Thread: What made you choose a Maine Coon?

I had always had dogs growing up, and my wife and I had gotten a pair of maltese puppies the year before our daughter was born. About 6+ years ago my daughter had been asking for a kitten and had been reading up on the different breeds. Meanwhile, my wife began feeding a neighborhood cat that she finally realized was stray (everyone had thought he belonged to somebody else). He was a large orange long-haired cat--the neighborhood alpha male! He had been around for some time--at least through one winter--and we had chased him off several times when he was hunting birds by our feeders. Anyway, when I found out that she had started feeding the cat (it was November), I was not happy, as I did not want a cat and certainly not that one. However, as I began seeing him coming for food and it got colder, I became the one who put out a blanket with heating pad and a heated water bowl. It got so I was taking him a plate of meat first thing every morning--and he would be waiting. Turned out when you got up close to him, he was quite beautiful, and we noticed he had many of the characteristics of a Maine Coon according to my daughter's books. Eventually we took him in and had him neutered. Since he was horribly matted, he was shaved, so was very cuddly due to being cold, and I got quite attached to him because he slept right next to *me* in bed every night. Unfortunately, about a month after we took him in he went into congestive heart failure--turned out he had HCM! Anyway, we were able to keep him alive for another 4+years thanks to medication. He became a wonderful pal over that time--and I decided I loved cats--at least I loved MCs. Because of that guy's wonderful temperament (definitely a MC mix), we ended up getting a purebred Maine Coon. We now have four of them: two girls and two boys.