Hello everyone. I've actually posted a few times before introducing myself - sorry about that. I'm still exploring all the different message boards.
My name is Rina, I'm 26 years old and totally new to the experience of owning cats. We've gone a bit crazy, though, and gotten FOUR cats in the past five months! Our house is filled to the brim with cats and kids and dogs. We have four children, three girls ages 4, 3, and 2, and a 6 month old boy. We also have a female Irish Setter and have run a dog rescue off and on for about three years. We had never owned a cat until recently (husband was adamantly against it, and I never thought I was a "cat person") and we got our first cat purely by accident. A woman contacted us through our rescue needing to place five of her cats. We told her that we did not take in cats, but we happened to have a friend who'd been searching for some. My friend took four of them and we took one and then ONLY because she was a proven mouser (we live in the country and get field mice in the basement during the winter.) Even then, my husband wanted a guarantee that if she didn't prove her worth we would find her a new home! As it happens, she did prove her worth and a few months later, we adopted a second cat from a shelter (a male Maine Coon.) Unfortunately, as "cool" as he was to have around the house, he wasn't at all friendly. So I looked at other large breeds and a few weeks later, we adopted a female Ragamuffin. She is super friendly, but I still wanted a friendly Maine Coon!!! So just a few days ago my husband brought home another male MC from a breeder in Ohio who is much more extroverted than our poor shelter kitty. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying having cats!!! One of these days I would even love to add a male Ragdoll to our family. Who would have ever thought?! We're seriously starting to consider doing CAT rescue rather than DOG rescue!
I never would have dreamed of getting on a dog posting board, but I'm so excited about my cats, I just wanted to be able to share with others who would understand.
To introduce you briefly to our cats...
Molly - Our first cat, a 2yo female Siamese mix. Hates other cats and isn't terribly interested in people, but LOVES dogs. She is highly intelligent, "talks" all the time, and she is housebroken. I'm not kidding, she'll actually come to get me when she wants to go outside to potty, because she wouldn't DREAM of sharing a litter box with another cat.
Arek - Our 3yo male Maine Coon. His main job around the house is to hang around and look attractive. He does not enjoy a lot of petting (he will actually get up and walk away if you pet him), but does like to be in the same room with us and heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s quite the conversation piece! He weighs 20lbs right now and may get a little bigger by the time he's full grown.
Pipsessewa (Pipsi) - Our 4 year old Ragamuffin. She's the only real cuddler of the bunch. She follows me around the house and wants to be beside me most of the time. She loves to "knead dough" and loves attention.
Amad (? Still debating this name) - He's our most recent addition, 2yo male Maine Coon. He's too new to be able to say much about him, but he's definitely more friendly than Arek. Arek and Amad are both Hebrew names, Arek means "patience" and Amad means "persistence."
Maili - Our 2 year old female Irish Setter and "problem child." She has the typical loving, goofy Setter personality and is extremely co-dependant. We can't leave her in the house by herself because she has panic attacks. She is also an escape artist and can somehow get out of our METAL crate and leave the door locked behind her! We have yet to figure out how she does this. To top it all off, she gets extremely car sick, so we can't take her anywhere.
But she's a loving girl and I wouldn't take all the money in the world for her - problems and all.
Well, if you're still with me, thanks for reading! I hope to get to know you all better!
Rina
My name is Rina, I'm 26 years old and totally new to the experience of owning cats. We've gone a bit crazy, though, and gotten FOUR cats in the past five months! Our house is filled to the brim with cats and kids and dogs. We have four children, three girls ages 4, 3, and 2, and a 6 month old boy. We also have a female Irish Setter and have run a dog rescue off and on for about three years. We had never owned a cat until recently (husband was adamantly against it, and I never thought I was a "cat person") and we got our first cat purely by accident. A woman contacted us through our rescue needing to place five of her cats. We told her that we did not take in cats, but we happened to have a friend who'd been searching for some. My friend took four of them and we took one and then ONLY because she was a proven mouser (we live in the country and get field mice in the basement during the winter.) Even then, my husband wanted a guarantee that if she didn't prove her worth we would find her a new home! As it happens, she did prove her worth and a few months later, we adopted a second cat from a shelter (a male Maine Coon.) Unfortunately, as "cool" as he was to have around the house, he wasn't at all friendly. So I looked at other large breeds and a few weeks later, we adopted a female Ragamuffin. She is super friendly, but I still wanted a friendly Maine Coon!!! So just a few days ago my husband brought home another male MC from a breeder in Ohio who is much more extroverted than our poor shelter kitty. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying having cats!!! One of these days I would even love to add a male Ragdoll to our family. Who would have ever thought?! We're seriously starting to consider doing CAT rescue rather than DOG rescue!
Molly - Our first cat, a 2yo female Siamese mix. Hates other cats and isn't terribly interested in people, but LOVES dogs. She is highly intelligent, "talks" all the time, and she is housebroken. I'm not kidding, she'll actually come to get me when she wants to go outside to potty, because she wouldn't DREAM of sharing a litter box with another cat.
Arek - Our 3yo male Maine Coon. His main job around the house is to hang around and look attractive. He does not enjoy a lot of petting (he will actually get up and walk away if you pet him), but does like to be in the same room with us and heâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s quite the conversation piece! He weighs 20lbs right now and may get a little bigger by the time he's full grown.
Pipsessewa (Pipsi) - Our 4 year old Ragamuffin. She's the only real cuddler of the bunch. She follows me around the house and wants to be beside me most of the time. She loves to "knead dough" and loves attention.
Amad (? Still debating this name) - He's our most recent addition, 2yo male Maine Coon. He's too new to be able to say much about him, but he's definitely more friendly than Arek. Arek and Amad are both Hebrew names, Arek means "patience" and Amad means "persistence."
Maili - Our 2 year old female Irish Setter and "problem child." She has the typical loving, goofy Setter personality and is extremely co-dependant. We can't leave her in the house by herself because she has panic attacks. She is also an escape artist and can somehow get out of our METAL crate and leave the door locked behind her! We have yet to figure out how she does this. To top it all off, she gets extremely car sick, so we can't take her anywhere.
Well, if you're still with me, thanks for reading! I hope to get to know you all better!
Rina