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In Reply to: RE: Cat of the Day posted by LWR on August 29, 2014 at 07:12:27
for Maine Coon, or most likely part Maine Coon. Cora looks a lot like our own Mister Bean at a young age who weighs in at a hefty 18 lbs. A guy I used to work with had a Maine Coon that weighed in at 25 lbs and he said it wasn't really fat. He said it knocked over the tv once. Cute Kitty. The pic is a random Maine Coon. They can get big.
Follow Ups:
...Cora is most likely a domestic short-haired orange tabby, and probably a mix at that. (Think 'Morris the cat', if you remember that commercial from long ago.)
Now, the big kitty in the pic you attached IS a Maine Coon mix (with domestic long-haired orange tabby, most likely.) The tufts on the ear tips give good evidence of being a Maine Coon, as do the size, long fluffy coat, and very fluffy tufts in the paws, as well. The lovely fluffy tail (especially the tip) is also indicative of the breed. And, believe it or not, their coats are nearly waterproof! (See below.)
As you may have figured out, I am a cat fancier.
Our first Maine Coon was a male named "Killer". He was a brown tabby (the "M" on the forehead indicates tabby, not Maine Coon, BTW.) Around 12 pounds, he was lightning fast and very aggressive, and lived to 19. They are truly awesome cats. But they usually don't like other breeds too much, at least in our experience (my ex and I lived with 13 cats, so we would know.) And as the gophers on our property quickly learned, he more than lived up to his name.
True Maine Coons have a silky, near perfectly water-proof triple-layered coat, for surviving harsh winter conditions. Our little boy LOVED to dance and prance and play in the rain (hated snow, though), and we were always impressed that the rain water would run right off, leaving him basically nice, warm and almost completely dry. Way cool!
But our fave was a female that our daughter picked up as a kitten in Humboldt visiting her brother (our son) at the university up there, and bought home when she returned. We thought she was Maine Coon at first (initially, a silver striped tabby, my favorite markings!), but found out from our local vet she was of a different breed.
Our beloved 'little' girl ("Maggie") was a Norwegian Forest Cat, which are related to the Maine Coon as likely being the progenitor breed brought over by settlers to the North American east coast hundreds of years ago, which mixed with the locals --as immigrants do-- and created the wonderful Maine Coon breed. A true 38" long, with incredibly massive rear haunches and tipping the scales at 27.2 pounds (as weighed by our vet), she was absolutely enormous. Everyone who ever saw her (including our vet) said the very same thing: "My God! That's the biggest cat I have ever seen!" (As my best male friend would always say: "Big kitties are lotsa fun!'. And they are.) :-)
When walking around our rural property (an acre) when we lived back in Leona Valley, California, she was often mistaken for a bobcat (which always made me laugh, as bobcats are short-haired and lanky.) All the other cats we lived with simply shook with fear whenever she would approach, and would slowly turn and walk gently, quietly away, even when eating. She literally dwarfed them all, being physically more than twice as large as any of the others, and they were scared to death of her, all except Killer. They seemed to know they were related, and never quarreled, but both absolutely HATED the other 11 cats. (Which was kind of a bummer, but c'est la vie.)
However, Maggie absolutely LOVED people and was so friendly, she would quickly trot to the front door to greet you (or visitors) whenever she heard anyone coming up the stairs. Then, upon greeting whoever was there, she would immediately plop right onto your feet if you stood in one place for any length of time, basically immobilizing you, and demanding your undivided attention. Best cat I ever had, and I've had a total of 22 cats in my life. I simply adore them (dogs, too, BTW. Well, animals in general, actually.)
Best of all, she always came when called, and was somewhat trainable, actually doing a few tricks (like fetching wadded-up paper balls, or giving 'High Fives' to get her food. It was really cute.)
When we moved to NZ in early 2011, we of course brought her with us, at a total outlay of over $4000 (all our other cats had passed by then, sadly.) She was 15 years old at the time. She died on December 27th, 2013, in our arms. (I am crying as I write this; I loved that cat beyond words.) She is buried directly outside our living room window, with a grave marker, so that whenever we look out to see the view, we can remember her and how much joy she brought us on a daily basis. I still pine for her unrelentingly. Probably always will.
Sorry. Gotta go. I'm kinda losing it right now........ :-(
Hope your "Mister Bean" lives a long, long time. Best wishes on that.
WS
They are family.
Sounds like you've owned some wonderful cats over the years. We too like the big guys and I think the next time around we'll get two of them so they have some constant company and then also look for a larger breed again.
We used to let Mr Bean outside to roam around a bit at times too but he had a close encounter with a hawk once and lately there's been a family of five foxes roaming the neighborhood. I was talking to a neighbor last week about the red guys and he was saying that he saw one of the foxes take off like a rocket after a black cat that someone lets roam free. He said the cat took off running, jumped about ten feet into a tree and just kept climbing straight up. The fox laid down under the tree to wait but patience paid off for the cat. You sure do get attached to those cats.
Interesting enough, our local vet was the one who told me one time that the M stood for Maine Coon while we were speculating what breed Mr. bean might be. He was always very quirky even as a kitten, hence the name Mr. Bean.
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