New to site

I just found this lovely sight. I adopted an adult Maine Coon from a rescue in March. He is very loving and helping me with the loss of my beloved Doxie January. I've never had a cat like this before! I don't know if most Maine Coons are like this, but I understand they are the most dog-like breed; which suits me just fine! he follows me around everywhere, likes to sit on my lap being petted for hours, nose butts me in the nose frequently, and is a very loud purr-er! He did come with some baggage. He had an autoimmune response to his teeth and developed a stomatitis several years ago and had most of his teeth pulled, left just enough so he could eat; that seemed to clear up the problem, although he is on a special food also. He drools a lot, don't know if his loss of teeth is partly that, as he does have a harder time picking up food also; I know some cats drool, I've never had one that did before. He also has feline herpes, which manifests itself in runny eyes and congested nose. I didn't really know all of this when I adopted him, just that he was on a special food, and had a bit of runny eye on 1 side....   I got the full scoop on my first visit to my long time vet, as she read through his records, and was dismayed that I have a new animal with all these problems, after just having lost one with multiple health problems!! The previous owners had relinquished the cat to their vet and the cat had been up for adoption at the vet's for some time, until one of the vet techs contacted the cat rescue to take him, and they had him for 5-6 months before I found him. It was love at first site for both of us! I recently started treating his herpes, plan to continue that for his life; he had been on treatment several years ago with good results, then not on treatment. His eye drainage had been getting worse. Hey, I wouldn't like to have an upper respiratory virus all the time, so... Now I'm dealing with him scratching all my leather furniture   he's gotten very comfortable at our house! It's a good thing to be comfortable, but, today he is getting some Soft Paws put on!! Lovely Boy is Oliver. This is my introduction to this wonderful site, so happy to have found it! 

Welcome to TCS!  It's nice to meet you.  Bless you for rescuing and taking such wonderful care of Oliver.  

Thank you< he's a doll!

That's a bit shady of the adoption place to not disclose all his medical problems. How are you supposed to care for him properly if you don't know all his special needs? Good thing you had a trusted vet to help you figure them out. I hope you bring each other lots of happiness!

I thought they should have been a little more forthcoming also; however, they didn't have his vet records, so they may not have known the extent of it. It was obvious he had a runny eye, they weren't doing any treatment, and in his records there is no formal diagnosis of Herpes, because the test isn't always accurate and it is expensive; it was just assumed that is what it was, and the vet had previously treated it with Famcyclovir with good results; the rescue people may not have known that, as we got it from his records. They could have told me that he had had most of his teeth pulled, which I didn't even think of looking to see if he had all his teeth!! They knew he had some issues that led to a special diet, so I'm guessing they were aware of the stomatitis, although the teeth pulling and issue was several years ago, and no longer a problem, other than needing a special diet.... I got over it, but felt they didn't lay it all out for me to evaluate, before I adopted him. They were playing it a little bit to get him adopted, and he got a good home, I will take care of him well. I would have preferred to not have to deal with medical problems though, just coming off from the death of my Doxie, that had many, expensive medical issues that I had been dealing with for years. Fortunately, he is a good fit for me, personality wise, and my husband likes him also. Thank goodness I have a really good vet office that I trust!