I Told You Maine Coons Are Awesome

September 24, 2011 9:01 AM

The World's Shortest Cat The World's Longest Cat

Raw footage of the Longest Cat

posted by The Whelk (65 comments total)

I think you got the longcat links in the wrong order
posted by LogicalDash at 9:07 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Reminds me of one of those hostage videos.
posted by sswiller at 9:09 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

I LOVE MUNCHKIN KITTIES.

That is all.
posted by PapaLobo at 9:10 AM on September 24, 2011

I dislike that humans breed animals to be lovable mutants. The munchkin thing is not cool. Nor are weird ass pug dogs with popping eyes and respiratory problems, etc.

The giant cat is kind of cool though.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 9:12 AM on September 24, 2011 [16 favorites]

The world's shortest cat has managed to duck it's way into my cold cold heart.
posted by Think_Long at 9:12 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Longcat is Loooooong.
posted by Flipping_Hades_Terwilliger at 9:14 AM on September 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

That giant Maine Coon, I must hug him!

Can this turn into one of those posts where everybody talks about how awesome Maine Coons are again? I love those.
posted by Mizu at 9:15 AM on September 24, 2011 [8 favorites]

Short Cat blurs the line between cat and weasel!
posted by ignignokt at 9:16 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Longcat is tame!

I was waiting for it to get upset as it was being handled like a slinky!
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 9:24 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

I was all ready to argue that I have had longer cats, but I've never had a cat that long. My Maine Coon was pretty long, but he wasn't 48.5 inches long. Or that mellow. He would have bitten my hands off.
posted by rtha at 9:27 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

My very Own Maine Coon, Cat The Cat was big, not Longcat big but not very far off* and was the single most tolerant cat I've ever met. You could pick her up, put her around your shoulders a boa and she wouldn't even wake up from the nap. I more then once used her as a pillow. Maine Coons are super tolerant when it comes to being manipulated.


*I grew up thinking all cats were supposed to be the size of small Labradors and thus any cat that isn't 20 pounds and a good two feet tall looks wrong to me.
posted by The Whelk at 9:30 AM on September 24, 2011 [13 favorites]

I thought a shortest cat record would have been measured by length, not height. Was sorely disappointed to see wiener-cat stroll around like a World Record holder.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 9:43 AM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

I want him. I will love him and keep him and call him George.
posted by arcticseal at 9:46 AM on September 24, 2011 [6 favorites]

Longcat is tame!

Maine Coons are the most social, friendly, tame cats out there. I adore them...
posted by DreamerFi at 9:51 AM on September 24, 2011

Cat breeding sucks. How anyone can claim to love cats and engage in this inhumane practice eludes me. Please get your cats at your local cat shelter.
posted by charlesminus at 9:55 AM on September 24, 2011 [9 favorites]

Can this turn into one of those posts where everybody talks about how awesome Maine Coons are again? I love those.
I've related this story before, I believe, but what the hey.....our Squeaky (a Maine Coon) was pretty big, but not as big as Long Cat. Anyway, one evening in 1990 my Dad was having symptoms of a heart attack so we called 911. The paramedics arrived in about three minutes and swarmed all over Dad in his easy chair. One EMT was squatting down by the EKG box, pressing buttons and setting up, when Squeaky (who'd hidden when the excitement began) ran into the living room, quickly paused by the squatting EMT, then dashed off. The EMT gave out a yelp and jumped backwards in a squat position, causing him to fall on his back. "What the HELL was that???!" He yelled. "Our cat," we all replied. "Are you sure??" he asked as he collected himself. (Dad recovered nicely after a week in the hospital; it probably took the EMT a bit longer to recover.)
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:09 AM on September 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

Are there nice tables of cat ailment frequencies by breed and vet cost anywhere? I'd be interesting in the query 'select b.breed, sum(b.freq * a.cost) from breeds b inner join ailments a on b.breed=a.breed group by breed' myself. A priori, there is a good chance the cats offered for adoption by the humane society optimize this rather well, i.e. their parents may've passed through a little natural selection rather than breeder selection.
posted by jeffburdges at 10:19 AM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Longcat is majestic! Look at that guy, he is like "Do as you will retainers but forget not my daily tribute or death shall be your reward."
posted by Ad hominem at 10:21 AM on September 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

I used to know a very large cat. He basically hung out on an arm of the overstuffed couch, and he covered the whole arm. The other cats would try to get up there, but there was no room. He had vision problems (he could see light and shadow and that was about it), so he would hang out and listen to what was going on with an air of immense gravitas. I used to pick him up and cuddle him, because OMG he was sooooooo huge! It was like carrying a sack of potatoes around! He tolerated it with a fair amount of good humor, although I am pretty sure that, if he had decided to use his volume for evil, he could have snapped my back like a twig.

