miane coon

I went to the shelter with a friend of mine last week, and she is on
the waiting list for a particular cat. He's a big boy, 14 lbs, not a
Maine Coon, but a nice looking shorthair black and white cat. Very
regal looking. Somebody else has him reserved, but they haven't had
their appointment yet, so they may choose not to take him. If so, my
friend is next in line.

I hope she gets him!

Me too. I am so hopeful for her. She really liked him, and he is very
special. He looked at me with this look (take me home). I told him I'm
not the one to be asking, ask her. (I have 3 at home already). He
turned to her and started over with the take me home look. He became
more active, rubbing up against the cage, sticking his paw out, etc.
He seemed to know this was his chance to impress.

Meghan & the Zoo Crew
Equine and Pet Photography
http://www.zoocrewphoto.com

Awww that is so cute I hope she wins He sounds like a keeper

Sometimes their people (I love that, btw G) don't dump them
Sometimes
it's completely an accident.
snip Snicky's story

Oh, that's SO sad.

Sure is.

I really hope he found a great home, too.


Me too. Losing a cat this way would break my heart.
Yep, it did. Even telling it hurt my heart and it's been a year now.
He was a great kitty, very very loving so our hope, our only hope, is that
he found a family who will let him love them, and love him to pieces in
return.

Sometimes their people (I love that, btw G) don't dump them
Sometimes
it's completely an accident.
snip Snicky's story

Oh, that's SO sad.

Sure is.

I really hope he found a great home, too.


Me too. Losing a cat this way would break my heart.
Yep, it did. Even telling it hurt my heart and it's been a year now.
He was a great kitty, very very loving so our hope, our only hope, is that
he found a family who will let him love them, and love him to pieces in
return.

"Hailey" wrote in message
news
Like other have said, go check out the local shelter and rescue groups. It
never ceases to amaze me what beautiful cats end up in shelters. We
adopted
a gorgeous long haired calico last September. She is a sweetheart. I don't
know why her people dumped her but she was found outside as a stray by a
worker with the local rescue group. She is well behaved and a real purr
monster. Will she live to be an old lady? Maybe not but she'll have a good
home in the meantime.

W

Sometimes their people (I love that, btw G) don't dump them Sometimes
it's completely an accident.
Our example is this: We own our own business, right here at home. We had a
truly wonderful kitty last year, had had him for a few years. He was soooo
sweet. And he LOVED his people. He would follow us all over. More than once
he managed, (though we tried like crazy to make sure he did not) to follow
Hubby into the warehouse. It's all attached, so if you don't watch closely,
one of the boys can easily sneak through. And Snickerdoodle did No one
knew though. It was late at night, hubby was preparing the big truck for an
early AM.
The boys all slept all over the house, so no one thought anything about not
seeing Snick before we went to bed. Sometimes we did, sometimes not.
Anyway, no one realized he was missing (he could go in an out side at his
leisure) until hubby got to a town several towns away. He opened the big
back door of the truck and little black streak whizzed past him. He just
kept running. The ride obviously terrified him half to death. That was the
last time we ever saw Snick. We still mourn him
Oh we did everything to find him. House to house, posters, shelters.
Our only hope was that Snick had been adopted and we cling to that hope no
matter how farfetched. Farfetched cus he was obviously loved and cared for,
AND, here's the biggie, he wore tags. So either someone took em off
(providing he did not become feral) or he lost them prior to being rescued.
Anyway, that's my sad story and how I realize not every cat in the shelters
we visit frequently is there cus someone dumped him or her.
I just hope and pray that someone loving and kind found Snicky and is giving
him a good life. I don't think I'd even ask for him back if that happened
and I ever found out about it. I just want him to be loved.

Hailey

So sorry you lost you kitty.

"Hailey" wrote in message
news
Like other have said, go check out the local shelter and rescue groups. It
never ceases to amaze me what beautiful cats end up in shelters. We
adopted
a gorgeous long haired calico last September. She is a sweetheart. I don't
know why her people dumped her but she was found outside as a stray by a
worker with the local rescue group. She is well behaved and a real purr
monster. Will she live to be an old lady? Maybe not but she'll have a good
home in the meantime.

