Cat mememememe

[desperance]

(ganked from esmeraldus_neo):

You Are a Maine Coon Cat

You tend to be loving and playful around your family and friends. But when you're around strangers you tend to be a bit reserved. You are intuitive. You understand human emotions well. You do best when you are around people. You don't like being left alone.

What Breed of Cat Are You?

Hmmph. I give, as so often, no credence to their analysis - "you don't like being left alone", forsooth! - but still. Maine Coon. If I had a big house and a few acres of land, some woods, like that, then - yup. Maine Coons. And Wegies. *sigh*

Comments

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

It is clearly obsessed with the maine coon: I've tried various different selections (all kind of accurate) and always I'm a maine coon.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Ah, right. Damn. I always want these things to be spectacularly insightful and honest. I am, possibly, doomed to perpetual disappointment... (Neo was a Bengal, though, so it does at least recognise one other breed...)

[dedbutdrmng.livejournal.com]

I'd love a wegie. So beautiful. My Mum and Dad just got new cats and I've been trying to convince them to get a Wegie. Failed, but now they have two lovely British short hairs, blue and cream.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Can has photies?

[dedbutdrmng.livejournal.com]

They don't have photo's yet. They cats are still a bit timid and my mum doesn't want to risk terrifying them with a flash (we're not allowed to visit either). As soon as I can I shall put up pictures. I am informed they are 'impossibly lovely'. :)

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

I've owned more than one Maine Coon. They're fairly solitary, especially with regard to other cats. They prefer to be an only cat. But they don't like their owners leaving them alone. Because when they want attention, they want it and you need to be there to give it to them. And when they don't, their owners should go do something that leaves them alone, but keeps them nearby.

Mine have always enjoyed being reasonably close in terms of physical proximity, but physically separate most of the time. Like sleeping in a corner of my office while I work. They want to be in my office, but don't want me messing with them.

Oz

[desperance.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I hadn't heard about preferring to be the only cat; indeed, the Maine Coons I've known were not singletons. But that was really only one household, so it's not a fair sample.

I've got used to the close-but-separate attitude; both boys do that, to some extent. The girls were utterly the opposite - if I was sitting down, they were sitting on me; if I was walking about, Sophie was on my shoulders and Misha wanted a cuddle, thanks - but the boys are far less clingy. Barry has his lapsitting periods, at times of his choosing; otherwise he's usually in the room, but Over There. Mac might be anywhere...

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

The sheer variety is why I like cats, I think.

We're currently hosting 3 boys and a girl on our 10 acres. The boys are far needier than the girl cat. They're the ones that sleep in my office, climb in my lap, sleep on my computer or desk. They're the ones that sleep on our bed. Even the current Maine Coon.

Girl cat is a small domestic short hair. She's outside as much as she's in. A real mouser and birder. When she's in, she goes to ground. She rarely sleeps out in the open.

I found the DK book on cat types (which I think was originally written for a Brit market) to be fairly accurate. Coons were listed as solitary with respect to other cats and sedentary. The Turkish Angorra we adopted as a senior citizen is the opposite. He's fairly gregarious with other cats and still playful. And the 2 domestic shorthairs are somewhere inbetween.

Coons seem to manage in a group, but when the cat count goes down to 1, I've noticed that they're much happier not dealing with other cats. Both of mine have been alpha cats as well.

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Oh, you have acreage! *envies*

(Not that much envy, to be honest - I'd be hopeless at actually managing land; I can't even manage a small house respectably - but the idea of it is so enticing. And the cats. I would say "I can manage cats," but that would be absurd...)

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

Yes and my very own cabin, which I'm currently not using because the internet won't reach that far. And a barn. And chickens. And amusing wildlife. And blueberry bushes. And lots and lots of mowing. Also woodstoves and firewood. 5 acres is hay for a neighbor, so at least I only have to mow half of it.

I understand the envy and not envy. We can't really manage it, either. I'm not the type of person who wants to spend all their hours tending the land. On the other hand, it's cat heaven. And all our neighbors have similar acreage, so while there are six houses around me, there's also distance and privacy.

Oz

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Hee. Nice cabin. You could always view the lack of internet as a feature, making it a place to go to write, uninterrupted, undistractable...

And I am definitely envious of almost everything except the mowing. I wouldn't be good at mowing. Does one absolutely have to mow? What happens if you don't, if you just let nature take its course...?

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

It's the "undistractable" part that keeps me in the house, I think. I want to be distracted for some of the writing time.

When one doesn't mow, one ends up with growth. And growth and growth. Until one loses the cats and the small child in the growth and one has to hire someone with a really big machine to cut the growth down. Not to mention allergy-making weeds, scrub trees, nasty ticks, deer who think they live here too. The 5 acre field is a cautionary tale for whether one has to mow. It gets to that state just before they take the hay.

The previous owners let most of the property go. It took The Dude and my father a summer to cut back grape vines and poison ivy and other crud. The poison ivy is especially Not Nice. They took back the lawn and now about 6 hours a week in the summer keeps it at bay. About 4 times that would be required to keep the place looking fab.

Granted, one mows on a riding mower for those 6 hours. With headphones and music. Or just headphones and plot ideas. The Dude does a close hand mow about twice a season. The chickens like to follow the mower and eat the bugs.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

I came out as Rag Doll, which I resent, rather. I do not go floppy when picked up. I protest!

[bellinghman.livejournal.com]

(All together now)

"Oh yes you do!"

I'd put you down as an oriental, myself.

[fidelioscabinet.livejournal.com]

I do not believe that I am a Bengal. There are two Bengals at my place, and I really don't think I'm that mental. Also, I am not nearly that antsy energetic.

[badbookworm.livejournal.com]

You don't want one. They're insane.