Meet Leo

**brims** · 7th July 2013, 10:51 AM

For 4th of July, my fiancee and I went with some of my family to watch fireworks, we got special seats extremely close to where they launched from. The seatting was at an animal shelter, the ticket price went to benefit the shelter. We went to look at the cats and dogs they had.

This one little red kitten was so sneaky, kept following me specifically from within the fenced in area. There was an older male cat that came up to us and stretched and showed an interest in us. We have been talking about getting a cat while we wait for the breeder to have the kittens we want.

After some heavy consideration, we decided to drive back to the shelter, about 1.5 hours away, and adopt that cat. We wanted to give an adult cat a home since the kittens are adopted more often.

The cat that stretched for us and everything was named Leo. He is a 1 year 8 month old, red cat. After spending only a few minutes with him in the room where they are kept, he made it clear that he wanted to go home with us. Crawled into our laps as we were just squatting down, and he started licking the left sleeve of my shirt like crazy. The deal was sealed.

He protested very little on the drive home. Once home, he wasted no time in inspecting every square inch of his new home. He is a sweet, goofy, easy going, well behaved purr machine.

After having him for 2 days, we have had plenty of time to get to know him. We have come to the conclusion that he most definately has some Maine Coon in him. This isn't really an idea that we had considered at the time of adoption. He is 10 pounds 4 ounces (4.66 kg). His body feels well built like those of the pure Maine Coons we've had the opportunity to hold. He has a nice poofy tail, his face isn't quite as defined as some, but it does have some definition that we've seen in many Maine Coons. His fur is soft, not silky, but not rough like all the domestic short hairs I've owned. I looked up breeds with copper eyes, Maine Coons are 1 of about 20 breeds that can have that and he looks nothing like any of the others on the list.

He is and has been shedding his undercoat, so we have been diligently using the slicker brush and Kong Cat Zoom brush on him; we almost have another cat, 2 for the price of 1.

The licking of most any cloth has not stopped, he can lick your shirt twice and there's a wet spot, thought cat tongues were drier, so he must salivate a lot when doing this. His other quirk is that he loves to run between your legs or sprint in front of your feet while you're walking in order to trip you.

He was surrendered to the shelter, they didn't have it written in his file why. He does nothing that would cause that. But we would do everything to fix any issue so that we didn't have to surrender him. When we get our kittens, I don't foresee him having any issue being a big brother to them.

Without further ado, here is Leo:

**brightlight23** · 7th July 2013, 01:22 PM

Hi there, that's a wonderful story about how Leo came into your lives. He sounds like he has a wonderful disposition. Thanks for sharing his photo too, look forward to reading more about him xx

**Puzzles** · 7th July 2013, 07:20 PM

What a lovely story and what a handsome lad ... sounds as tho Leo has well and truly landed on his feet

**Chris** · 8th July 2013, 10:39 PM

How handsome is Leo ! and I agree with the others what a wonderful story, he is so lucky to have you in his life. Long may he give you love and kitty kisses x Will enjoy hearing all about his antics x

**brims** · 9th July 2013, 12:18 AM

So far Leo has been nothing but amazing. Even when you do something he doesn't particularily like, he either swats you fairly genlty without claws or goes to bite your hand, but only closes his mouth to the point where his teeth make contact. Along with the lack of being brushed since who knows when, his nails had not been cut in some time. Surprisingly the quick was still very high up the nail so we were able to clip more than just the very tip off his claws. Those things were weapons, but he's not a violent cat so the only time you got hit was completely by accident. With the nail trimming he protested a little but we got it completed in 2 sessions that were spread over a few hours.

He likes to meow really softly, his meow belongs on a little kitten, it's very cute. Yesterday he trilled which I have never heard before.

He has his vet checkup scheduled where he will get his microchip and probably his rabbies shot since we have no record of when he got it.

Here's another picture of Leo all stretched out

Here's the first picture uploaded to the forum so it's not so small

**Alekto** · 9th July 2013, 10:58 AM

oh waw he is soooo handsome, too! how could anyone give him up? and those clever golden eyes! very well done for getting him! so, that's one down, 3 to go for you then Brim?

**brims** · 9th July 2013, 10:30 PM

We can't figure out why he was given up, my guess they moved and couldn't keep the animal or one of those really horrible excuses. If you have an animal and you move, you should be looking for a place that will allow your animal, otherwise you should just not have an animal. If there is absolutely no place that is animal friendly, the next option would be to find a friend or family member to take care of the animal while you look for a place that will allow them.

We're going to limit ourselves to 3 cats, our place isn't tiny, but it's not huge. We want them to have enough space to play and also be able to get away from the others if need be.

I came back today and he had such a high pitched cry. It's like he's scolding us for leaving him. He really has that "I want to be with my humans" mentality. He doesn't tear things up, dig through the garbage, or go outside the litterbox when we leave so he just wants to be around us.

The funny thing is that when we decided to get a Maine Coon, we looked at those Maine Coon rescues thinking we'll get an MC and we'll rescue one. The cats we'd see were either really old, 10+, or they looked nothing like a Maine Coon. Then we go to some little shelter and adopt a cat for $10 and it turns out that he actually looks and acts like a Maine Coon. Funny how things work out.

**brims** · 15th July 2013, 08:15 AM

Leo is getting over his cold he probably got from being in the shelter. His food and water intake are rebounding, he wasn't eatting as much as he should, his water intake was a little lower than I'd have liked. He's been using the litter box pretty consistently so it wasn't that big of a deal. He's a little underweight so we're trying to get him to put on 1 maybe 2 pounds. Every day we weigh the feeder, and record the change. He really enjoys the water fountain, I have never seen an animal spend so much time drinking at any fountain compared to what our cat and my mom's dog spends at it.

His vet visit went smoothly, he wasn't real happy about it, but no cowering or clawing and biting. He's been chipped and registered and had his rabbies shot since we have no record of that. He was tested for FIV and FELV because the shelter didn't perform this, this test returned negative.

**Tweet** · 15th July 2013, 10:09 AM

Congratulations, you!

Leo looks absolutely beautiful and it sure looks like he's really fallen on feet.

**Ginacool** · 24th July 2013, 07:33 PM

He is one stunning looking young man! Both you and he are lucky to have found each other.
I would agree his muzzle and tail certainly look all Maine Coon and his temperament sounds spot on too.

It will be interesting to find out how he gets on with his new friends when they arrive.

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