| Temperament: | Affectionate, intelligent, entertaining, busy, mischievous, playful |
The Abyssinian Maine Coon is a hybrid cat breed resulting from the crossing of a purebred Abyssinian and a purebred Maine Coon. The result is a strikingly beautiful cat with plenty of incredible personality traits. These cats are known for their high energy, intelligence, loyalty, and lovability, all wrapped in a sweet little naughty package. While they can be mischievous if uninspired or bored, there certainly won’t be a dull day when you have one of these kitties in your home.
Abyssinian Maine Coon Mix Breed Characteristics
Abyssinian Maine Coon Mix Breed Kittens
The Abyssinian Maine Coon mix is a strikingly gorgeous kitten known for their energetic, friendly, and outgoing personalities. They can be a little mischievous if not stimulated enough, so make sure your home is chock full of fun and exciting toys for your new kitten. Buy toys you can use to play with them (like feather wands) and toys they can play with on their own when they’re home alone.
These beautiful cats are very large as kittens, especially if they take after their Maine Coon side more than their Aby side. They may take up to four years to reach maturity, so don’t think your kitty has reached his adult size by his first birthday.
Finding an Abyssinian Maine Coon breeder may be a challenge, so start researching as soon as you know that this is the kitten you want to adopt. We also highly recommend saving a lot of money for the adoption as they can be very expensive.
Temperament & Intelligence of the Abyssinian Maine Coon Mix 🧠
The Abyssinian Maine Coon mix is a highly active, curious, and talkative kitty that combines the best characteristics of both parent breeds. He’s gentle, kind, playful, and highly entertaining. This is not a lazy, low-energy breed. They love to be part of the goings-on in the home and will often attach themselves to their owners so they can be involved in everything. Their high intelligence makes them easy and eager to train but insatiable for activity. They can develop naughty traits if they’re allowed to become bored and unfulfilled.
Are These Dogs Good for Families? 👪
The Abyssinian Maine Coon mix is a fantastic cat for families. They’re highly affectionate and gentle, making them great playmates for the children in the home. However, because they’re so energetic and playful, these cats generally don’t enjoy being held. Most are not destined to become lap cats, so this may be a conversation you’ll need to have with your children until they’re old enough to understand and respect boundaries.
Does This Breed Get Along With Other Pets?
The Abyssinian Maine Coon mix is great with other pets, including other cats, cat-friendly dogs, and even other domesticated pets like ferrets or parrots. Of course, a proper introductory period should be expected to make for a smooth transition into a multi-pet household.
Things to Know When Owning an Abyssinian Maine Coon Mix:
Food & Diet Requirements 🦴
The Abyssinian Maine Coon will require a diet similar to that of any other cat breed, an animal protein-rich food designed for their current life stage. We recommend choosing a food with an AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement to ensure your kitty gets all the nutrients he needs for his particular life stage.
One thing to note is that Maine Coons are known for their long whiskers. If your mixed kitty is being picky at mealtime, it may be that their whiskers are preventing them from eating comfortably. You should look into buying an extra-wide food and water bowl to prevent whisker fatigue.
Exercise 🐕
This high-energy and active breed requires a ton of mental and physical stimulation to stay happy and healthy. They love to climb and are unafraid of heights, so an indoor climbing tower or wall-mounted shelves might be a great investment. Ensure you provide plenty of opportunities for play, including cat toys, cat trees, and scratching posts.
Training 🎾
Both parent breeds of the Abyssinian Maine Coon mix are considered intelligent and trainable, so training your kitten should be a relatively easy task. This playful and energetic breed loves to interact with their humans, so with the right rewards (treats!) in hand, you can teach them to do several tricks like sitting and rolling over. You can even leash-train them and take them for walks.
Grooming ✂️
An Abyssinian Maine Coon’s coat will come in all shades and colors, but the length can be a mixed bag as the parent breeds have very different coats.
The Abyssinian coat is strikingly beautiful, with nuanced, complex ticking. The coat itself is made of dense, close-lying fur strands. The Aby doesn’t require much grooming because they have short hair and don’t shed much.
