Is my rescue kitten a Maine Coon? :-)

Hello, first time here!

Last Thursday I rescued a sweet kitten from a lady who found her wandering in her yard and did not want to keep her. I have 5 strictly indoor cats already (all adults, all rescues) and had no intention of keeping her but the lady said that kitty seemed "roughed up" and it was obvious she wasn't going to do anything about it :(

Sweetest little girl. Obvious eye infection to both eyes, watery diarrhea, starving, the end of her tail was injured (pretty much missing, like maybe caught in a door in the past?) but a real cuddlebug. I took her immediately to my Vet for an assessment and treatment of her issues with the intention of trying to find a rescue to take her to the next day. Yeah right! haha. Vet estimated her to be 12 weeks (but personally I think she's a bit younger), she gave her Milbemax for worms, said end of tail was dead/necrotic and would likely just fall off but there was some pus where healthy part of tail met necrotic part so she gave her a shot of Convenia. Poor girl had watery green diarrhea right there on the table so was prescribed Flagyl x 7 days. Given Tetracycline ointment for her eyes. Vet found her 8% dehydrated and underweight (weighs 2.5 lbs).

She's long haired and a polydactyl! Has 6 toes on front paws and 6 on back. Paws are HUGE! haha. The thumb claw doesn't seem to be one that really moves so I clipped it to prevent it from catching on something (just the tip). I'm keeping her isolated from my other cats, in her very own room that's a cat's paradise! She's eating like a piggy, so sweet and playful.

I was a bit concerned about the underside of her fur, on belly, looking so shaggy.....sorta like you see on a cat that's sick...but despite brushing, it just seems to be "this way."

She has little tufts of fur on ear tips and huge big wafts of fur that protrude out of her ears, so cute. The fur around her neck, going all of the way around is almost like a little ruffle; it's longer than fur on her back....almost looks like a little cape around her neck. Her eyes are a hazel orange.

She does NOT have tufts of fur on the underside of her paws which I believe is common for MCs? She does this super sweet 'chirp' noise when she's playing with her toys or I toss one across the room and she's going to pounce on it. The fur on her underside is so much longer than on her back. Fur on back is sleek and smooth and shiny, but underside is long and sorta raggy/ratty, almost curled.

Though it really doesn't matter what breed she is, I'm just curious to know if she might actually be a Maine Coon. I've attached a couple of pictures. I have truly not ever met a more cuddly affectionate kitten. From the first night I took her in, she insisted on sleeping all snuggled up on my chest with her little head under my chin all night...kneading me over and over until she fell asleep.

Many thanks
PS -- and yes, I'm keeping her lolAttachment 6380Attachment 6379

Have a Nice Day kitteeMomma..!
This is Hema from Qatar.

I will answer you first n then explain the reply.

From your descriptions and the photographs of the cutest cuddle furball attached..I believe u got an MC Queen!!!

N now..

It is 7 am here n I saw ur post in the forum n I like to thank you as it made my day....:smile:

U described so well about her features n the point when you told abt her diarrhoea at the vet table brought tears to my eyes, as i can assume how much unhealthy she was..

I am happy to hear from you that u r keeping her..:nod:Thank you for that..n who will keep her away???
She found n understood you as her patron n mom..the sleep with head under your chin and kneading till sleeping shows that...
You told that u have 5 indoor cats..any MC among them? u did not mention..I guess no..

So I am giving the most sweet warning that u will ever receive in your life..now u r a person who is only a "cat person"..
after a few days..u r going to adapt yourself to a cat..that is you are going to be a "cat slave"..:rofl:

thank you for the post n the photographs of the wonderful li'l girl..she seems to be too naughty..n will grow to a princess with a loving mom like you..

Wish all the best to you and the 5 plus ONE furballssss.......
My pats to all of them..

PS(I have a white Queen MC and 2 adult domestic,one m&one f..female was a stray n the girl friend of my Boy..she came n stayed here when she was pregnanat from him,lol..n now she has 8 kittens ..all r here with me..but will not keep indoor as I have only limited space..will let them free when they r grown up..as per their wish..n MC li'l girl Ms.Snow White will be strictly an indoor...!)

Hi KitteeMomma,
Firstly. we get quite a few of these "Is my kitty a Maine Coon" posts on this forum and for the first time ever I am actually going to say hand on heart that Yes I do believe she is (and a fantastic looking one too)

Secondly. Thank you for what you have done for her, it's people like yourself that restore my faith in humanity.

Thirdly. Oh boy I hope you know what your letting yourself in for :D

Give her a big squish for me.

Mick

Hi Kiteemomma,

What a little sweetie, and I'm inclined to agree with MickB as she does have a lot of MC features. Perhaps more likely if you are in America where the breed is more common. She's obviously thoroughly bonded with you, and look forward to seeing more photos as she gets bigger. That chirruping sound is so special isn't it x

She s very cute and very coonie! :LOL:

She's so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes. How special to have a poly - I wonder how she got to be lost? I'm so glad she found you and it sounds like she is too. Poor baby must have been so scared and lonely. Looking forward to pictures as she grows. Tell us what you decide to call her :smile: x

Thank you all so much for your very sweet, kind and thoughtful responses.