W

Sometimes their people (I love that, btw G) don't dump them Sometimes
it's completely an accident.
Our example is this: We own our own business, right here at home. We had a
truly wonderful kitty last year, had had him for a few years. He was soooo
sweet. And he LOVED his people. He would follow us all over. More than once
he managed, (though we tried like crazy to make sure he did not) to follow
Hubby into the warehouse. It's all attached, so if you don't watch closely,
one of the boys can easily sneak through. And Snickerdoodle did No one
knew though. It was late at night, hubby was preparing the big truck for an
early AM.
The boys all slept all over the house, so no one thought anything about not
seeing Snick before we went to bed. Sometimes we did, sometimes not.
Anyway, no one realized he was missing (he could go in an out side at his
leisure) until hubby got to a town several towns away. He opened the big
back door of the truck and little black streak whizzed past him. He just
kept running. The ride obviously terrified him half to death. That was the
last time we ever saw Snick. We still mourn him
Oh we did everything to find him. House to house, posters, shelters.
Our only hope was that Snick had been adopted and we cling to that hope no
matter how farfetched. Farfetched cus he was obviously loved and cared for,
AND, here's the biggie, he wore tags. So either someone took em off
(providing he did not become feral) or he lost them prior to being rescued.
Anyway, that's my sad story and how I realize not every cat in the shelters
we visit frequently is there cus someone dumped him or her.
I just hope and pray that someone loving and kind found Snicky and is giving
him a good life. I don't think I'd even ask for him back if that happened
and I ever found out about it. I just want him to be loved.

Hailey

So sorry you lost you kitty.

"Yngver" wrote in message
...
"Mary" wrote:

Sure. I bypassed the entire issue because there is no blinking way
that anyone can *ensure* that any animal is not going to die young.
Genetically, mixed-breed cats that have usually drawn from a larger
gene pool that the artificially bred are healthier.

That's a far cry from telling someone that if they want to avoid the
heartbreak
of losing a cat to an early death they should get a shelter cat.

Re-read my post, genius. That is not what I said.


You never answered my question about being a breeder. You sure
sound
like one to me.

Of course I answered it, but since you seem to want to insinuate
something,
I'll answer it again. No, I'm not a breeder

I see.

"Yngver" wrote in message
...
"Mary" wrote:

Sure. I bypassed the entire issue because there is no blinking way
that anyone can *ensure* that any animal is not going to die young.
Genetically, mixed-breed cats that have usually drawn from a larger
gene pool that the artificially bred are healthier.

That's a far cry from telling someone that if they want to avoid the
heartbreak
of losing a cat to an early death they should get a shelter cat.

Re-read my post, genius. That is not what I said.


You never answered my question about being a breeder. You sure
sound
like one to me.

Of course I answered it, but since you seem to want to insinuate
something,
I'll answer it again. No, I'm not a breeder

I see.

Mary wrote in . com on 19
Feb 2004:

When you are feeling low, go visit a no-kill shelter, and just get to
know the kitties a little. What you need more than anything is a
sweet, fun, affectionate darling that will be so grateful to you he
will love you forever. You will be surprised at how the young adults
are at these places. It is not like the pound where everyone is crying
and screaming and barking. The animals are pretty packed in, but they
are loved and socialized. The shelter owners can tell you all about
them, where they were found, what they are like. You can know what you
are getting, to a degree. One cat will come to you or look at you or
lean into your hand when you pet him, and win your heart.


There are quite a few areas where no-kill shelters are not available. These
are only run by non-funded organizations where there is money and most are
actually not really a shelter, but animals fostered in private homes. I've
only seen one true no-kill shelter in my area here in the DC area and they
can only house about 40 cats at a time. No, they aren't packed in, but
they turn away many other needy cats. The foster situation is where the
true rescuing takes place here.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

Mary wrote in . com on 19
Feb 2004:

When you are feeling low, go visit a no-kill shelter, and just get to
know the kitties a little. What you need more than anything is a
sweet, fun, affectionate darling that will be so grateful to you he
will love you forever. You will be surprised at how the young adults
are at these places. It is not like the pound where everyone is crying
and screaming and barking. The animals are pretty packed in, but they
are loved and socialized. The shelter owners can tell you all about
them, where they were found, what they are like. You can know what you
are getting, to a degree. One cat will come to you or look at you or
lean into your hand when you pet him, and win your heart.


