What are the cat crazies? Tootsie, a beautiful polydactyl Maine Coon , does them and a lot of cat caretakers attest to them. They are real! But have you seem 'em?! What does it mean? Cat crazies (CCs) describes a cat that suddenly, for no apparent reason, goes a bit berserk as we understand the word. The cat might chase around, charging at things, jumping onto some cat furniture and doing lots more in quick fire action. This looks odd as most cats sleep and are passive most of the time. Well, I haven't given it a thought until now. My cats don't do it...LOL...sorry. I am not sure if that is a good or bad thing. My immediate thought is that the cat crazies is a sudden desire for activity by the cat, which may stem from being too inactive, which in turn may originate in being a trifle bored. That is not a criticism of anyone. I would be shocked to discover the wildcats doing the cat crazies! If I am correct in that ascertain it would support the idea that the domestic...

My friend Michael (and tka blog host) has a new entry up at his awesome and high traffic site Pictures of Cats*. It delves into the details of cat anatomy , from whiskers to ears, to noses and beyond, and oh yes, cat eyes. (*note- all proceeds from POC and tka go to fund cat rescue.) So, I'm prompted to post a photo from yesterday of Tootsie my beauty cat Maine coon (who, as it happens, is a rescue cat). I didn't realize until I looked closely at the photo, but amazing eye detail! TY Tootsie. I can almost see where the boundaries of the irises are. And, that purple stuff beyond, which makes her eyes look like the surface of the moon, I'm assuming show the blood vessels that supply the eye. Michael can correct me on that, if needs be. Tootsie, it is clear, has yellow eyes. I've looked hard, hoping they might be green *g*. But, just as when I find an absolutely wonderful Harris Tweed jacket that I might purchase for a friend who is a great lover of such, b...

Polydactyl Maine Coon- Cat Ms. Beauty Cat. Tootsie did well on this photo op, I think. I call it her "Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up" pose.** It's really a way better pic than the one that appears on her "driver's license" (see below). *g* ** Movie trivia = Sunset Boulevard

Maine coons are endearing cats, in part because they still remain kittens at heart. I know- I haz Maine coon (Ms. Tootsie the rescue cat). Human says: Sammy is a 10 year old Maine Coon cat who for the past 6 years has carried a 4" paint brush around the house; he moves it several times a day. He likes to have it near him; so every night at bedtime he carries it upstairs where it stays until morning. He then carries it to the first floor and leaves it in the mud room in front of the sliding glass door to the deck. He also carries it to the basement (this is where his litterbox is located).

By wonderful chance I met Sherry Campbell and kitty (now "cat" I think) Hang Ten (official name GC Tropikoons Hang Ten of Mainesuspect) from Mainesuspect Maine Coons at my first time ever at a cat show- CFA show in Atlanta. I just happened to sit down beside her at one of the "rings" where Maine coons including the awesome "Hang Ten" were being judged. It's a pretty confusing adventure for a newbie, but Sherry was just great in helping me understand (to the best of my ability) what was going on when cats were being judged. And, Hang Ten is quite a Maine coon character, in the very best sense. So, I don't yet understand the ins and out of points and judging and such, or what the various terms mean, but it seems to me that Hang Ten is on his way to making a mark in the Maine coon world and beyond. What a personality. What a gorgeous cat! So, my first "cat show" data point- maybe really nice and accessible breeders show, breed and own ...

I just found another great YouTube from my Maine coon hero bortapir . Direct link is here Bortapir has some just great kitty vids, including this one, which I featured previously at tka: I think that the kitty lover in youtube #1 is a she kitty, whereas the "flying electrobroom" in youtube #2 is a he kitty. But, are they related?

Yes, twist ties are great cat toys! In an earlier post, I described how my Maine coon Tootsie led me to this discovery: Tootsie polydactyl Maine coon cat invents new cat toy -- as I said then: Tootsie is a very resourceful cat. So, I am downstairs, and I hear thundering about upstairs. Not exactly the first time this has happened. She gets especially wild and crazy when I'm not watching. And then, out of the corner of my eye, as I am sitting downstairs at the computer, I catch a glimpse of her trotting across the kitchen with "something" in her jaws. And then I hear scraping noises. She's whapping that "something" about, as I shortly discover. The figure below gives the details. Part a shows the "something" she was trotting around with. Why yes, it IS a twist tie, and it was included in the packaging for the Roomba I purchased. Part b shows my attempts to create other options, following on from Tootsie's toy invention. A scale bar is...

