Having played with paintFX and shave and a haircut (but not maya fur/hair) then I'd say that shave and a haircut gives you soooo much better control over the hair and what you can do with it. There are loads of options and after a few hours playing you'll be able to start creating some pretty realistic looking hair. I dont know about the animation capabilities though would expect them to be decent. Check out the website for a demo to have a play with:
https://www.joealter.com/