About six weeks ago I became obsessed with the idea of adding a kitten to our little family. Gus and I had gone to the hardware store to pick something up, and we ended up meeting the hardware store’s newest employee, a tiny little gray cat named Grayson. Gus was so sweet and curious about the kitten, we stayed to pet and play with it for at least fifteen minutes. All of a sudden I felt like I needed to have the boys experience having a small animal to nurture and take care of.
A little FYI, we do have a cat named Nami, and she’s the sweetest old grandma cat you could ever meet. She sits out on our stoop every single day and watches the world go by, she’s kind to the boys, and she’s very good natured. But she is old, she sleeps a lot, and she just recently decided the boys were tolerable. Jeff and I brought her home from the humane society as a kitten nearly 13 years ago, we were young pups ourselves, and we were the ones that took care of her and built a solid cat/person relationship with her. Growing up Jeff and I both had dogs, and we appreciate the relationships that we had with those animals so much. We wanted our kids to have a pet companion that they could grow up with too.
I know how cats have a tendency to be jerks, we’ve had a lot of friends that have had rotten cats, and that was my biggest fear about getting a new cat. Especially since old Nam-ers was the sweetest ball of fur, I didn’t want to screw that up. If we were going to do it, we wanted a little insurance. I started looking online at specific cat breeds, and even taking a test or two. Over and over I would come across Maine Coons as a breed of cat that was famous for being loyal, family friendly, affectionate, social, and loving. They are known as the “gentle giants” and the “dog of the cat world” and that’s because they are the biggest domestic cat breed, getting as large as 20lbs and as long as 48″ including their tales. I love it! I’m sold. Where do I get one of these crazy-large, loving, dog-like cats?
Up north, that’s where. I found a breeder North of Bemidji (that’s almost in Canada, you guys), and sent her an e-mail to check if she had available kittens. She did, and I put down a deposit to reserve a kitten. She would be ready to pick up at 12 weeks old, which just happened to be last Monday. I made the 8.5 hour road trip to go pick up my cat, met the breeder in a Menards (midwestern big-box hardware store) parking lot, and was on my way home. It felt kinda shady to pay cash and hand off a cat, but also kind of adventurous too. The kids met her after I returned home and were immediately in love, and she fell in love with them too. We named her Birdie because it sounded like the right thing to call a soon-to-be giant cat.
She is already showing all the traits that her breed is famous for. She’s been very patient with how the kids hold (ahem, manhandle) her, she follows them around everywhere, she sits with them, she plays with them and she cuddles them. When they go to school I become Birdie’s sloppy seconds, and she will follow me around and keep me company throughout my day. She sleeps with the kids every night, and gets up with them first thing in the morning. It does my heart good to see these relationships forming.
Anyways, she’s our new cat, and we already love her so much (Nami is coming around).
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Love! What a sweet little monster.
She’s pretty cute, right? Of course, all kittens are.
Omg – so adorable. I have always been a cat person
Don’t get me wrong, I have always liked cats too, I just don’t like the crabby ones ;) The good ones make such great companions.
Enjoy Birdie for me! My hubby is horribly allergic to cats, so I don’t have one in my future though I’d LOVE one.
I’ll do that if you enjoy that soon-to-be baby for me!
I know this is your blog, and I love viewing your house from the internet. I’m also excited for y’all to get a new cat, but just so you know up to 70 million cats are homeless in this country. PLenty of those are maine coons and mixes. To get a sweet friendly kitty you could have gone to the local humane society or animal shelter and got to know one and it’s personality. Cats are much more likely to be euthanized than dogs because they have multiple breeding cycles a year. Just an FYI for the next time you get a cat.
Hey There, For what it’s worth, I did look at the local shelters online for an adoptable Maine Coon kitten, as well as on craigslist locally. That was the first place I looked, and I couldn’t find a single Maine Coon kitten, that’s what led me to go to a breeder. I didn’t mention it in the post because I didn’t think it was important to the story of finding Birdie. I also didn’t mention that we once had a cat for ten years who we adopted when he was already an adult from our local shelter. Even though we got to know him during two separate trips to the shelter, he ended up being an awful mean cat — for 10 years! We have rescued two cats since being married, and I decided it would be best for our family to adopt this kitten from a breeder, I don’t think that makes me a bad guy.
I always consider my options, and I felt like this was the best for us this time.
