Maine Coon

Read an article around 1992 in The Times newspaper about this robust huge cat breed called the Maine Coon who originated from the East Coast of America and were originally farm cats. Reputed to be 20-30 lbs and be able to jump 6feet in the air from a standing position.

Bought our MC kitten from the breeder mentioned in the article in 1993. A wonderful loving and beautiful old style MC with lots of american ancestry who lived til march this year.

Have since adopted 2 adult MCs - one is a silver tortie female ex queen (3 and a half) who is actually very small for a MC and not much bigger than our semi feral. She is a very naughty tortie however, talks to us constantly and makes her views known! So far she has got stuck up trees 4 times in about 6 weeks!

Our male is a very long lean MC with a huge tail and pronounced lynx tips to his ears, strong jaw and extremely long whiskers. His mother was Danish but was not suited to breeding - she killed 1 of her litter and 2 of the remaining 3 died. The breeder hand reared Hector and although she sold him at 3 months he was returned to her at 6 months due to 'aggressiveness and biting'.

She was very attached to Hector and I feel very priviledged to have been allowed to take him home as my own cat. He has shown little aggressiveness other than a tendancy to kick himself in the chest with his back feet. As he has become accustomed to our home this habit has lessened. He also used to bite hands but this too has virtually stopped. As a family we all love him very much. He likes to be around people but is not a cuddly cat whereas the female is.