Maine Coon Question

As I have posted previously, my recently adopted cat appears to have a lot of Maine Coon characteristics. Until now, the only features I thought he was lacking were the long squared-off face and tbe trilling, and at 10.1 lbs. he's on the small side for a Maine Coon.

Well, I just heard him trilling, or what I think was trilling. I've had lots of cats over the years, but I've never heard a cat make this sound before. It was sort of like a soft, high-pitched meow with a tremolo. He was sitting on the table in front of the living room picture window, his favorite perch because it gives him a panoramic view of the yard and street scene. A crow was hopping across the yard, and Cat-Boy's tail was vigorously switching back and forth, in anticipation of having it for dinner. As he made the sound his jaw was trembling. When I first heard him and observed the situation it almost sounded like he was trying to make a bird sound.

So my question to those who are owned by Maine Coons, does this describe the trilling sound?

Oh, and I hope he doesn't actually try to catch one of the many crows we have here. They are known for having a nasty disposition. They become completely unreasonable when something is trying to eat them, including pecking out the eyes of the attacker.

This chattering sound - with the jaw movements is common to all cats who see birds, squirrels, etc. There was a very recent thread about this on rpch+b.

Crows are very bright. One example: here's a link to Betty, the crow: http://www.sciencemag.org/feature/data/crow/ weirmovie.mov She's making a tool - a hook out of a straight piece of wire, in order to 'fish' up a little pail of food that's at the bottom of a cylinder. And, if I were being attacked by a gigantic animal who wanted to eat me, I think I could easily resort to scratching their eyes, out, too. Although there are many crows here also, I've never personally heard of an indoor/outdoor cat being mauled by a crow. My guess is that the cats stick to the smaller songbirds, & chasing squirrels up trees.

Which ng? - this post was x-posted like crazy.

Marek, When I got Xena, I was also thrilled to see and recognize all Siamese characteristics in her. The older she is the more moggie she becomes! and, so what? I think she is a very beautiful unusual cat being 15.5 lb heavy (and not fat), yet with Siamese points, and huge blue eyes, also, some remarkable strong markings! I think she is just a gorgeous Moggie, and I am proud of her; as to pedigree cats, if I could, I would outlaw any breeding of cats for income. Why not take care of those wonderful creatures that come to us naturally? Andr0

Don't misunderstand me

*nod* Definitely.

Well, FHD can be x-rayed for, just like in dogs. The nice thing about doing the xrays is that you can see how affected he is, even if he;s not showing signs of pain. If he's over 2, he's not going to have his hip status change on you. Knowing if your pet is HD affected will let you make decisions on preventative care. HCM can only be diagnosed by an echocardiogram with color flow Doppler imaging. An echocardiogram reveals both the physical structure and dynamic functioning of the heart. It is non-invasive and poses essentially no risk to the cat. This test would pretty much be required if you wanted to breed him, but since you're not, it's not necessary. HCM status can change over the years, so breeding cats are screened periodically.

How long ago was this 'at one time'? I show Bengals, but I have a lot of friends and contacts within the Maine Coon breed, and I don't know a single breeder who doesn't screen for both FHD and HCM.

You can do something about HD. Sadly, not about HCM.

Orchid See Orchid's Kitties!

Dyna is a retired, from show and breeding, Maine Coon Kitty. She is a classic brown tabby. Her breeder has checked all of her cats and kittens for both problems, and felt that the tendency for HD and HCM was all but eliminated as a Maine Coon weakness (but still checks and gaurentees, and wants them back for altering if either problem were to show up. This was 4 years ago, my guess is that it is even less of a likleyhood now, at least with purebreds.

We had a Main Coon for 22 year's he made a sound that sounded like 'Purt' 'Purt' that was the only sound he made.He was adorable.We loved him dearly. He had no hip displasia at all.Hope that helped. He died of diabetes .

Glad to see you Cathy haven't seen you for awhile.Hope you and your cat's are fine.

Hi, Kit. Yes, we're fine; thanks.

I miss my Pal:{

www.1cooperfamily.com I am currently searching for an MC.

Hi Bill

I saw Biggles, outstanding cat, so sorry for your loss.

Check out: http://www.mainecoonrescue.com/

Is a great place to go, be careful not to say that you will EVER let the kitty outside, I don't care if you live on a farm.

You can always buy one from a 'cattery', but I don't like those places.