Paola Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Our cat is from an RSPCA centre and is absolutely beautiful. There is no need to spend a fortune to get a gorgeous cat. £350 for a kitten is a bit ridiculous I spent £400 on Azlan for OH Here he is with our other Main Coon Bella He has grown loads since this pic was taken before Christmas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janty Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 It's a matter of opinion. There's not right or wrong to this. Some people are confirmed moggie fans whilst others opt for pure breeds. I, myself like both. I have my cats / dogs (when I had them) neutered and spayed as soon as six months hits but I do think that the vet was bang out of order for imposing his opinions on you so forcibly. You are embarking upon a supervised, controlled breeding programme of rare pure breed cats. It's not as if you are letting your cat outside all the time to have litter upon litter of unwanted kittens that will end up in rescue centres. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janty Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Wow! Maine Coons are lovely. I also like rag dolls. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkshire Pudding Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Maine Coons are the only pedigree cat that ever interested me. There is definitely something attractive about them Paola - is it true they remain kitten-ish for years? I've always had ex-stray moggies and they are lovely boys and girls, but I might dither over an Aslan . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty e Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 We spent £400 on Nero, and we'll have to spend more if we register him on the active list. But if we get a litter of nice looking healthy kittens, we should make that back. And he's sooooo gorgeous. must take pics tonight so I have bragging rights. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paola Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 (edited) Maine Coons are the only pedigree cat that ever interested me. There is definitely something attractive about them Paola - is it true they remain kitten-ish for years? I've always had ex-stray moggies and they are lovely boys and girls, but I might dither over an Aslan . Yes, Bella is a year older then Azlan and she still charges around the house and garden They are not light on there feet so it sounds as if we have extra children in the house when they charge around upstairs. Bella adores Azlan. The poor dog has now been pushed to one side as she Bella no longer plays with her. Looking forward to seeing the pics Aunty e Edited January 31, 2008 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janty Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Pics would be great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Helly Welly Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Azlan is gorgeous. Each to their own i say, i'd just rather rescue a cat from a rehoming centre than buy a pure breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aunty e Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 My poor little rescue girl is half maine coon, not that you can tell as she hasn't really grown since she got to six months and is only tiny. She is still terribly kittenish, and when we had the kittens she played all the time with them. She's now frolicking with Nero, as he's only four months old. SO CUTE! Your maine coons look GORGEOUS! here is Dilly. She's not really any bigger than this now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ana's flock Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 I used to think all cats are gorgeous! I have had all sorts of funny characters living with me (and cats too ). I loved my big fat tabby Roland, and now I live with Cleo (muggy from oriental ancestry - half burmese, half siamese), who's the brightest and most intuitive thing with fur I've ever met; and (Hou)dini, a beautiful and totally daft siamese blue point with sinus trouble. He's so soft and good tempered I once found my youngest boy using his ear as a teething ring... I don't like weird manipulation of breeds for aesthetic (?) purposes, specially when it compromises the physical or mental health of the animals. I think it's cruel. Keeping old breeds alive is a different matter altogether, you get gorgeous long haired cats from cold climates, gorgeous slender ones from parts of the word, and all are naturally selected for top health. If in doubt I'd go for a muggy. Cleo did produce some absolutely gorgeous little black kittens in her day (took a liking to the local black tom) - we had people phoning up to find out if she was pregnant! And I think all the cats you've shown here are total sweeties. They're very much loved and that shows in their looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eyren Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 On a side note its funny isnt it how with dogs and cats having a pure breed generally means sacrificing life span and health in a lot of cases, where as with chickens its the other way round. How come crossing chickens leads to chickens that lay more and hence encounter more health problems and live shorter lives. Why doesnt crossing chickens make them lay less? You have to remember that the hybrid hens we eglu owners buy have been specially selected for egg-laying (ie the breeder only breeds from hens that lay well and cockerels whose daughters lay well). However the laying takes its toll on health, like in the days before contraception when women often had a baby nearly every year, hence the shorter life span. Most pedigree cats are selected for breeding on the basis of fur colour and texture (plus eye colour and various other characteristics), and their show careers, like those of human supermodels, are very short, so there's no pressure to select for longevity and unhealthy genes can get "concentrated" in breeding lines. Moggies have to be healthy in order to survive tougher conditions - the weaklings may not live long enough to breed. Pure-breed chickens are also selected for looks, not reproductive success, but in their case the low egg-laying rate makes them live longer purely by coincidence. That's my guess anyway - we have a chicken gene database on our website where I work, but we just store the data for use by other scientists, so I don't know much about the practical side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
