Cat breed : the Maine Coon

Some informations about the breed (sorry if I've done some mistakes in English...)

The Maine Coon comes from Maine (United States).

The legend says that it’s a mix between a cat and a raccoon.

It’s a robust cat which can weigh up to 12 kg, with a long flowing coat, extra long tuft (called tips) on the top of the ears and a long buchy tail. It’s a very loving companion, very attached to his "master" and very sociable (even with its conspecifics or dogs if it has been accustomed when it was young). It’s a very pleasant cat.

It’s the biggest cat in the world, even called the “cat-dog” because of its stature and its good character. People who don’t know this breed are always impressed by its size and by the fact that it looks like a lynx.
Females are smaller than males.

The Maine Coon is an outdoor or indoor cat ; if you live in an apartment, you however  have to provide it enough space and the opportunity to play or it could get bored... Surprisingly for a cat : it love water ! It love to play with or simply to drink it, and often in unexpected containers (mine love to drink water in the watering can on our terrace).

If you want to have one, it’s highly recommended to buy it from a breeder if you want a healthy pet :  indeed, specifics tests are made to avoid the risk of disease like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, for example. 

Doom 

I have the big happiness to have a Maine Coon : Doom, a male born in December the 21st, 2008. It’s a very sweet cat : my “Patapouf”!!!

As you can see, I looove him !
Not only because he’s beautiful and very big, but also because he’s very nice, very cuddly, player  and funny because he’s a little bit clumsy.

Like many Maine Coons, he’s close to me most of the time (it's a "glue cat"). In the evening he greets me when I come home from work (but not my husband), he often comes in the morning to give me a big hug when I wake up by lying on me (I'm used to his weight - 8.5 kg) ; when I'm on the sofa  with my computer on my knees, he comes and place himself half on the back of the couch and half on my shoulder, so I can make him a ton of hugs (he loves to put his nose in my hand and stay like that for a long moment) ; he likes to be brushed (except on the stomach) and when I take his comb , I just have to tell him "Doom, do you want to  do “the handsome boy” ? ", he runs and jumps on the table ! And when I said "Doom, do you want a surprise ? ", he knows what I mean and it’s  a concert of miaouws in the kitchen until I gave him his fav treat.

Doom likes to play football with me :  I roll a small ball with my hand in his direction and he returns it to me with his paw. He loves to put all his little toys (mouses) under the sofa and when I go to search them with a stick, he’s always looking with me and put them again very quickly  under the sofa ; he also loves to play hide and seek (and it's super funny because he always believes that he’s well hidden while half of his body isn’t !).
He is very sociable and loves when his good friend Chloe (my goddaughter) comes home to play with him or gives him his cat dry food in her hand, or when his Granny (my mom) comes at home to  keep him when we go away for a few days.

But there are some things he doesn’t like : mint (he hates when I give him a kiss after I brushed my teeths), wind, flies (he runs away as soon as he sees one of them ...), when I touch his hind legs and unknown noises (he’s a big coward - we had ahd a neighbor biker ; when he saw her with her Harley, he sped upstairs to hide himself). And although he loves water, he hates when I splash him  lightly with a little water (when he’s waiting in the kitchen and always hopes to have something to eat...) ;  it's simple : now when he comes in the kitchen, I only have to turn on the tap and Doom disappears !

I would love to give him a companion ; he isn’ unhappy, on the contrary, but I am sure that he would be much more with a buddy. But my husband doesn’t want a second cat.

I've already had to fight to have Doom...

I'm very glad I fell in love with this  breed I didn’t know before : they are “gold cats” !!!

Doom comes from "Sunday River cattery" : http://sundayriver.pagesperso-orange.fr/