I was so perturbed with the lady who had found her initially in her yard. She'd posted about finding her and I immediately left my phone # but she didn't call me until the next day. I asked her if she'd fed the poor dear and she claimed "I didn't know what to feed a cat" (um, try CAT FOOD). I brought some canned food with me and she gobbled up a can of fancy feast in record time.

I'm here in Canada (Alberta) and I live in a city where people are stupid and let their cats roam, then frantically complain their cat is lost and didn't come home.

I did check the usual places to see if anyone had reported missing a kitten but nothing. I can't help but think she must have had a lot of human contact because of the fact that she was so sweet and cuddly right from the start.

It's possible she's going to need tail amputation surgery, I hope she doesn't, but I want to wait until her diarrhea has settled and she's settled before we consider that.

It's been a good 20 years since I had a kitten but even back then they were just no way as affectionate as her. She loves to give head butts with her wet cold little nose, particularly when lying on my neck and snuggling with me. haha. She absolutely loves her cat toys; I have a little catnip filled mouse that that makes squeaking noises when you move it and she goes NUTS for it. Also this toy that's a long stick with a feather on the end. She's mastered a 3 tiered cat post in no time flat. I bought one of those little cat perches that attach to a windowsill so that she could lie there and look out but I don't think she quite "gets it."

I can't think of a name for her. Usually it takes me a few days to learn their personality and then a name comes to me but this time I just can't. I initially was going to call her Muk-Luk because of her HUGE poly paws but that doesn't seem dainty enough for such a sweet girl. My other cats' names are: Cleo, Spookie, Hobee, Bitsy and BooBoo.

She's still having loose poops (not excessive, just after she eats a meal) so I'm going to bring a stool sample into clinic this morning to have it tested. It's possible she has Coccidia and she's currently on Flagyl and that's only good for Giardia. I did give her a full tube of Bene-Bac pet gel (probiotic) yesterday and the day before but her poops haven't firmed up.

I will definitely post more pics, she's such a doll. lol

Hello & a belated welcome to you both & MickB knows his MC kitties so great to see his post,you are lucky to have found each other & will look forward to seeing what name she is given.....x

Hello hello!
Well, I have finally named my sweet little girl....her name is Bizzee (as in "busy") because she is such a bundle of energy.

In my original post I had mentioned that when I found her, the end of her tail was missing and Vet said the tissue was dead and would either fall off or she'd need surgery to remove that dead half of her poor little tail. Well Wednesday the end seemed to be puffier and I feared there was pus inside that was building up/causing pressure. Took her to Vet, they clipped the area and soaked it and (warning if you have a weak tummy!......) tons of pus came out and necrotic tissue fell off. She bandaged tail up and we scheduled her for surgery yesterday, and while under to spay her as well.

She did well with the surgery and I picked her up yesterday afternoon at 5:30pm. She was purring up a storm. She was not impressed with the huge plastic cone (way too small for a little kitten). They shaved her entire tail, removed the dead/infected part and stitched up the end. I brought her home and put her in "her bedroom" (lol) and she was so happy. Didn't even have that typical "googly/glazed eye look" that cats often have after surgery from all of the drugs. It was a total struggle to keep her from wanting to play. I fed her small amounts of canned food every hour and she was starving!! Never saw a cat lick a plate so clean LOL. I took the cone off of her while I was with her. I didn't have the heart to leave her in the room alone overnight so I grabbed a quilt and slept on the floor with her but she just wanted to play. My back was killing me! So I took her into my bedroom and she snuggled up beside me and we slept.

Until..........I woke up at 3:15am and she was nowhere to be found. My heart stopped. My bed is very very high and I do have a bench at the end of it but whether she'd know to use it, no idea. I found her in my other spare bedroom, just jumping off that bed. UGH. So back to her bedroom we went. I did give her something for pain about 1am.

This morning I went into her room to feed her and she wasn't there. My heart stopped. No real places to hide at all. I have a cabinet with drawers that I sit my printer on, she wasn't underneath it. I was panicking. Finally I heard a noise and I opened up the big long bottom drawer...............and there she was, sleeping on top of a pile of books and manuals. LOL. She's done it again today so now I have to figure out a way to block the area she crawls into. My God that area is about 2 inches wide, how she gets up in there I don't know. What if I'd been gone all day? I don't think she'd know how to get out?

Anyway here are some pics I just took of her....showing her sweet little tail that will hopefully have new fur on it sooner than later LOL

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Hello Bizzee! What a sweet name. Hopefully her tail will heal quickly and the fur will grow back soon. Lovely to see new photos and to know that her spirit isn't dampened by all she's gone through. Never ceases to amaze me the new places my two end up choosing to have their nights' sleep. She looks more and more like a MC too x

I needed to read this story after hearing about 92 dogs dumped by backyard breeders going out of business in my neighborhood. 92 Dogs Dumped Along Texas Roads, Cops Say Illegal Breeder Responsible

Bizzee looks like a classic Maine Coon.