He was a great cat. A great big great cat.
posted by GenjiandProust at 10:34 AM on September 24, 2011 [5 favorites]

I dislike that humans breed animals to be lovable mutants.

I'm awed that humans bred animals to be lovable mutants. Absolutely floored by the fact that we care so much about love, we have created beings to do just that. We, through a very long process, engineered forms of life perfectly suited to be our friends. That, I think, is amazing.

But, yeah, that's different from breeding animals to be particularly-looking mutants. All the emphasis on getting the look of the animals to be just right is creepy and harmful.
posted by meese at 10:41 AM on September 24, 2011 [4 favorites]

The munchkin thing is not cool.
So you disapprove of naturally occurring mutations?

I'll alert Magneto.
posted by PapaLobo at 10:41 AM on September 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

Oh my goodness longcat would make the perfect napping cat. Imagine sleepily eading with your head in a pill\ow of purring longcat belly.
posted by angrycat at 10:47 AM on September 24, 2011

I was expecting the 'shortest cat' to be short along the, erm Anteroposterior axis, not the Dorsoventral. Kind of a let down, actually.


Also, if you are going on strict definition of longest then the longest cat would probably be some giant liger or something.
posted by delmoi at 10:52 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

The world's most patient cat
posted by homunculus at 11:00 AM on September 24, 2011 [3 favorites]

The worst cat in the world
posted by homunculus at 11:12 AM on September 24, 2011

Agreed, the world record we are seeing in that Maine Coon is not length but patience for these stupid humans and their tricks.

In other news, I would pay to read/watch The X-Cats.
posted by maryr at 11:22 AM on September 24, 2011

All cats are wolverines.
posted by maudlin at 11:23 AM on September 24, 2011

Are there nice tables of cat ailment frequencies by breed and vet cost anywhere?

As I watched the video of World's Longest Cat, I kept wondering if the thing would eventually suffer from back ailments.
posted by KokuRyu at 11:35 AM on September 24, 2011

Synchronized cat posing should be an Olympic sport...
posted by ennui.bz at 11:37 AM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Are there nice tables of cat ailment frequencies by breed and vet cost anywhere?

Here's one site.
posted by pracowity at 11:46 AM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

The real longcat.
posted by Rhomboid at 12:03 PM on September 24, 2011

Is that thing a cat, or a ferret?
posted by indubitable at 12:14 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Long[est]cat looks like a cross between David Bowie in Legend and Ron Perlman in Beauty and the Beast. In cat form.
posted by Redfield at 12:27 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

But for god's sake, no one stick a Selleck moustache on him. He's perfect as he is.
posted by maudlin at 12:29 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Is it time for some sheep, now?
posted by cstross at 1:33 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

that is utterly hypnotic
posted by The Whelk at 1:34 PM on September 24, 2011

But for god's sake, no one stick a Selleck moustache on him. He's perfect as he is

That meme is so over.

I realized I am almost 4o years old, sitting home on a Friday night, shopping Tom selleck's mustache onto pics of cats. This is not good.
posted by Ad hominem at 2:14 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Is it time for some sheep, now?

KILL IT WITH FIRE
posted by meese at 2:16 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Cat breeding sucks.

clearly, sir, your cats are doing it wrong
posted by pyramid termite at 2:26 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Longcat would eat that sheep, I think. The question would be can longcat eat fast enough?, I think.
posted by GenjiandProust at 2:39 PM on September 24, 2011

Did someone call for sheep?

