Thread: Opinions And Insight: Maine Coon Breeders

The trouble and expense and potential danger (to kitten) of importing a MC from Norway seems extremely unnecessary when there so many MC breeders in the US. Normally only a breeder would import such a cat for some specific purpose (look, line, etc.). There are lots of sites that list MC breeders. E.g., the MCBFA lists 5 breeder members in Texas:
MCBFA Members

Looked at Congocoons a while back when somebody else mentioned it. Person is breeding for a specific and frankly nonstandard MC look. I personally don't like the look, but that is obviously up to you (as long as you do not intend to show). As already noted, didn't see much about health testing. With many breeders in the US doing heart and other health testing it is safest to stick with those breeders, although some long-established breeders know their lines well enough that it is very unlikely there will be problems (however you will have to take their word on that since you won't know all about their history).

As an example of health info, I looked at Nascat (Houston) from the MCBFA list and find this on their website:

My breeding program focuses on health. The pedigree and health history of each cat is chosen carefully and screened to promote, protect and preserve the Maine Coon breed. This is done with yearly echo-cardiograms on all breeding cats. All cats are DNA negative for the MyBPC3 HCM gene and negative for the SMA (Spinal Musculature Atrophy) gene.

The Nascat site is what I would consider very professional, with pedigree and health info for each of the breeding cats, e.g,: Nascat Maine Coons (a beautiful example of a female MC I might add--click on her Helmi Flick photo)