Thread: Do you see what I see? Introducing Freddy Louis...

Hi all. I know you folks hear the "Do I have a Maine Coon" question an awful lot. Because I have been a breeder, I know that there is no way to identify many breeds/mixes without knowing the parentage. Ordinarily, I wouldn't ask something like this....but of the many, many cats I've had over the years I have never encountered a cat like this one.

About two weeks ago, my bosses (I work for a husband and wife) told me that they found what had the potential to be a beautiful long haired cat in their driveway. He was starving, very rough looking, and had a collar wrapped under his armpit that had been there so long it was growing over. They said that despite this, he was extremely loving. I thought of COURSE he is, lol. You want me to take him!

They took him to the vet, had the collar removed, gave him wormer, ect. The vet found that he was neutered, and said he was around a year old. That combined with the collar says that he has a home somewhere in this extremely wealthy neighborhood (It's a private gated community that spans several miles). They decided to post pictures and wait a few days, but nobody claimed him. They named him Fred of all things.

So they brought him to the office where I immediately fell in love. One would think that a cat who had been through h**l, starved, and then carted all over the place would be timid. Not Fred. He walked right into my office....wagging his tail, looking me full in the face, and trilling. "You're going to be my Mom" he seemed to say. Then he planted himself on my desk and held my arm purring while I tried to work. All day. The only time he got up was to GROWL out the window at people walking by. Seriously. Like a dog alerting an intruder.

It was at that point that I looked at the ruff, and thought Maine Coon. Somebody lost their Maine Coon kitten.

Since then, I have been researching the breed. And he is everything described. The body type, personality (though he hasn't shown much interest in playing with water), coat (though it's really, really rough and doesn't have the lynx tips. Plus his foot fur isn't very long...that could be because he spent months living outside though). He's also big (I think) for a year. He's 33 inches as far as I can tell from foot to foot stretched out, and weighs 8 pounds starving skinny. Most of all, he acts like a dog. He alerts me of intruders, he begs, he wags his tail, he follows me around.

Something else I've noticed is that he puffs, not hisses, at my other cats. It's funny, actually. I've never see a cat blow wind like that...it's like a bark with no sound. Just wind. After the first couple of days hiding from them, he began challenging them, but not attacking. Now he walks around like he owns the place. He's been here a week and a half, lol. Pretty quick work, I'd say

Anyway, the reason I even want to know is so I can care for him better. I'll love him anyway. But he has diarrhea that wormer and antibiotics don't seem to be touching. It's a mess. If he IS a pedigree, he may just be more sensitive. All breeds have their quirks...

I took a short video of him. Do you see what I am seeing? If nothing else, he's a character....he couldn't understand why I wouldn't just let him love on me, lol. Please excuse my kitty talk...I know I'm a dork.