Supercat

This is less obstructive than it looks - Paul didn't need his computer. The study is the coolest room in the house and hairy cats were finding the weather a little warm for the last few days.

Debris

It can be difficult being a long-haired cat. Aside from the livestock that can get stuck in one's tail, there are also the constant vegetal attachments. This was the result of one trip into the garden on a wet day.

Change of seasons

As of yesterday, Urchin has decided that it is cold enough for her winter quarters. We pretty much expect her to stay in her hammock now until spring.

Bringing shame to her family

It's shedding season and thus is the time of year when a cat's reluctance to be brushed really shows itself. The wretched little animal really needs a thorough grooming to get all her loose undercoat out, but she isn't having it, and is fighting like a tiger when we try do it. There are matts developing. Cutting one out is a 2-person job. This was definitely the worst one she's had yet - I am hoping that by publicly humiliating her like this, she will be more amenable to letting us brush her regularly. Yep - pinning my hopes on anthropomorphism.

That hairbrush is bigger than my hand.

Long cat is long

"Long body with proportionate limbs to create the characteristic rectangular appearance"

Toe Tufts

Paws tufted, with long tufts emanating from under the paws, extending backwards to create a snowshoe effect.


And very useful they are too, in this weather.

Snow Cat

Ear Tufts

According to the Maine Coon breed standard, Maine Coon ears should be "feathered and preferably tufted at the tips; the ear feathering should extend beyond the outer edges of the ear". Like this.
But sometimes when a cat has been playing outdoors, running through cobwebs and climbing trees, her ear tufts get a bit unruly and look more like this:

Chair

Another example of Urchin liking to be up high at the moment. She sits on the back of Paul's chair and waits to be admired. It's a good position for showing off the magnificence of a Maine Coon tail too.

Emotional blackmail

The downside of living with a vocal animal like a Maine Coon is that they tell you how deeply they are suffering. Even as I type Urchin is sitting behind my chair telling me that she is going to write to her MP about the cruelty that she is enduring. In this instance my major shortcoming is that I only let her have 15 minutes out doors this evening before it got dark.

But every weekend, when we sit in the conservatory drinking our coffee, we are treated to the most heartbreaking wails as she tries to dig her way to freedom. We generally last about 15 minutes before we cave in.

Congratulations

Urchin would like to congratulate Stewie, for his fine effort in upholding the Maine Coon's record for being the longest cats in the world. While she can't compete with his prodigious 48" effort, she does stretch out to quite an impressive length.

Birthday Girl

Today Urchin is 2. A fine figure of an adult Maine Coon! She has quite a bit more growing to do, we think - rumour has it that they keep growing for much longer than other breeds of cat.

Silver tortie-tabby with white

Apparently Urchin's colour scheme is officially known as silver tortie-tabby with white. She would like to draw attention to how well she matches a slate floor.

The early days

I'm having so much fun going through Urchin's baby photos! What a tiny little bundle she was. It's particularly funny seeing how scant her tail was, when the most enormous plume just flicked past my nose, as she jumped over the keyboard to the windowsill.

You can see how quickly she adapted to life with us. And how quickly she learned to manipulate us with cuteness.

Because she was relatively old (almost 5 months) when we got her, we decided not to let her outdoors for a couple of months. We wanted her to become completely acclimatised to us, and we wanted to have her spayed and microchipped before she went outdoors. At the same time, we wanted to get her used to her environment, so when it snowed a couple of days after she came home, Paul brought a dish in for her to sniff.

She thought water that you could chew and play with was pretty good really.

We gradually introduced her to our home. For the first couple of days we restricted her to one room, then as she became comfortable, we'd open another door and let her explore.

Urchin's photo blog

In late January 2009, we brought a Maine Coon kitten home to live with us. She is a silver tortie tabbie with white, and of distinguished parentage. She was 5 months old and not very happy about being taken away from the other kittens. For the first couple of days she cried and cried, and hid behind the sofa, under the radiator.

Then she came to the realisation that it's pretty good for a cat to be a very much indulged only pet, and she came out from under the sofa.

Since then, she has become completely entrenched in our lives. She's won a number of fans through her regular appearances on my main blog, so I decided that she should probably have her own forum for photos and videos.

I thought I would go back to where it all began, and show some of her very early pictures - so you can see how tiny she is! I can't believe that isn't much more than a year ago. What did we do without her?