Maine Coons, on the other hand, have thick, double-layered coats. They needed their coats to be cozy and warm to help them survive the Maine winters. Because of the length of their fur, you’ll need to perform regular grooming to prevent matting.
Your Abyssinian Maine Coon can take after either parent, so we can’t say exactly how much work grooming him will be. A once-weekly brushing is usually more than enough if he has the Aby coat. If he’s adopted the Maine Coon coat, you’ll be looking at two or three weekly brushings to prevent tangles and mats.
Health and Conditions ❤️
While the Abyssinian Maine Coon mix is generally healthy, they may be predisposed to the health conditions of their parent breeds.
Maine Coons are prone to developing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, spinal muscular atrophy, polycystic kidney disease, hip dysplasia, and chronic gingivitis. They also have a shorter lifespan than most other cat breeds.
Abyssinians can develop gum or dental diseases, eye conditions, respiratory infections, and obesity.
- Gingivitis
- Dental diseases
- Eye conditions
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- Spinal muscular atrophy
- Kidney conditions
- Hip dysplasia
- Respiratory infections
- Obesity
Male vs Female
Male Abyssinian Maine Coons are physically larger in both weight and height than their female counterparts. While some people believe there are clear differences in the personalities of male and female cats, this isn’t necessarily true. Whether your Abyssinian Maine Coon is affectionate and loyal or aggressive and territorial is a matter of personality and not gender. Both genders can develop a wide range of personality traits based on their environment and their owners’ behavior.
3 Little-Known Facts About the Abyssinian Maine Coon Mix
1. Both parent breeds are quite old.
While the Abyssinian Maine Coon is a relatively new hybrid, both parent breeds are quite old.
The Maine Coon was a popular breed during cat shows in the mid to late 18th century.
Abyssinians are generally believed to be one of the oldest known breeds, though their origins aren’t exactly known. A taxidermied example of a cat we now know as the Abyssinian was purchased in the mid-1800s and is currently still on display at a museum in Holland.
2. Both parent breeds consistently top the popularity charts.
Every year, the Cat Fanciers’ Association releases a list of the most popular cat breeds, and both the Abyssinian and the Maine Coon are always present. According to the CFA’s 2022 list, the Maine Coon is the second most popular breed, while the Aby is seventh.
3. The Abyssinian Maine Coon has an incredible coat.
It doesn’t matter if your kitten takes after his Aby or Maine Coon side in appearance; he is sure to have a beautiful coat regardless.
The Aby coat is silky and multicolored, with several distinct colors present on each hair shaft. Every strand has dark and light-colored banding with a dark tip, providing the Aby with its trademarked ticked appearance. Ruddy is the most common and best-known coat color for Aby’s, though they can be seen in sorrel, blue, fawn, chocolate, silver, and lilac.
The Maine Coon has a thick, long coat seen in all different shades, colors, and patterns. Their coats are double-layered as they act as an insulator for your pet’s body. These thick winter coats are semi-water-repellent and can grow much longer during winter to keep your kitty dry and warm.
Final Thoughts
The Abyssinian Maine Coon is a beautiful designer breed that will liven up your household. This affectionate and high-energy cat loves spending time with his family, though he may never be a lap cat. That doesn’t mean that he won’t love you or enjoy your company, though. This kitty will want to be involved in all the goings on around the home, but he may keep his distance at times. If you have other pets in the home, the Abyssinian Maine Coon can fit in beautifully, as he’s typically very easygoing and happy to make friends with everyone.
Of course, you’ll need to provide plenty of physical and mental stimulation opportunities to keep your kitty happy and bad behaviors at bay. But, in the right household, with the right human parents, the Abyssinian Maine Coon will thrive.
See also:
- 6 Abyssinian Cat Colors & Patterns (With Pictures)
- 120 Awesome Names for Abyssinian Cats: Ideas for Unique Felines
Featured Image Credit: Left – Seregraff, Shutterstock | Right – Kanashi, Unsplash
