About 4 months ago we lucked out. We had been looking for a fluffy cat for our daughter. We loved the idea of a Maine Coon, but hated the price. For one thing, our cats have always been indoor/outdoor at will. Please don't scream at me, I can't bear the look on my cats' faces when they aren't able to go outside. Yes, we've lost cats to cars and once to a wild animal attack out in Boise, but during the years our cats have lived, we feel like they've really lived.
Like this, but with less booze and more bird-stalking
Anyway, I couldn't see spending two grand on a cat at all, let alone one that we would let out the door. Like, if I'm spending two grand on something it better come with an engine and four good tires. So we started looking on Craigslist and in the local papers for kittens, but let me tell you - at least around here, the spay and neuter crowd seems to have done their job. Twenty years ago you had to run out of Walmart lest someone chuck a free kitten into your basket on the way to your car. Now, kittens even with a 'rehoming fee' were few and far between. A litter would be posted and an hour later they were gone.
Along with my daughter's hopes and dreams - Thanks spay/neuter crowd
At one time we got our hopes up when someone advertised a litter of partial Maine Coons on the way. We contacted them and they assured us the parents were long haired, and we'd get pick of the litter, but then they disappeared so I assume they were full of shit and realized it would be obvious that the cats weren't long haired when we showed up. Some people tell the most stupid lies, but I counted my blessings since it was Craigslist so the scam could have conceivably been far worse.
Craigslist psychos rarely come with Balesque good looks and they never dance
But our fortunes turned when someone bought a whole litter of mistreated kittens that appeared to be (and our vet later confirmed were) Maine Coons! We paid a $100 rehoming fee and it was money well spent. Kit Kat lives up to the Main Coon rep in every way. She is incredibly playful and dextrous, using her paws like mittened hands to grab you and pull you in for a snuggle. She runs outside with the dogs although she has a cat door, then comes in with them when they're called and sits waiting for a treat. Our poor dogs don't know what to do with her as she jumps and rolls around in front of them, trying desperately to play, while they freeze with horror, certain she is about to attack.
Who? Me? Never!
Their fear is well founded, for she definitely lives up to the hunter rep. In just one morning I woke up to three dead moles in the house. She does lines of mice like cocaine and last week killed an enormous chipmunk. This she left outside (thank god) which my husband believes is evidence that she only killed it to bait a hawk within reach. Whether she will then kill the hawk, or tame and ride it to terrorize even larger prey is up for debate.
So when I found her in the kitchen tonight, sitting calmly with a completely unharmed baby rabbit, I was confused. Is she going to mentor it? Has she kidnapped it in some psychotic reaction to being spayed like those ladies who steal other ladies' babies? Or has she decided a quick kill is boring and she wants the added spice of a Hannibal Lecter style courtship before the inevitable bloodbath?
I don't know, but I got her the hell out of the kitchen and nudged baby bun-bun into a box. The cat door is locked and I'll take said bun out to the wood pile from whence she came in a bit when she's calmed down some. In the meantime, here's a pic of Kit Kat's most recent "prey."