ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

Fortunately us humans are doing a pretty good job of destroying ourselves it's the innocent creatures we take along with us that I feel for, hence no cats or humans, if they only killed what they could eat then i'd be fine with one as they do have their uses, now I don't know if i'm talking about cats or humans.

I agree about most humans being ***** as well, which is one of the many reasons I chose to be up in the hills away from most of them.

I probably dislike humans more than cats though, when people come here to stay (mostly my oldest friend and his girlfriend) I have had enough of them after about 3 days (fish guests) last time they were here for 3 weeks, never again.

Big cats are fantastic creatures, if you've not seen them in the wild you really should go to somewhere like Ranthambore and see the Tigers up close, I saw the 3 almost adult cubs (that have been featured on one of the wildlife programs) from about 10 metres at eye level on the back of an elephant (we were in a dried out river bed and they were on the bank) and you wouldn't believe how shiny their coats are with such vivid colours, yet look away for 5 seconds then turn back and they are invisible and you really need to re-focus to see them, amazing once in a lifetime experience i'll never forget.

Turbohot

We have big cats in Chester Zoo and Knowsley Safari Park as well. They're gorgeous, but they'll kill you if you pet them.

ditchmyster

iTrader: (7)

yeah I have seen them in zoo's but they're not the same, something about the colours and shine of their coat that is really amazing, quite un-believable the difference in how they look.

Turbohot

I know what you mean. Knowsley Safari Park is not a zoo, but even there they look a bit rough. I reckon they look the best in their own habitat.

As a kid I fostered orphan big cat cubs a few times due to my late dad's work. We used to feed them cow milk in large beer bottles with a rubber teat on it. Needless to say that the bottles were empty, and very well washed before we filled milk in them. They are the cutest little things I've ever seen! After a few weeks we had to let them go the wild life parks. My cats remind me of them.

angel1368

iTrader: (1)

ive been to kenya and mananged to see lions do a kill then bring the cubs to feed, was ****ing awesome

RS_Matt

Believe it or not I'm a registered cat breeder who specialises in Maine Coons. I have 3 of the massive gits. Sainsbury's do the cheapest and best clumping cat litter £4.06 a bag I think it currently sells for. It has quite good odour control properties.

Turbohot

I wanna see pictures of your Maine Coon gits. Mr. thenewgalaxy also has Maine Coon gits, and they're stunning.

thenewgalaxy

No, you have two and a British Blue.

And you're not a breeder on any Maine Coon resources I'm familiar with.

EssexJamie

iTrader: (5)

My house cat is very clean and our house never smells, just keep the litter clean!

We have enclosed litter tray and we cover the base in a clear recycling sack then lay the litter over the top, when we need to change/clean the litter tray we just pull the bag and the litter falls all in it leaving a lovely clean litter tray

RS_Matt

Yes I am! GCCF fully paid up, I have a prefix. Bought a Queen for £750. I don't tell lies.

Sold the Blue yonks ago, she became scared of the Coons as they got bigger and she was no slouch at 10lbs. Just bought a boy, he's 10lbs already at just 5 months, his brother is 1 inch off Stewie the current world record holder.

RS_Matt

I know of a breeder from Lancs called Peter.

thenewgalaxy

Better get you name up and well known before you start breeding from him then! The information on you guys is not up to date at all.

We'll be going "live" very shortly and hobby breeding when we move into our new property. We picked up a remarkable young queen that's grown into a stunner.

She's not far off 8Kg at present and barely 13 months.

thenewgalaxy

I can assure you, I am definitely not Peter though my queen and I are well known to him.

He's living in South Manchester these days.

You'll see us go live on the Maine Coon Cat Club later this year, we're currently relocating property.

RS_Matt

That's frighteningly big for a female youngster! Our female seemed to have maxed out at just under 10lbs at 2, shes 4 now and is still the same weight, our other Male seemed to max out at 2 as well 14lbs. So much for 4-5 years slow maturity!

TBH after having the nipper we decided to put breeding on hold until we move to a property with more space

The latest kitten comes from Koi lines, I think the owner paid £2,000 or so for a German Coon

It's quite a bitchy hobby, many calls of kitten farmer and a local friend has some horrible heartache at times.