So very super not safe for volume around unconsenting adults. :)

Now back to cats! =^..^=
posted by Alles at 2:55 PM on September 24, 2011

Got four Maines napping in my wife's office right now. #5 is napping with my wife in my office. So I win...I guess. And I don't know about sheep but they have tried to kill just about everything else.
posted by Ber at 3:03 PM on September 24, 2011

I demand a recount.
posted by crunchland at 3:18 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't think Long Cat would have back or other genetic problems because as well as being long, he is big all over. Maine Coons are big and I think are a natural adaptation to cold climate, also related to Norwegian Forrest cats. They are usually healthy cats.

I have a kitty I think is part Maine Coon (her mama was a shorthair, father unknown) but she is quite big, furry, gentle with being handled, and will go out in any weather.
posted by mermayd at 3:24 PM on September 24, 2011

Is it time for some sheep, now

Only if they meow.
posted by homunculus at 3:56 PM on September 24, 2011

All of you people hating on the munchkins should do some research, the breed is not in any way harmful to the cat. It was a naturally occurring mutation that can be passed on to any other breed of cats, and unlike similar mutations in dogs does not have negative impacts on their health. One reason for this is that cat's spines are shaped differently and so the shorter legs don't cause joint problems like they do in beagles or daschunds.

In fact you can even cross breed them with other mutant breeds like scottish fold cats to make the cutest animals ever.

But whatever hate on what is essentially a heart melting pile of cute if it brightens your day.
posted by sourbrew at 5:34 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

ack, that link should go here.

Also just to reiterate munchkin scottish folds, think maru but midget and moar adorable.
posted by sourbrew at 5:36 PM on September 24, 2011

I know it's horrible that they're breeding animals with intentional deformities... but omg look at it's little feet it's like a Corgi kitty!
posted by 0xdeadc0de at 5:48 PM on September 24, 2011

The shelter isn't the only place to get an awesome cat. I got my first one when a co-worker found a litter of stray kittens in her back yard.

Then I started feeding this wild black kitten, who started following me, eventually started rubbing against my legs & finally let me pet him. After a few months of that he moved in and has been living here ever since. He turned into a real lap cat.
posted by mike3k at 6:03 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Cutest kittens ever (baby Himalayans a.k.a Earth's Ewoks)
posted by Devils Slide at 6:21 PM on September 24, 2011

My cat is a Maine Coon cross. I think she's part tortoise shell but definitely part Maine Coon - at first I thought she was a purebred but doesn't have the tabby markings and not all the obvious traits. She does have the telltale fur on her ears and most of the markings but mixed with a blotchy pattern and leggings like a tortoise shell. Unlike a lot of Maine Coons she doesn't like water very much and is very affectionate but not all that mellow. Kind of a spooky cat but not so much when she gets to know you. She was raised in a small guest house on a ranch in a rural community with someone who had terminal cancer. So she got all his attention all the time but only really knew him from the time she was a kitten, and she was pretty much by herself for a few months in the house after he died (the owners of the house didn't need to rent it out all that quickly and allowed the property caretaker time to find a home for the cat). She was fed regularly but hid when anyone came in and practically went half feral before I adopted her - her picture was posted on a bulletin board in the local natural grocery store. When she finally became comfortable she also became unusually affectionate although not a lap cat at all. She prefers to walk around as you pet her and can't stay still while that's going on. But she is definitely awesome, very talkative and expressive in general and loves to roll around on her back. One day I hope to have a purebred Maine Coon but my cat is already excellent.
posted by krinklyfig at 6:35 PM on September 24, 2011

My parents have a cat who was a shelter kitten, so no pedigree, but I'm pretty sure she's either a Norweigan Forest Cat, a Maine Coon, or some mix of those and similar breeds. She is the clumsiest animal on the Eastern Seaboard, having never heard that cats are graceful and proud; she has a tendency to fall off of things when she gets distracted and, rather than gliding down stairs like most of her kind, she gallumps down with her entire weight thrown onto each pair of legs in turn - front, then back, thump thump thumping her way down. She is louder than a reasonably quiet human.

