This is an update on Tootsie, a rescued, polydactyl Maine Coon who has been described as “typey”. That cat breeders’ word means that she looks the way a Maine Coon should look. In other words, Tootsie is a genuine purebred Maine Coon, the salt of the earth American barn cat mouser turned show cat. She lives with Valley Girl in Atlanta, USA. Valley Girl (an internet name shortened to “VG”) has a blog about cats and other things that is a sub-domain of PoC. “Sub-domain” means it is a part of PoC but a free standing website at the same time.
VG is a science lecturer who likes her photography. She is more used to SLR cameras. SLR stands for “single lens reflex”. This comes from the old days of film. The term is still used. You look through the lens via an eyepiece, a pentaprism and a mirror.
Tootsie is quite a well known cat on the internet. If you google “polydactyl maine coon” you’ll probably see a couple of pictures by VG of Tootsie at the top of page one. Great. One of the pictures illustrates an article on a cat’s sense of touch, which I wrote years ago.
Tootsie’s coat is described as “silver patched tabby”. Tabby is the best for Maine Coons as it is the way they looked 400 years ago. It makes them look more like barn cats. We know that Maine Coons have a predisposition towards polydactylism. Some people say this is because the original Maine Coons were long haired ship’s cats from Europe and sailors selected cats with polydactyl feet because they believed they were better seafarers. The extra toes making them better on deck.
I’ll finish with a few quotes by VG on Tootsie from her Flickr webpages and her website. Tootsie is a pretty active cat and she has a good turn of speed:
..I clocked her on one long stretch about a week ago- well it was a “guesstimate”, but she was moving at ~ 25 mph…
VG found Tootsie online:
I found her online, via a local cat rescue charity. Uh, this was the photo they posted….And, the description was not exactly encouraging either- shy, needs patient person, etc. But, she is a purebred Maine coon, and I’ve long been fascinated by tales of the Maine coon. She was put into rescue because her owner became ill, and could no longer care for her.
Here is the picture of Tootsie as advertised by the rescue center.
I’ll let VG make a comment to fill in some blanks that I have no doubt left. Associated page: American Polydactyl Cat.
It is tough. It takes a long time to and lots of pages to get noticed and you have to keep writing. I totally understand why you stopped. It is a full-time job basically. Not many people have the time etc..
Babz nor I have much luck with blogs, Michael kindly set up one each for us but no one hardly visited us to comment apart from each other, so it was quite pointless.
Self-taught. There are about 10 or more sub-domains. If you want your own blog I’d be happy to set it up as a sub-domain. However, you’ll have to be sure you can write for it before starting. Guess that is obvious. It takes time as I am sure you know. The biggest of the PoC subdomains has 1750 pages or their abouts:
http://cat-chitchat.pictures-of-cats.org/
It is mine. I wrote all the pages on it.
Tootsie is beautiful as you say. Gosh, she was quite a find for VG. And VG is a very sweet lady. Gentle lady. Perfect cat companion. VG has the same birthday as me but one day out. She is like a sister. I have never met her though but we have spoken in the phone (Google online, internet phone).
She’s beautiful and I like her name 🙂 and 25mph is pretty darn quick. I love her light smokey fur. The photo of her in the shelter is very typical and sad – so many cats who have lived a life in one home that get dropped off at a shelter must become very scared, shy and introverted and this really works against them being adopted. I know I would rather adot such a cat and there are many others too who appreciate and want to help these cats. Nonetheless the photo is a reminder of the sad goings on at shelters all over the place. She looks like a wonderful cat 🙂
I had no idea POC ran subdomains which were available to anyone for setting up blogs and such. It’s pretty incredible that you have done all this on your own Michael, did you take a course or just self taught?
Thanks Dan, for stopping by.
I love her markings. Her face is a lovely triangle too. Had to stop by and see this cat! Back to work.