Maine coons and Norwegian Forest cats are two "natural breeds" that developed without human interference. And, then, they became show cats. But, the basic "look" has been preserved, and the personality as well. I found charming videos of Norwegian Forest cat kittens, and tried to explain why the faces were "classic" for Norwegian Forest cats, and different from "classic" Maine coons (post is here ). I searched for pictures of white cats of the respective breeds, thinking it would be easier to see the differences, without the distraction of the markings, which are basically the same. I found great photos of white Norwegian Forest cats, here , but, none of white Maine coons that I could use. UNTIL... I found Trilloteam , a cattery in Italy passionate about Maine coons. I posted a wonderful video from them Maine coon kitties from Italy- the "Awesome Eight" . The following photos seemed the best to illustrate the differences in loo...

Maine coon kitties from Italy! This litter of eight Maine coon kittens comes from the cattery "Trilloteam" . And, bonus, it's the first YouTube posted by them. I look forward to many more! The direct link is here. A while back, Michael Broad (who writes my favorite all round cat sites- Pictures of Cats and the Pictures of Cats Blog ) and I had a chat about using Helmi Flick's great photo of "The Magnificent Seven" to start a "can you tell which is male and which is female?" quiz. I had my guesses! We both got sidetracked, but the link to that great Helmi Flick photo of a litter of seven Maine coon kittens is here . So, when I saw the YouTube of eight! Maine coon kittens (The Awesome Eight?), I just had to reprise the idea. I took the liberty of capturing some screen shots from the YouTube, and then made my own guesses. I got a bit of a hint by checking out the page at Trilloteam re: the kitties here , which says there are 3 males and 5 fe...

Ah, what sweet Norwegian Forest cat kitties- five of them in a household in Denmark. They are little fluff balls full of kitty energy. Especially watch the smallest kitty sitting at the corner of the rug- classic classic Norwegian forest cat face! That's the only one that was still enough for me to see the face! Norwegian Forest cats look a lot like Maine coons, perhaps not surprisingly, as both are "natural breeds" that developed in very similar environments- cold, snowy forested places. It's taken me a while, but I now can see as obvious the differences in their faces and head shapes. The Norwegian Forest cat face a bit more triangular, the Maine coon face less so. Direct link is here. Direct link is here. See what I mean? ;) One is a Norwegian Forest cat, the other is a Maine coon. Both are flickr photos under Creative Commons License. Left photo is via fox_kiyo ; right photo is via tsavobosques. You'll have to click through to find the answer! ;) Cl...

My Maine coon loves getting combed. Thank goodness, because she was shedding fur all over the place, now that summer is coming. Turns out that what works the best is a cheap plastic comb that I got from who knows where. She loves this comb! Purr time, big time. After I've run out of steam scratching her under the chin with it, she does the "cat flop" belly up, and waits... and purrs... I've saved the fur I collected over the past 3 days, and set it out to take a picture, along with the comb. Crickey! She was watching, and was on the photo setup in an instant, disturbing the cloth background. But, so fascinating- it was the fur itself that really intrigued her. She sniffed and sniffed and... So, I put out the scratch pad to get the two photos at the bottom, and yes, eventually, she paid some attention to the comb. But, this cheap plastic comb really is her favorite by far of the grooming tools I've tried. I have a whole collection of "cat brushes...

Yes, I love Maine coons! And, I love to find YouTubes/ videos that don't have a gazillion hits. I just happened on these from a new YouTube poster, and is this a sweet kitty, or what? Maybe I'm wrong that the kitty is a "she". I made this call based on the sweetie pie face, not the behavior. Kitty explores washer/ dryer- she's almost got that treadmill up to speed! Direct YT link is here . btw, my most favorite "kitty on a treadmill/ exercise machine" ever is November Gets on the Treadmill And below, the Maine coon kitty explores the wonder of dripping water. Yes, a bit longer YT than I normally post, but watch on, the cautious kitty behavior is fascinating. Direct YT link is here .

Maine coons are known for retaining their silly, kittenish personalities way past kittenhood. I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that Maine coon humans (the humans owned by Maine coons) can be more than a bit silly too, especially when under the Maine coon influence. ;) Everywhere in the world! Below is another great Maine coon YouTube also from matosk , who posts from Bratislava, Slovakia. If you go to his channel, you can see some more entertaining YouTubes of Findus and May, the two Maine coons.

