Chani the Maine Coon

Chani the Maine Coon

by Lindsey
(Austin, TX, USA)

Chani - picture added later

Chani - picture added later

I have a beautiful blue mackerel tabby Maine Coon named Chani that I have had for eight years. Chani is the only purebred cat I have ever owned, as mostly my house has been populated over the years by strays and rescues.

Chani is an extremely sweet and even-tempered cat, although she has gotten a little cranky in her senior age. She is still the mother and the boss of the pets in our household, and takes care of both my enormous and sweetly dumb tom, who is quite a bit bigger than she is, and our little Siamese manx cross, who is Chani's best friend.

She takes it upon herself to make sure her housemates are fed (by always being the one to ask me for food when they've cleaned their bowls) and bathed (she bathes both of the other two cats, and regularly offers bathing to both me and my husband -- which is sometimes distracting if we're sitting on the sofa watching a movie and she decides to creep along the back and bathe our heads!)

Chani regularly trills, and this is the most common noise she makes. It is a sweet little sound, she seems like she's singing happily!

Although all of my cats are quite striking (my tom is as I said enormous, at sixteen pounds even in his old age, and not overweight at all, he is a longhaired smoke with a black overcoat and a white undercoat and a huge white ruff, my youngest manx cat has beautiful medium blue eyes, a striking blue Siamese coat, and the sweetest face) I believe (and my husband agrees) that Chani is the most beautiful of our cats.

So with a fine temperament, friendly and mothering personality, playful, beautiful, and gregarious, I would definitely recommend the Maine Coon to others seeking a wonderful pet.

Update...5th July 2010..sorry for unavoidable delay..

francis-moggie-cat

Francis

sano-moggie-cat

Sano

cats-sleeping

Sleeping

Chani (heading the page) is around 13 lbs, a spayed blue mackerel tabby Maine Coon.  She is my only purebred cat, obtained through a reputable breeder. She is a pet cat though, as you can see she doesn't exhibit at least one Maine trait -- tufted ears.

Francis is around 11lbs. She's a spayed tailless pointed with white domestic shorthair when she was rescued as a kitten, we believed she was a little boy, which is why she has a masculine name -- She is actually named after Francis Urquehart, from the series House of Cards, because Sir Ian Richardson passed away the day we found her. She was found by a jogger in rural Louisiana. She was hiding in a bush as the jogger passed, but came out and started crying when she saw it was a human and not a scary animal -- like a coyote.

She was very sweet and submissive, and unlike most strays was easy to simply pick up and take home. The jogger was my husband's aunt, and so we got our youngest girl. It is my belief that someone who had adopted Francis as a "cute pet" then tired of her and dropped her off in the countryside to fend for herself. This is not an uncommon thing in the rural United States. She was very small and very glad to be rescued. Although she may look a little chubby in the photos, she is actually very svelte and slender. She looks cobby when she's curled up because of her tailless manx-like traits. She has the manx rabbit hop run for instance. When she sleeps curled up, since she has no tail to tuck herself into, she tucks herself up with one of her long back legs, and rests her chin on that.

Sano is our neutered tom. He weighs 16 lbs in his old age, although he was even heavier when he was a young man and muscular 🙂 He's a black smoke domestic longhair with a white undercoat. He is extremely sweet, but very unintelligent. I think he has always had developmental problems because he was taken away from his mama too early.  I rescued him from a pet store when he was so small he could sit (in my not very large) palm. I think he was between five and six weeks at that time. He is my eldest cat at ten years.

Lindsey

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Chani the Maine Coon

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Apr 26, 2011 Lovely Kitties
by: Isabel

Hi
I loved reading your story out loud to my husband, we have 4 cats and rescued 1 that we been told is a Maine Coon. My husband named her Rosey because when I was giving her a natural flea bath, she thought she had enough and striked out at my face and almost blinded my left eye. I wish I could post some pictures of her, she has all the traits of a Maine Coon but unlike her kin is small in frame. She is so sweet and friendly, I love her little pigeon cooing and chirping and her little meow. She is still kind of shy of the other cats and hides a lot under the dresser in our bedroom, but she loves to be in the thick of things specially if we are present, or when we are eating. I had another Maine Coon in my life before. She passed away in 2002 of mammary gland cancer, my husband never met her, although I look at her pictures all the time and tell him stories of her. I live in London, Canada, you know it doesn't matter where you live there's always stupid people who do not think twice about throwing away an animal as if it's a piece of garbage without even considering the poor little beings feelings. Thanks for rescuing one and for loving it. I loved reading your story and all the other stories, animals for me cats, they bring me so much love and understanding when I am down and sad and all they ask is for food, and some loving. I talk to ours all the time, I swear they understand every word. We have two, Lucky and Toby when they are confused you know it because you will see a frown between their eyes. They are amazing.


Jul 29, 2010 whisper
by: Shirley

I found my whisper at the humane society. Only did i wonder why she had webed feet like a duck. My other kitten dosen't. So I asked the internet why and they told me she was proably part maine coon. She is very affectionate. When she wants my attention she gives me these tiny bites. When I brought her home she would open her mouth like she was meowing and nothing would come out. She is 8 months old now and it is sounding like a tiny meow. She is calico colored and very pretty she has such a long tail but not fluffy. We call her whisper because you can hardly hear her. She is very smart i can see. She gets startled easy. She is adorable. shirley from oregon


Jul 08, 2010 Three beautiful cats
by: Finn Frode, Denmark

Hi again Lindsey. Thank you for the pictures. They are beautiful cats all three of them and it's so nice seeing them all sleeping together.
I've never thought about how a tailless cat like Francis would use her hind leg to tuck herself up, but it makes perfectly sense. 🙂


Jul 04, 2010 A wise and effective matriarc
by: Finn Frode, Denmark

Hi Lindsey. Although temperament can differ a lot even between litter mates, it is also my impression that Maine Coon are generally even-tempered.
Your Chani is a beautiful and impressive cat and as you describe her, it's no wonder she has become matriarc of the clowder. I'm sure your other cats appreciate her wise and efficient leadership. 🙂

Finn Frode avatar


Jul 02, 2010 Hi Lindsey
by: Michael

Nice post. You love your cats. Nice home for a cat! But where is the pic...:)

If you have one please send it to me. My email address.

Best

Michael Avatar


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