RS_Matt

This is the latest lad



And the 3yo fella



And the female

thenewgalaxy

There's none so bitchy as the mainstream of cat breeding folk unfortunately. It is best to remain small scale and hobby to avoid being a target for people and also being guilty of kitten farming. We all know who is and who isn't but at the end of the day it's not a brush to be tarred with.

We've got to win a couple more shows to get our Queen's Pedigree up and thankfully we've got three breeders with a nice stud to choose from. In fact we're fortuitous that we're on good terms with them because she's bigger than more than of the studs we've been recommended to.

We were fortunate with ours to get her for the price we did, I think if the breeder had known what this female would turn into the price would have been somewhere near that one quoted above.

If you want to see what a bunch of unpleasant **** pedigree cat owners can be, try bringing your child and wife along to a show and seeing what reactions you get.

RS_Matt

I've been to a show with the wife and eldest, (Elsecar) most of the girls were just giving daggers and slagging off, it didn't feel like our scene sadly! You'll have to get a youtube vid up of your girl, I've read of them occasionally topping 25lbs but I've never seen one in the flesh over 13lbs!

It was Harry Potter that got me into the cats, I know they are UK's 2nd most owned cat breed now but I'm not entirely sure they make that good a pet! The lads are very wild at times, they aren't lap cats or cats that can sleep for 14 hours in the same place like our Blue did and the females has scratched the hell out of all our doors - they are very trying at times lol

thenewgalaxy

This is the puddle of fluff that has kept me company all evening.

She's one and a half kilos heavier than our neutered male. I think she is between 17 and 18 lbs if I remember correctly.

Ours are very much lap cats, we have been firm to impress upon them how we think a very large cat should behave. Will even play fetch and walk on a lead.

RS_Matt

Very broad muzzles! I'd die for a nice silver, I wanted one like the one pictured below, I searched for years but then I saw an advert for my latest kitten and I knew he'd be huge unlike the other two midgets.



I could never quite tell what it was though? Looks like a shaded colour but too dark to be silver?

thenewgalaxy

That's a big cat, looks to be a silver tabby and white.

Our "little man" is Silver Tabby with white and although a hugely endearing personality not unfortunately show potential.

A lot of people are kind of obsessed with the size and try to create the largest cat possible but beyond a certain point they become quite unmanageable, I could not imagine having a larger cat running around than this one.

RS_Matt

I think they say judges prefer gold eyes to green? TBH I love the green tinge in some Coonies. I wouldn't want a polydactyl one btw.

What got me hooked was that I thought Mrs Norris off Harry Potter must be a Scottish Wildcat, I wondered if I could own one and found out after research that I was a long long way off the mark! Anyway after finding out Norris was a Maine Coon we went to look at some at a local Breeders and I couldn't believe the ******* size, the breeder has a 24lb red, first thing I asked was "are they legal to own?"

Anyway even though they are buggers beyond imagination it's true what they say - You can't just have one.

urban

iTrader: (1)

Thats right, sure you don't

RS_Matt

Stay on topic.

Turbohot

Beautiful MaineCoonian cats on this thread now. I'd have one, but my current cats would get upset.

David Lock

[QUOTE=Jamz3k;11323025]I was thinking of getting a cat from an animal centre rather than buying a kitten. Would this be a good idea? I'm out of the house all day you but could do with a pet... the goldfish and myself have nothing left to say to each other after 4/5years!

QUOTE]


I am sure the cat and goldfish will play happily together

dl

RS_Matt

This might seem a bit far fetched but I had 4 Sharks in my cellar. I had to sell them as it was costing over £30 quid a week to house them.

john banks

If our cat was that size we are afraid she would eat us.

RS_Matt

Aye they get big, not a bad way to spend 400-500 quid.







Might be a funny thing to say but I'm actually scared of them.

Turbohot

Bigger the cat is, more intimidating it seems to be. Mind you, even the little cats can be like that. The way they quietly stare at you has a weird effect on you; as if they can see through your skin. I don't get this 'stare' effect from lions and tigers. If they quietly stare at me, I know they they'd want to skin me; literally.

RS_Matt

I have a Facebook friend who runs a big cat sanctuary. As much as I love and respect big cats there's no way on earth I'd get up close and personal like he does. I probably wouldn't even be able to enter a pen and stroke a sedated one.