She is lovable and wonderful and I hope I never anger her, because she consists entirely of muscle and fur. There is a lot of both. There is definitely no bone, and certainly no brain. Just muscles, fur, and wide semi-confused eyes.
posted by Tomorrowful at 6:39 PM on September 24, 2011

I know it's horrible that they're breeding animals with intentional deformities

To be fair, that is how most dog breeds came to be. People liked or desired certain traits and bred them into the dog while breeding other traits out. Dachshunds were bred to hunt burrowing animals and didn't descend from wiener-shaped wolves.
posted by krinklyfig at 6:53 PM on September 24, 2011

jeff-o-matic : I dislike that humans breed animals to be lovable mutants. The munchkin thing is not cool.

This. That munchin cat clearly has problems - You can see it in the way it moves, like when it wants to jump to the lower cage and has to basically fall across the gap. Disgusting.


The giant cat is kind of cool though.

The giant cat should also get the award for "world's most patient cat. I can't imagine my guys letting me put them in that position for more than a second or two, nevemind while other people touch their faces (and butts... Oddly, my cats care more about things touching their butts than their faces).

And yes, I have Coons; and even with their awesomely friendly disposition, that video stretches credibility that they didn't drug the hell out of it.
posted by pla at 7:04 PM on September 24, 2011

pla: This. That munchin cat clearly has problems - You can see it in the way it moves, like when it wants to jump to the lower cage and has to basically fall across the gap. Disgusting.

Uhh, no it doesn't they can't jump as high so it is recommended that you keep them as indoor cats since they will be less likely to be able to avoid encounters with animals like raccoons and dogs, but that's about it.

No negative impact on their health from the mutation.
posted by sourbrew at 7:10 PM on September 24, 2011

sourbrew : they can't jump as high so it is recommended that you keep them as indoor cats since they will be less likely to be able to avoid encounters with animals like raccoons and dogs, but that's about it.

"As high"? Cats basically consider human-sized houses as 3d playgrounds. That whole "z-axis" thing just means "somewhere the silly humans can't accidentally step on us".

These poor bastards take their time to size up a jump down, nevermind floor-to-top-of-wardrobe without a seconds' hesitation. Just ain't right.


No negative impact on their health from the mutation.

That doesn't make it right. Just not blatantly cruel.


Don't get me wrong, good for anyone that gives one of these guys a loving home. But Hell holds a special place for the idiots that decided to deliberately breed them into existence.
posted by pla at 7:18 PM on September 24, 2011

Nature was the group of "idiots" that decided to breed them into existence.

It's a genetic mutation that humans had nothing to do with, it does however allow us to create adorable cats now.

Given that it's not bad for them, and we didn't engineer it I can only assume you are a curmudgeon for not being delighted by their inherent cuteness.
posted by sourbrew at 7:23 PM on September 24, 2011 [2 favorites]

Also? After watching about six different (all natural! 100% Mother Nature Mutated!) munchkin cats leap about 7 feet from floor to high windowsill, there's nothing "wrong" with them. Their front legs may be stumpy as a skunk's, but their back legs are as powerful as a rabbit's.
posted by PapaLobo at 7:25 PM on September 24, 2011

Longest cat is longest
posted by finite at 7:42 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

If a Maine Coon kitten tussled with a Van Kedisi kitten, which one would be cuter?
posted by ovvl at 9:35 PM on September 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

My cat is a Maine Coon cross. I think she's part tortoise shell but definitely part Maine Coon

Tortoiseshell is just a colouring, and is a common one for Maine Coons -- the breed does not require them to be tabby. (They can also have tortoiseshell colourings -- red and black -- plus tabby markings, which makes them torbies.)

I want another cat who is a huge Maine Coon, and I think a local rescue has one. Hmm.
posted by jeather at 6:46 AM on September 25, 2011

Nor are weird ass pug dogs with popping eyes and respiratory problems, etc.

I am here to defend the pug, the best breed in the world. That is all.
posted by Wordwoman at 11:35 AM on September 25, 2011

Dog Breeders Issue Massive Recall Of '07 Pugs
posted by maryr at 1:36 PM on September 25, 2011 [3 favorites]

I am proud to say that I have met Longest Cat. Yes, I go to cat shows.
posted by medeine at 10:10 AM on September 26, 2011

Tortoiseshell is just a colouring, and is a common one for Maine Coons -- the breed does not require them to be tabby

My understanding is that is actually a requirement to consider the cat a full bred Maine Coon, that the tabby markings are consistent.
posted by krinklyfig at 3:23 PM on September 30, 2011