There are quite a few areas where no-kill shelters are not available. These
are only run by non-funded organizations where there is money and most are
actually not really a shelter, but animals fostered in private homes. I've
only seen one true no-kill shelter in my area here in the DC area and they
can only house about 40 cats at a time. No, they aren't packed in, but
they turn away many other needy cats. The foster situation is where the
true rescuing takes place here.

--
Cheryl

Trapped like rats. In a chia-pet.
MIB II

Orchid wrote in message . ..
On Wed, 18 Feb 2004 23:29:02 GMT, "Hailey" wrote:

Umm, what are the problems with the breed? You have me quite alarmed now
Our boy is a Maine Coon as well, well mostly. He could be totally, we
adopted him from a shelter, but our vets say he is very much a Maine Coon.
It's hard for us to believe ANYone would dump a cat, though we're not naive,
we know it happens.
It would seem however, that the dumpers would have a harder time dumping
since they could make money off the poor creatures.

But I digress. My real fear here now is, what is wrong with the Maine Coon
breed? I don't think I can bear to lose him. What can I DO!?

Maine Coons are susceptible to Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy
(HCM). Responsible breeders are working hard to clean their lines of
the disease via yearly color doppler echocardiograms fo their breeding
stock, but it can and does show up in any animal, moggies included.
Responsible breeders are also testing for feline hip dysplasia
(OFA or PENNhip), and PKD (though it is not a widespread problem in
the breed, breeders are working to see that it does not become so).
Some lines of Maine Coons have problems with stomatitis, so keep an
eye on your cat's mouth and teeth and if he develops bad breath (okay,
worse than normal kitty breath) or excessive drooling have a vet check
out his mouth.



Orchid
See Orchid's Kitties! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/bengalpage
Want a Purebred Cat? Read This! -- http://nik.ascendancy.net/orchid

Delurking to make a point about bad kitty breath. . . (kinda long)

I also adopted a cat that was dumped - I suspect that he may also be
all or part Maine Coon. When we adopted him he had something wrong
with one of his front paws. I'm not sure really how to describe it,
but he bent his paw the wrong way when he put pressure on it, like he
was double jointed, or it was broken - the vet said it was a muscle
problem. I thought that maybe a BYB dumped him because they thought
they couldn't sell him. Happily, he grew out of it, or the muscles
matured or something. To get to my point - he is huge and looks like a
Maine Coon, but he also has the stomatitis. Previous vet told me he
just had bad breath, since he had it from the time he was dumped at
about 2 months. This vet had taken him in for treatment from the local
shelter because of the foot, and I adopted him from that vet (this is
something that they do an a regular basis). I asked at every kitten
visit about the bad breath, they pulled back his lips, looked at the
outside of his teeth and said he was fine, he was just a kitty with
bad breath. Finally his breath was soooo bad (like something dead)
that I took him to a different vet. First thing she did was open his
mouth all the way (which the previous vet never did). I almost cried
when I saw the inside of his mouth : ( His gums were HORRIBLY
infected, his teeth looked absolutely nasty, but not from the outside.
She retested him for FIV and FELV, just in case his test as a kitten
was wrong (since it was done by the same vet that said he had no
problem with his teeth), and the test came up negative. I immediately
made an appointment to have his teeth cleaned, and I was also given
antibiotics that I am supposed to give him for 5 days a month each
month to try to keep it under control. I feel so guilty for listening
to the other vet and not following my gut instinct that something was
really wrong with him, and I can't believe that I let him suffer for
so long before getting him treatment. I made the mistake of assuming
that the vet knew more than I did. To top it all off, my new vet, who
is *wonderful*, is also about half as expensive as my previous vet.
Anyway, the moral of my story is: If you have a cat with stinky
breath, and your vet says it's no problem, PLEASE make sure that they
open the cat's mouth ALL THE WAY and check it *inside* and out before
you believe what they say. Don't learn the hard way like I (and my
poor kitty) did. : (

Raine