Awwww Birdie. I had a lovely Maine Coon for roughly 14 years and he was great. He actually looked a lot like Birdie as a kitten. Ole Chili Pepper. You picked a great one!
Great name for your kitty! I keep hearing lots of wonderful stories about Maine Coons it makes me very excited for our adventure with her!
While I’m ecstatic for you and your family about your newest furry addition, I was disheartened to read that you chose to go to a breeder. I do some cat rescue/TNR, along with fostering and volunteer for a nearby no kill animal shelter. The shelters here are bursting with adoptable kittens and cats (including Maine Coons) which is why I felt compelled to voice this. That said, I wish your family a very happy life with Birdie – she’s adorable. Love her name too.
I totally understand what you’re saying, Bonnie. I wanted the personality of a Maine Coon and have adopted shelter cats in the past. We had one that we adopted as an adult and he gave us a run for our money, we gave him a good home for ten years. The shelters websites were the first place I looked for a Maine Coon kitten, and was unable to find one. That being said, we choose to go to a breeder, and I think it was the right choice for us.
Oh, she’s lovely. And I like the picture of the casual hug/man hold on the couch. They look so compatible! While I do understand the comments about going to the humane society first I am planning a puppy purchase in the next few months and will be going for a purebred PGBV from a breeder, which will I will pursue without guilt. It’s a gift to myself and my boys.
Ha! That hug man is my 8 year old Finn. That Birdie cat loves him the most, for sure. New puppies are so exciting, your boys are going to love it so much.
Congrats on Birdie! Reading the humane society/rescue vs. breeder comments–every family is different. We have a 10 year old, pure bred Brittany spaniel, who is exactly what we were looking for for our family. He is sweet, loyal and dependable. We had 2 dogs previously from the humane society, one was a runner and we could not keep him contained despite our best efforts and ultimately he was hit by a truck. The second turned into a nuerotic psychopath that I am pretty sure would have bitten one of my kids if we had kept her. I would totally go the route of a breeder again.
Oh man, I love spaniels! I grew up with three springer spaniels, and if I were to ever get a dog as a grown up I would definitely get some kind of spaniel. Thanks!
Waving from over here in St. Paul! Your blog provides me with great inspiration for my house and garden. I love dogs and the Maine Coon breed has so many of those characteristics. My first two cats were from a shelter, both turned out to be Maine Coon crosses–the size, loyalty, sweetness and funny voice, etc. I fell in love with their personality as well as looks. It is wonderful to adopt from a shelter, where possible. You found what your family needed in a cat. After I lost my last cat, my parents found a Maine Coon kitten for me for Christmas. He is a red tabby poly (extra toes) and a sweetheart with a huge personality-sweet, smart and funny. Your kitten is adorable and seems like a great fit for your family–Enjoy!
Hey Jennifer! I sent you an e-mail, but it looks like our cats my be siblings from the same breeder! So cool! Thanks for reaching out :)
Congrats on your adorable new kitty! It sounds like you really did your research, and that you and your husband are devoted and thoughtful pet owners. I hope your older cat, Nami, comes around quickly. Pet harmony is much to be hoped for! Thanks for sharing your story and the sweet photos.
Thanks, Elise! Nami is getting more tolerant everyday, she loved our old cat (the naughty one) so I know that she doesn’t mind being around other cats, it’s just getting use to her that will be the hard part.
While I have been enjoyed reading your blog for a while now – it is so disappointing to hear about your choice to use a breeder. The thing that made me cringe the most was the ‘parking lot’ statement. It sounds like that was your only meeting? In the dog rescue world that screams puppy mill – I don’t know about the cat world so I’m only guessing. I would implore others to educate themselves about the numbers of cat and dogs in the shelter system. Every day breeders throw animals away that they deem ‘not perfect’, families who don’t have time throw away perfectly awesome pets as well as animals who come from an accidental litter. There are just too many wonderful pets who need homes. Please time the time to explore the world of rescues animals and shelter pets.
So does this mean you don’t enjoy my blog anymore, or you enjoy it despite my ‘flaws’? We met in a parking lot as a favor to me to cut 2 hours off my trip. The kittens are raised underfoot, it’s not a kitten mill. Point is we got a new pet, and I’m excited about it. That’s all.
Also, I’m closing comments on this thread because this isn’t what this post was intended for.