Maine coons, often known as "gentle giants", are the largest domestic cat breed. As Michael notes in a link below, "largest" is measured by weight according to cat fancier organizations. But, Maine coons are really LONG cats too! Long and lithe. And, very quick on their feet. I have a few nicknames for my Maine coon Tootsie, and one of them is "rocket cat". Here's a YouTube I just found of a really big, long Maine coon cat getting his toy mousies. Just as a point of reference, kitchen counter tops are 36" high, and bar stools are 30" high. This is a LONG cat! ;) Human says: How big is Big Max? This white Maine Coon cat can steal things off the kitchen counter without leaving the floor! The bar stool is too easy, so Max steps up to the challenge of the kitchen counter. Largest Domestic Cat Breed . Go to the link to read detailed information about how the various breeds compare, both largest and smallest. And, start here, http://www....

Yes, Maine coons do like to get a good tummy rub. And, they know how to make this irresistible to The Human. Maine coons are a "natural breed", perfectly adapted to their original environment. As a biologist, 99% of the traits make perfect adaptive sense to me. But, I confess, this one has me puzzled. Maxwell after work! jorbasa. Diane S Murphy Murph sleeps next to me every day while I work. navvywavvy. Fluff ball some toast. All of the above photos are from flickr, available under Creative Commons License. And, no discussion about Maine coon belly fluff would be complete without a reprise of Dave the Maine coon- Dave the Maine Coon Gets a Massage p.s. Also see More Maine coon belly fluff for more great pictures of those silly Maine coons.

My Maine coon Tootsie REALLY likes to have her tummy rubbed. Strange behavior in that I've never had a cat before that thought was a "good idea". She does the "cat flop", belly up, and waits. And purrs. Seems it's a Maine coon thing! ;) Oscar's Monday Oh, how I wish I were a cat some days. This is what Oscar has been up to all day long. kathleenlosche jorbasa Sind wir ein bisschen albern? Maine Coon Kater Noel mit 11 Monaten snuesch86 Looks like Bela crawled under the coffee table and passed out after a fresh cat nip high. (Don't be alarmed. He actually sleeps this way often) stewickie All of the above photos are from flickr, available via a Creative Commons License. Maine coon belly fluff YouTube here p.s. Also see Even more Maine coon belly fluff for more great pictures of those silly Maine coons.

This kitty looks like a near twin of Tootsie, my Maine coon. I ran across this wonderful picture at I Can Haz Cheezburger. I was intrigued, so I left a comment asking about the kitty. The person who posted the picture (and the caption) was kind enough to reply. Yes, she IS a Maine coon. Human (FuzzyWuzzywasabear) said: "She's my father's Maine Coon. She loves crawling inside her pretzel jar and watching the world. I haven't been able to get a picture of it yet, but she also does backwards summersaults to catch her dangle toy." Direct link (with comments) is here . And, it's fun to track the various captions over at "I can haz cheezburger". I found the photo when it was first put up (~2 days ago), and within an hour or so there were 6 captions. Last time I looked, this photo had 98 captions, and you can see them all here. Mine was one of the first, and reflects what Tootsie would have been thinking (I think), but ebry cats iz diffrnt. ;) Th...

This is Feets, Booglum's Maine coon polydactyl rescue cat: Direct link is here Booglum says: "Here is the baby Maine Coon Kitty, Feets, and his big huge polydactyl paws! Aww, such a baby. He is our snowstorm rescue baby. :)" I've featured Feets before, here . Love that kitty, who, btw, is somehow entered by breed as a "Mancoon" at the vets! So I've been told ;) Here's Tootsie, my Maine coon polydactyl rescue cat (click on photo for a larger image)- also on flickr with Creative Commons License. Click on the label below, "polydactyl", for more polydactyl cats.

I have a fondness for YouTubes with great music. And, then, there's my Maine coon thing. ;) More about Fletcher Henderson here: Feline Follies- with the exceptional Fletcher Henderson And, in case you're wondering the music above is here also: More information here, and here.

I'm back as of 15 minutes ago! A storm came through here, and I and many others haven't had power for 2 days- fallen trees took out power lines, and blocked roads. So, I'm just gonna do the easy thing, and show you some Maine coon belly fluff. Tootsie my Maine coon loves to have her belly rubbed. Is this a Maine coon thing? Direct link is here Pictures of Cats.org