I was going to tell you about our pets on my hello card, but since the topic is already open...

Eliott and I adopted two kittens, brother and sister, a little over a year ago. I'm very interested to know what a Maine Coon cat looks like, Drury, as a friend of ours told us ours look like that breed (they really are mutts, though).

Pinky (the female) and Bosco (you guessed it) are light and dark beige with white bellies and paws. Pinky meows a lot, like a Siamese, but Bosco rarely makes a sound. Eliott compares him to Mike Tyson, in that he is fairly stocky and burly-looking, but when he meows, it comes out like a little wimpy squeak!

Bosco seems to be of above average intelligence and very curious. When I had him chasing the beam from a flashlight, he quickly figured out where the beam was coming from and stopped chasing it! Bosco is very agile, but poor Pinky has a definite coordination problem. She wobbles when she walks and has trouble jumping up onto things. She manages to pull herself up with her front paws and claws. As for her intelligence, it's difficult to say. Sometimes she seems like a genius, other times like an idiot savant. She is definitely the more affectionate of the two, greeting everyone who comes to visit us by nuzzling up to them. Bosco, on the other hand, usually dives into the closet.

I'm glad we took both of them in. They are very fond of each other, and this way they're not alone during the day while we work (though they get into a lot of mischief).

As you can tell, I love my cats and could go on for another hour about them, not to mention cats I've had in the past. I'll just have to leave that for other cards if anyone is that interested!

By the way Drury, our vet said Pinky's problem was probably due to her mother getting some sort of vaccine while she was pregnant. As far as we know, however, her mother was not too well cared for and probably was not given any kind of medication during that time (Bosco shows no symptoms at all). I'm curious to know if you've had any experience with this. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and seems to have compensated very well for her walking and climbing awkwardness.