She's here.....!

My longed-for Maine Coon has arrived.  She's currently residing in my spare bedroom and slowly dominating the entire household.  Both dogs are reacting predictably - my Lurcher has taken to talking or rather squeaking to her through the door, and my Border Collie is pretending she's invisible.

Anyway, she's gorgeous.  Her little face, fluffy white tummy and dark brown eyes (which were blue in earlier photos) make her simply irresistable.  All I want to do is cuddle her - but she'd far rather chase a ball across the floor or charge out of her room and down the corridor at 60mph.  She's an absolute bundle of playfulness, and hasn't stopped eating.  I particularly love her feathers on the tip of her ears and in between her toes.

Here's some photos of my new baby Bella Cloud, now 12 weeks old.

Naming a kitten

"The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,"... from T S Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.

Without wishing to cause Mr Eliot any offence, I found it quite easy to find a suitable name for the kitten. Within a few seconds, my friend Paul came up with "Cloud" (hint in the picture), and I added "Bella" for fear that "Cloud" might become "Cloudy", which has rather gloomy connotations. It seems in our household that all our pets eventually end up with an "ee" sound on the end of their names - Tinker became Tinky; Spud became Spuddy, etc.


So here is "Budletts Bella Cloud" - had to add "Budletts" in recognition of the breeder (this is the posh bit for pedigree certification).

I just couldn't resist one more visit

6 weeks seemed a long time to wait for Bella Cloud to be ready to come home with us, so I plucked up courage and drove over to Uckfield one more time to see how she was progressing. Now almost 9 weeks old, she'd moved into the lounge with all the other kittens who were waiting to go to their new homes. There were 5 of her brothers and sisters, 2 from another litter with Mum, Raja the 14 week old boy kept for breeding due to his unusual colouring and his Mum.

Entering the lounge, Guinevere immediately approached me for a stroke (and probably to check me out) and then allowed me to locate Bella Cloud from behind the sofa where she was having a great rough and tumble with one of her brothers. It took a little while, but eventually she started playing with me (my jumper, my handbag, my shoelaces, etc). My camera was of particular interest.

Breeder Terrie Lyons and her Maine Coon mad house

With help from The Maine Coon Cat Club Kitten List, I eventually found a breeder in East Sussex who still had a blue/white female kitten available. After various telephone conversations, we went the next day to visit.

3 hours later, having accidentally become embroiled in one of the Goodwood car rally days, we arrived in Uckfield at Budletts. Terrie showed us around her bungalow which was totally given over to all her 28 cats. Only one bedroom and the kitchen were free of cats, although the latter room had 3 resident collie dogs. Boy cats were keep in specially built shelters - opening one, Terrie picked up the most enormous cat and plonked him in my arms. He immediately started purring and put his paws around my neck - I'd met Bella Cloud's grandpa Prince (winner of numerous breeding awards) and he was simply huge!

Some time later, having been introduced to several other Maine Coons and Bengals (all of whom were gorgeous), we were ushered into the 'kitten room' where Mum Guinevere was nursing and keeping a watchful eye on her six kittens. They were almost 6 weeks old and most were little balls of fluff with sharp teeth and claws. Bella Cloud stood out immediately - blue/white is my favourite and with good reason. She was so pretty, if a little timid, but didn't seem to mind being picked up and cuddled. My mind was set... we just had to have her!